elementsix

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I just brewed a batch of beer and, in an attempt to make things easy, i bottled in cleaned, sanitized Grolsch pop-pop bottles. The only problem is they are over carbonated (probably due to temperature at bottling and too much priming suger. I opened one and it blew the pop top right of the bottle as if it were champagne! It was a mess. Needless to say, the beer was no good, and what stayed in the bottle just foamed out for 10 minutes.

My question is how can I best, safely open the remaining bottles with out beer exploding everywhere? I am worried about the bottles cracking or something when I open them.

How cold can I get the beer to reduce the CO2? Could I bring it to near freezing and would that significantly lower the pressure, allowing me to open them in a safer manner?


Thanks in advance!
KEVIN

hopsoda

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I would try to get them as cold as possible , and then open the top to release the gas and reseal them do that a few times and you should remove allot of the co2.

or you could poor them into a big bole , wait for the foam to settle and drink the mess.

you should probably release some of that gas in them before they blow , depending on how much sugar you primed with , does the beer still taste sweet? if so i would act prompt.

o and try opening them with a towel covering them so u don't catch a swingtop in the eye.
over the tub or in a bucket exc , to catch any beer if your not quick enough if they blow the tops off...

or maybe try sanitizing your bottling bucket and catch all the beer in them and wait for it to settle then re bottle ... sounds messy but that's what i would try. good luck

elementsix

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Thanks hopsoda.

After practically blowing one up all over my kitchen, I am more trying to avoid that again than I am trying to save the contents...

So putting them in the freezer will cause the liquid to expand but the pressure should drop, right?

Thanks

Bernie Brewer

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Three things I can think of that causes gushers. One, too much priming sugar. Two, infection. Three, bottling too soon. In any case, I don't think you can fix it. Maybe I am wrong, if so, someone will correct me.

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hopsoda

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ya you probably cant fix it, but you can try, if you get it to a drinkable state drink them asap and don't do whatever you did.

the liquid should not expand to much as long as you don't freeze them.

some of the bottles might not be as carb'd as the others ... the only way to find out is open another one.

like i said that's what i would try, i could be wrong , but wasting beer is wrong.
good luck.

if you don't mind wasting them give them away as a gag gift.

eurc51

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Any thoughts on why my last all-grain batch (Wee Heavy) would have variable carbonation? Some of the bottles are flat, some are good, and some are very carbonated - no explosions, but all head. This is the first time this has happened to me. My previous batches have all been good on carbonation. I'm getting to the point where my bottles are old. I wonder if some of the bottles were not clean enough. I didn't do anything else differently.

Thanks,

E

elementsix

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I'm probably not the right person to answer this as I am new to brewing.

pizzaman

Recipes 

Do you bulk prime or prime each bottle individually? Variable carbonation can be caused by this, or by improper cleaning/sanitation.