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Gushing bottle after car trip

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:06 pm
by Banjo-guy
I've had two times in the last month when I brought a few bottles of my Amarillo IPA to share and when I poured the bottles they were gushers.
I know that the bottle was shaken during the car ride and that the beers were also jostle around just before pouring.

These bottles don't gush when I open them at home and they taste fine.
This may seem obvious but I don't expect the beers to constantly foam just because they were agitated by the bumpy car ride.
It almost seem that once the trub is stirred up it releases an infection that was contained in the bottom of the bottle.
They also tasted very grainy and yeasty. ( at home they were fine ) A lot of trub stayed in suspension.

It makes me not want to bring my home brew to picnics and parties because people don't want to try a bottle of beer that looks like it just came off the set of a horror movie. :jumpy:

Re: Gushing bottle after car trip

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:26 pm
by Dawg LB Steve
Another advantage to kegging, force carbonate with CO2 you don't get the trub in the bottle, it settles out into the little well in the bottom of the keg. I took some bottle conditioned beers with us in the spring before I started kegging and the Stouts that I brought did this too, even though they were chilled nicely overnight.
:clink:

Re: Gushing bottle after car trip

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:35 pm
by Kealia
I doubt it's infected. What is happening is the same as shaking a can of Coke, but worse. Because you have trub in the bottles it creates more nucleation sites for the CO2 to react to/with. The bouncing around is knocking some CO2 out of suspension which is freeing up the trub which causes even more CO2 to be released, and so on. That's why you're getting the yeasty/trub taste - it's because it's all suspended and can't be avoided when you pour it.

Aside from limiting the shaking/bouncing the best you can do is try to get there sooner and let them settle more (assuming you aren't going to buy kegs just to bottle from them).

Re: Gushing bottle after car trip

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:46 pm
by RickBeer
Agree. I bring beer up to a cottage and don't drink it until the next week.

For a fee, you can send me all the beer and I will safely transport it for you.