Carbing in the bottle

[ECH]

Hey there guys,

Need some guidance, advice, whatever.

Been brewing now for a number of years, haven't made the jump to kegs (yet), so still bottling.

Something that has always plagued my bottling is the bottles getting over carbed. If I went by what Beersmith tells me, I should be using more than I am, but still getting massively over carbonation.

Some batches take a while, while others like my last batch took no time.

Simple west coast style IPA, 1.055 og, 1.010 fg. I don't recall the yeast I used, either Nottingham or Windsor (was sort of a west coast meets east coast IPA).

I used about 3.3oz of priming sugar (corn) for the batch (standard 5g batch), BS said to use 4.01oz. (for 2.3 volumes)

Was at room temp for a week, then I had a tester bottle, and was carbed great after a week. Brought the batch into the basement on the floor where it is cool, and now a couple weeks later, bottles are over carbed.

Short of using less priming sugar, what else can I do? If I drop it to say 2.75oz of priming sugar and let it go for longer would it fix it?

[Roger]

That's strange!
If your beer hasn't reached it's final gravity it could lead to over carbonation.
You might want to make sure your scale is accurate and the numbers you plug into the calculator are correct. Maybe try a different on line calculator like brewers friend or northern brewer.
Another cause could be the possibility of infection. If you use a plastic bucket to bulk prime the bucket might have some tiny scratches that could harbor bacteria. Also if you don't boil the priming sugar before you add it that could lead to an infection. I usually use the microwave to boil/sterilize the sugar solution just nuke anything that might be on the sugar.
You might try changing your priming bucket and all plastic hoses that contact the beer.
I was hesitant going with kegs and forced carbonating my beer but since I did I rarely bottle my beer anymore. Kegging is just so efficient and easy. I bottled for over 15 years and I wish I took the leap to kegging much sooner.

It's hard to say for sure what's causing your carbonation issue but I hope you get it figured out. 

[ECH]

Boil the priming sugar solution for 10-15 mins.

I ferment with a Fast Ferment and it gets added to the top of the fermenter and gently stirred. Final gravity was reached, and left for 3 days to be sure.

[Roger]

In theory the fastferment is great idea. But it's all plastic so there's a lot of places bacteria can hide, in seems, in valves and in small scratches.
If you're sure you're not getting infections from the fastferment you should really consider kegging.

[jamie_savoie]

One thing that come to my mind since you mention IPA is hop creep
Take a bottle and pour a sample thru a coffee filter then take a gravity reading to see where it's at now
Might be a good idea to add ¼ of a camden tablet when bottling

[ECH]

Yeah, not getting an infection from the vessel, because I have done the same when fermenting in glass, so that isn't it.

Thought camden tabs were just for getting chlorine out of the water? I start with RO and adjust as needed from there. 

[jamie_savoie]

Sulfites also strip the oxygen present and is a preserving agent
Another tip when bottling hoppy beer is to fill the bottle almost completely. Like 1cm headspace