One Bottle Infected?

I'm sure you have a sound practice to your bottling but some times those caps you buy today aren't the best and a cheap bottle caper isn't either after a while, my practice after bottling is turn it upside down and check for leaks, and I now use a top caper instead of a hand wing type, top caper puts a much stronger hold on the cap as the plastic lining of the cap can cause issues after setting over time....just a thought
 
If I wasn't getting the carbonation I'm looking for, I'd say you may be on to something. But I have too much carbonation. If anything, I'd say my caps are holding on to the bottles too well!
 
point is the infection "if it is one, not sure" could be possible buy letting it in through a bad cap then pressurizing too much with the infection and sealing it back
 
I think the funny taste I mentioned in my OP is really the excessive carbonation. I hadn't thought of that until a friend mentioned it. When I drink it now, if I wait for the CO2 to dissipate, it tastes more like it did when it was adequately carbonated. I don't believe the batch is infected. I've never had an infected batch before. I would expect an infection would be noticed after 2 weeks in the bottle.
 
from my experience it is possible to have a gusher or 2 without the whole batch being ruined. Probably a sanitation issue if only a couple - something was still in the bottle or something "flew" into it during bottling. Either way its usually not end of the world.
 
It's every bottle. I'm venting them now. I think it'll be okay.
 
I'm happy to report that the beer is just fine!
 
Have you taken a gravity sample from a bottle? The priming sugar would probably lower it a bit, but if the gravity is markedly lower then you have something working the residual sugars. My advice would be to try another extract batch. That might shed some light if the issue is the result of something weird with the mash. Perhaps you are getting some contamination from the grain dust or something equally strange. By now you are really frustrated and wish we would all shut up, but at the very least you are keeping a lot of people entertained. You will solve the problem.
 
The batches that I made after those two or three batches slipped through the cracks are all fine, properly carbonated. I'm convinced that those 3 ales, after an 8 day primary and and a 14 day secondary were still fermenting so slowly that I didn't notice.
 
The culprit.
 

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I'll say this - de carbonating bottled beer is no quick task! I've vented several times, and it's still over carbonated.
 
I just dumped the last 2 bottles of my IPA that was affected by this. I uncapped them, and it just foamed out. The bad part is that the last extract brew I made, which took a month to reach an adequate carbonation level, seems to be showing signs of overcarbonation now. Thankfully, there's only a few bottles left. I'm hoping this isn't a widespread problem. I'd like my bottles to be able to last indefinitely, really. My last several batches have been finishing in single digits on the gravity.
 
Ive just found a six pack that got set back in the storage room and lost for a year and i swear they were way to sweet if I remember right, but now; my gosh its good, just shows you that some times yeast will keep working in this case for a long time
 
Yeah, these batches seem to be less sweet than they were a couple weeks in the bottle. But that darn carbon dioxide has nowhere to go!
 
Can it be you're rushing your beer? If you're bottling it with unfermented sugars still in the beer, that will cause overcarbonation. Other possible causes are temperature, a colder beer can have more carbon dioxide dissolved in it than you expect, resulting in overcarbonation. I find altitude is an issue - here at 6,000' above sea level, you definitely want to carbonate to the low end of the scale for a style, particularly if you're taking it higher to consume. It's not as simple as 3/4 cup corn sugar in 1 cup water, boiled for 10 minutes. And there will always be errors: I dumped a Belgian Dark Strong that was becoming dangerous, as in one bottle had already exploded, due to rushing to bottle rather than letting it condition all the way out.
 
I'm at 1,000' here in Ohio. My standard ale process is 8 days in the primary and 14 days in the secondary. My basement may have been a bit cold back then while fermenting those batches, maybe 62-65°. I don't remember about fermwrap. I just started doing that this winter on the ales. I didn't keep a record on which batches I warmed. If it's mostly a temperature thing, that's an easy fix! I would think that my process of 8 days and 14 days would be long enough, but maybe not. I know the hydrometer didn't show any noticeable difference between day 6 and day 8. I'm pretty good at remembering to check that.
 
Just as a refresher, I believe the problem with my 3 batches was too high on the mash temp. I thought that resulted in nonfermentable sugars. It appears that they were slowly fermentable. The extract batch that has the same problem leaves me scratching my head. I have other batches from that same time period that are fine.
 
I'm also going to lay off the carapils. I don't need any help with this head retention!!
 
I am still battling this problem. It seems when my homebrew is about 3 months in the bottle, it's wildly over carbonated. The one extract batch at one month was a bit under carbonated. I dumped the rest of it last night, as it poured into the mug as all foam. It doesn't taste bad, aside from the strong carbonation taste. Is it possible to be infected, and not taste it? I think I'm going to cut way back on priming sugar. I've always used 3/4 cup. Now I'm thinking less than 1/2 cup. This is an aggravating problem for sure.
 
just have to open and let it sit, thats what I do to soda and cheap commercial beer, can't stand all that fizzz
 
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