Major over-carbonation issue with Rayon Vert

victory Helios. 35$ a case of bombers

 

Rayon Vert is the worst for its carbonation issues.

 

I had a RV about a month ago that had a gushing issue, but not 30%+ like you experienced. I was next to a sink and maybe lost 5-10%.

 

I would like to second FatBoyGotSwagger’s advice about Victory Helios. I like to age my Helios beers (6+ months) to let it get funkier. Ironically Victory had an issue with gushers in the past. It appears that they ‘fixed’ their problem via a process change. They add Brett as a secondary fermentation and then: “Helios is now sterile filtered before bottling”. Maybe Green Flash should consider a change like this? My guess is that the gushing is from the Brett still fermenting in the bottle.

I homebrew a beer that tastes just like Green Flash Rayon Vert to my palate. Homebrewing is a great way to save money on beer, particularly expensive beers like Belgian style beers.

Cheers!

 

Same problem here from three different 4 packs. Not gushers, but they poured mostly foam.

I don't buy RV anymore. Problem solved!

 

Rayon Vert is admittedly a bit of a pain to deal with, but for my money and taste, it's well worth it.

That being said, I have *never* had any issue like you are describing, with geysers shooting up 6 inches in the air. The worst problems that I've had with RV are either 1) starts to carbonate while in the bottle and a little foamy head starts to peek out the top or worst case, overflow a bit, or 2) it takes forever to pour the whole damn thing into any normal sized glass.

I'm sure it must be frustrating to have poster after poster give you directions on how to open a beer, but try to see this from the other side--if people haven't had the same issue you are having, the first guess is going to be that it somehow relates to something unique to your situation. Obviously, this could be completely unrelated to how you are handling/pouring/storing the beer, like the distribution path that your beer comes on, or who knows, the freshness of your bottles (being in California) compared to the freshness of say... the bottles I get here in Kansas City.

It's baffling regardless, and I can imagine incredibly frustrating. I *love* Orval too, but 4 bottles of Orval in my neck of the woods rings up at a cool $20, so there really is no substitute for Rayon Vert. For my money, the difficulties are worth it. Green Flash has really done a good job with the marketing and production of RV, seeing how few BPAs with Brett seem to be readily available and reasonably priced.

 

This makes me happy. I generally like GF as a brewer, and I was going to be disappointed to find out that they wouldn't bother to at least try to answer your question.

Plus, I certainly won't complain if RV becomes a bit easier to open/pour...

 

That's a common problem with beers dosed with brett at bottling. Green Flash is definitely not alone with that problem. I think it's ridiculous to distribute beers with consistently problematic gushing because they didn't do the work to figure out whether those beers are going to gush or carbonate with stability. Not all beers can be dosed at bottling because there's simply too much starch and unfermented sugar left behind for brett to consume. Otherwise those beers need to be under-carbonated going into the bottle with an understanding that the beer can't be released until brett has had time to complete the carbonation. It's not rocket science but it does require a willingness to put out a solid beer.

 

I wonder if Chuck would be willing to contact Victory and ask how they solved their Helios over-carbonation problems of the past. It seems like the craft brewery community likes to help each other.

Cheers!

 

Based on the responses in here, it sounds like while RV is consistently volatile, the "gushing" problem is not quite so consistent.

 

Another thing to consider is that not all of this can be blamed on the brewer - with beers like this their carbonation is highly dependent on age, and even though they bottle date you can't tell what conditions those bottles sat in during distro. I've never had gushers of RV that were so bad, but I've never had one older than 6-8 months. That being said if the issue is getting worse then they are totally right to bear some responsibility, so it's good to hear that they're addressing the issue.

 

Had one bottle and man what a gusher was not impressed with the flavor or the over carb issues