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Gushing Potential

  • 1.  Gushing Potential

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 10-15-2020 17:15
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hello fellow beer scientists. 

    For the past 2-3 years, we have had on-and-off gushing issues with our lighter bodied brands including a lager and pils (both use the same yeast). We see consumers have issues with "gushing" or spill-over issues around the 5-month mark, the shelf life is 6 months. It is not an over-attenuation issue nor a yeast/bacteria issue. We are adjusting the mash and adding more calcium chloride to try and minimize gushing potential. We do not see the same issue in our hop-forward brands, they also have a shorter shelf-life, and I can imagine hop oils from the dry-hop minimize the potential for gushing?

    What I am wondering is:
    -is there a relatively easy way to measure gushing potential of the bright beer or the wort? It is challenging to have to wait those 5 months to see what happens
    -have any of you had a similar issue and solved it?
    -could it be that moving the beer between warm (shelf) and cold (fridge/cooler) temperatures accelerates gushing potential? 

    Hoping that adjusting the calcium chloride in the mash will solve our problem, but it is still frustrating that there isn't a better way to measure this and have tangible lab-produced data to support our troubleshooting.

    Thanks!


  • 2.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 10-16-2020 13:38
    Howdy!

    I have experience with non-infection gushing issues in beer.  We had something similar happen and we eventually determined that we were getting a lot of calcium oxalate crystals showing up in our finished beer.  Those crystals basically formed nucleation sites in the beer that caused the CO2 to be ripped out of solution fairly quickly.

    We solved the issue by increasing our calcium salts (specifically gypsum) in both the mash water and in the boil kettle.  Increasing the calcium concentration helps these crystals form in the mash and get filtered out with the lauter and not end up in your final beer.

    I would take a look at your finished or fermenting beer under a 40x microscope and see if you can spot the crystals.  They will look like tiny crystal pyramids.  If you see more than a few crystals on a single side of a hemocytometer, then you probably have an oxalate issue.

    Hope that helps!

    ------------------------------
    Rick Blankemeier
    Quality Assurance Manager
    Belching Beaver Brewery
    VISTA CA
    (303) 246-0309
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 10-16-2020 14:18
    Edited by Franklin Winslow 10-16-2020 14:49
    At a previous brewery I encountered low levels of a similar gushing effect for beers in our library that had been stored warm for more than 6 months. Carbonation and microbiological testing did not suggest unstable bottles. Looking at which brands did or did not gush, I came to the conclusion that it was related to sedimentation and increasing the amount of nucleation sites within the bottles. Specifically, in batches of a brand that was prone to foaming/ gushing, if there was no evidence of sediment in the bottles prior to opening them, there was rarely any foaming events. I believe it was directly related to the effectiveness of our clarification process. Increased cold aging time, brightness of filtration, and the use of Clarex all seemed to diminish (or in the case of the Clarex, postpone until out of code) the likelihood of foaming. Similar to your experience, our hoppy, light-bodied, modest alcohol beers (<6% ABV) were most likely to have evidence of foaming or gushing. These beers were also some of the most sediment prone. Our higher strength IPA's showed less foaming, and our dark, malty brands were also less likely to foam. This could also have been directly related to carbonation, as our most foaming-prone brands were higher in carbonation by 0.1-0.3 volumes of CO2.

    Calcium oxalate is a huge concern, but we could not find evidence for it in this case. Checking your beer under a microscope as suggested is a simple check for that, and increasing calcium dosage as mentioned, or increasing your cold aging time may help precipitate the crystals. Said crystals are beautiful under a microscope, though.

    Happy to follow up if it's useful

    ------------------------------
    Franklin Winslow
    Brewer
    Tarboro Brewing Co
    Tarboro NC
    franklin@TarboroBrewingCompany.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 09-12-2022 16:40
    Bumping this since I've been digging into this issue a bit at our facility.  I found some info in a TQ article from 1978 in the link below that sounds very similar to what we've seen.  Typically the affected beer is 4-5 months old and the issue seems to be exacerbated by storing the package on its side.  The paper points to the use of chill-proofing enzymes like papain correlating with gushing in aged beer.  We don't use papain, but do use clarex to help with physical stability.  Anyone else have any luck troubleshooting this particular issue?  I suspect that there is probably an interaction with physical stability creating some nucleation sites inside the package.


    https://www.mbaa.com/publications/tq/tqPastIssues/1978/Documents/15_15.pdf


    ------------------------------
    Jason Weihbrecht
    GM of Brewery Operations
    Oskar Blues Brewery
    Brevard NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 09-13-2022 11:15
    Another possible scenario:

    Calcium oxalate crystals can increase in concentration over time in yeast. If you harvest and re-pitch yeast over and over and don't manage it correctly it can increase the amount of calcium oxalate which then can lead to gushing. 

    This can occur even if you are aiding their precipitation in the mash with the right salts profile. 


    ------------------------------
    Philip Kochanke
    Kichesippi Beer Co
    Ottawa ON
    (613) 600-2968
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 09-15-2022 20:27
    Erbsloeh offers a product which counteracts gushing.  My former company used to sell it and it worked great.  Here the information from their technical data sheet:

    AnGus® 1516 is a powder product used to precipitate oxalic acid and proteins in beer wort; thereby aiding in the prevention of
    gushing. The product is an alternative to using calcium chloride and calcium sulfate in the brewing liquor. AnGus® 1516 is a
    calcium enriched silica which provides nucleation sites for calcium oxalate crystals to form. The calcium oxalate along with the
    AnGus® 1516 are then precipitated out in the whirlpool. This removal of oxalate prevents gushing without altering the chloride or
    sulfate concentrations. It has been tested by specialized laboratories for purity and quality.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers,

    ------------------------------
    Dirk Loeffler
    Loeffler Hygiene & Safety Solutions
    (404) 229-7583
    loeffler.dirk@loefflerhygiene.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 09-16-2022 11:32
    Thanks Dirk.  I have gone down the rabbit hole of calcium oxalate and don't believe that is the issue.  I've tested the calcium in our wort and it's in a normal range to precipitate oxalate and I've never been able to find the oxalate crystals under the scope.

    ------------------------------
    Jason Weihbrecht
    GM of Brewery Operations
    Oskar Blues Brewery
    Brevard NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 09-16-2022 12:43
    Another common cause for gushing is a fungal infection of the barley and malt, particular by strains of Fusarium. If you use a certain type of barley malt for the beer in question, the cause could be traced back to the barley itself.

    Cheers,

    ------------------------------
    Dirk Loeffler
    Loeffler Hygiene & Safety Solutions
    (404) 229-7583
    loeffler.dirk@loefflerhygiene.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 20 days ago

    Resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has had success intentionally recreating the "winter type" gushing phenomenon. We have been trying the method described in this paper but have not had success. Curious to hear if any other methods have been developed to screen for this issue. 



    ------------------------------
    Robert Beezer
    Quality Supervisor
    Pfriem Family Brewers
    Hood River OR
    2532413804
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Gushing Potential

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 19 days ago
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Something to consider that we have run into. Calcium oxalate crystals form when oxalate from malt husks binds with calcium in your brewing water, creating jagged microscopic solids that act as nucleation sites for carbonation to rapidly erupt. While the ions bond quickly upon meeting, the overall process of gathering into crystals takes time and is accelerated by heat. If you have enough calcium present during the hot mash or boil, the crystals form rapidly and drop out into the trub before packaging. However, if calcium levels are too low early on, unreacted oxalate makes it into the bottle where it slowly forms crystals over weeks or months, eventually leading to a delayed gushing problem long after your beer is bottled.  This is especially true in lower gravity beers. 


    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 18 days ago
    I agree with all the points raised here...but we have had experience just with physical stability causing gushing issues.    So for our lagers we add a zerogel (Britesorb) to our filtrations and with our ales we add the zerogel as well as PVPP to reduce the chill haze potential.   You can test the beer with a forced haze (measure the 0C haze fresh and after 5 days incubated at 50 C to determine the potential for chill haze).     Once we reduced these values our gushing issues went away.

    JP Auger
    VP Manf Ops
    Northam Beverages



    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 18 days ago

    Robert, while we have not used this method to try and recreate the winter gushing, we did suffer from it for a while with our dry-hopped brands primarily.  After ~2 months in the package they would foam over upon opening.  It usually wasn't so severe that you lost a significant amount of beer, a typical foam-over would basically flood the lidof the can.  Still not what we want nor what the consumer would expect for a product well within date.  The thing that finally put the kaibosh to it for us was when we starting using proline-specific endoprotease.  So if you have been/are using Clarex/B-Clear or equivalent, and are actively looking to recreate winter gushing, I would recommend discontinuing its use given our experience.



    ------------------------------
    Shawn Savuto
    COOP Ale Works
    Oklahoma City OK
    (405) 842-2667
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 18 days ago

    Hello Everyone,

    I have seen good ideas from your replies and I would take the root-causes approach 

    It could be a good idea to check everywhere in the process to find way to overcome this time-depentent gusching issue sustainably.

    Time-dependent gusching could be due to several causes ,see below:

     Raw Materials / Malt

    • "Oxalates from barley/malt can aggregate over time and trigger gushing."
    • "Poor protein–polyphenol balance can create late‑stage precipitates (haze → gushing)."

    Brewing Water / Wort Chemistry

    • "Low calcium means CO₂ is less tightly bound, increasing gushing risk as the beer ages."
    • "High bicarbonates lead to late colloidal precipitation."

    Hot & Cold Side Processing

    • "Persistent proteins and unstable colloids act as nucleation sites over time."
    • "Weak boil or poor trub separation leaves lipids/proteins that promote gushing later in shelf‑life."
    • "Insufficient cold‑break leads to precipitates that evolve after a few months."

    Fermentation & Maturation

    • "Low natural antioxidants in pale lagers mean the matrix offers weaker colloidal stability as the beer ages, allowing defects to emerge."

    Stabilisation & Filtration

    • "Insufficient chill‑proofing results in delayed precipitates that can become gushing triggers at months 4–6."
    • "Filtration fines can remain as sub‑visible particles and cause gushing after storage."

    Oxidation & Metals

    • "Oxygen pickup causes slow oxidation, generating colloidal aggregates that drive gushing during ageing."
    • "Trace metals accelerate oxidation, producing reactive particles that increase risk over time."

    Packaging & Carbonation

    • "Local over‑carbonation pockets can trigger gushing later in the beer's life."
    • "Micro‑roughness in returnable glass or headspace particles act as nucleation sites throughout shelf‑life."
    • "High DO/HO levels promote instabilities that appear over time."

    Why hop‑forward beers suffer less from time‑related gushing

    • "Hop oils coat particles and reduce nucleation sites, lowering gushing risk as the beer ages."
    • "Higher polyphenols give better colloidal stability, delaying or preventing defects."
    • "Shorter shelf‑life means defects have less time to develop."

    Observational / Time‑Based Patterns

    • "Gushing appearing after several months is typical of colloidal instability or oxalate accumulation."
    • "Oxalates continue to aggregate during prolonged storage."
    • "By month 5, micro‑oxidised particles can act as nucleation triggers."

    Stability & Ageing Tests

    • "Accelerated colloidal stability tests help predict behavior over time."
    • "Forced gushing tests simulate the risk of late‑shelf‑life gushing."
    • "Ageing trials at 3/4/5/6 months confirm long‑term stability.

    The gushing potential associated with hydrophobins can be mitigated through the use of proteolytic enzymes. Among these, papain was identified as particularly effective. Studies demonstrated that papain addition during mashing significantly reduces hydrophobin activity while having no detrimental impact on the foam stability of the finished beer.

    Kind regards



    ------------------------------
    Paul Kapopo
    BRALIMA / HEINEKEN
    KINSHASA
    243998943281
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 15 days ago
    Edited by Lars Larson 15 days ago

    In regards to gushing beer one possible reason a forcing program may not work is that it is for a form of gushing that is different than what the brewer is experiencing. There are four forms of gushing and the approach to forcing is different for each one.

    Fusarium Related (hydrophobins)

    Nucleation Site (Calcium oxalate and DE etc.)

    Microbiological (yeast or other bacteria)

    "Winter" Gushing

     The best approach is to determine which form of gushing a brewer is experiencing and once confirmed use the correct forcing program.

    One warning, for those that are experiencing winter gushing and looking for a quick fix, you may be disappointed. It is a complex/multivariate problem and usually needs a holistic approach to understand root cause drivers. Effect blocking may be a possibility but root cause elimination is preferred.



    ------------------------------
    Travis Audet
    Slant Six Consulting
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    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Gushing Potential

    Posted 18 days ago

    Are you using any downstream hops?



    ------------------------------
    Edgar Finol
    Cerveceria Polar CA
    Edo Carabobo
    582418162250
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    Original Message


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