Bottles are erupting !

It's possible you didn't mix the priming sugar well before bottling. If so, some bottles will be over carbed and some under carbed.

 

Gushing bottles are usually a sign that you over-primed (added too much sugar) or that you have of some sort of infection.

In the case of the former, it could be that you didn't stir in your priming solution well enough - and so some bottles ended up getting more sugar than others when you filled them. The latter? Who knows where you picked up the bug? Bottles that weren't properly cleaned and sanitized are arguably the most likely culprit.

Another possibility is that your beer wasn't fully attenuated when you bottled - but if you did everything else right? That's pretty unlikely after 3 weeks in the fermentor.

 

Since the carbonation happened all of a sudden I'm going to guess that your priming sugar was not well mixed and you're going to have inconsistent carbonation between each bottle.

But I'll also ask if you tasted the beer, and was it okay? Tart?

EDIT: To minimize the future of exploding bottles, protect them as best as you can from damaging the surroundings and keep them as cold as you can. If you think they will become dangerous, pitch them.

 

Maybe this.

 

Did you take a F.G. reading? Was it in the expected range?

During the 2 week priming time, were the bottles in a room in the temperature range of the yeast? Bottles will carbonate faster in the 60-70F range typically.

How much priming sugar did you use (for what size batch, and what style beer)? And did you dissolve the sugar into boiling water before you mixed into your beer prior to bottling?

 

Then it sounds like probably the priming sugar wasn't mixed well and some bottles ended up with too much, and other too little.

I dissolve the sugar into a cup or two of boiling water, and put that in the bottling bucket prior to racking the finished beer into the bucket. Never had a problem that way.

 

Be careful when you open your beer. Sometimes a quick jerk while opening will make it gush.

 

Also, are you sure that 1.010 is FG?

Inconsistent priming sugar could be the issue. Another vein would be that you have one, or more, contaminated bottles. ^^^ 1.010 would not be your final gravity in this case, as bugs would drive it down further.

If this happens with more bottles grab a gravity reading at 60F and see if it's dropped. <--- You either didn't hit FG with the yeast or your have an infection.

 

I usually use about 4 cups of water to dissolve my priming sugar in. I just assume that the thin sugar syrup distributes more easily in my bottling bucket than a thick syrup would. No problems with this approach as far as bottle bombs.

 

There is no way to know which ones have what level of carbonation as far as I know. And there is no way to fix this in this batch. You'll have to assume that any one of them could be a gusher, or worse, a bottle bomb (although that doesn't happen often). So take precautions to minimize damage if one explodes or pops its cap, keep them chilled, handle with caution and gently, and drink them as fast as you can. Or dump them if they become a danger.

 

Fusarium.

Just kidding.

The only way to know is if your bottles are organized in a way to let you know if they when in the line they were bottled. If you added priming sugar before racking into the bottling bucket then likely the first half or so will be the overcarbed ones. If you added the sugar on top of the beer in the bucket, then the last half is probably the overcarbed ones.

When you open up the gushers, don't agitate them at all and let them sit a little to degas. Then maybe you can drink some of them.

 

That is all fine, except you have to add "gently stir" to your method.

 

I've had gushers in the past due to inconsistent mixing in some cases and infections in others. When in doubt, have a glass ready to pour into. The foam will turn back into beer.

 

I wonder how many vols co2 a bottle has to become before it does what's in that video above.