HELP!! Are my bottles going to explode?!?!

Bisco_Ben · 02-07-2012, 03:28 AM

Hey guys, I know there are plenty of threads here on the topic but I just could not find conclusive information so i figured I would start one of my own. As I was bottling my dunkelweizen, I saw the proposed 3.6-4.5 carbonation level suggestions for such styled beers and carbed my brew to 3.6, and while skeptical of such a large amount of required corn sugar I still went along with what the brew calculator that has yet to let me down suggests. Now my question to you is, after adding about 8.5 ounces of corn sugar to ~5.5 gallons of dunkel bottled in regular 12oz amber bottles, are my bottles going to be ridiculously overcarbonated/explode and become dangerous? If so, why do these calculators tell us to do such stupid things? Did I just waste an entire batch of awesome dunkel because of this brewing app? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

badbrew · 02-07-2012, 03:49 AM

I hope you reached FG.

Bisco_Ben · 02-07-2012, 04:14 AM

FG was 1.012 (1.011 on the recipe). So as far as that is concerned, we should be good...These bottles are going to explode, aren't they? Is there anything I can do to salvage them?

Dynachrome · 02-07-2012, 04:48 AM

I uncorcked a batch that I had put about 3x the amount of bottling sugar as required.

Placed it into secondary again. waited till it finished, and rebottled it.

I DONT REALLY RECOMMEND THAT.

If you are realy worried, you co uld get some larger rubbermaid containers and place them inside. If they blow, it will be contained .

Also refigerating them should keep them from blowing up.

...also see the posts at the bottom of the page. It's like magic.

Bisco_Ben · 02-07-2012, 04:20 PM

I am going to try keeping them in the bottles and I guess see what happens. Does anyone have any sort of experience with this issue? Should I actually transfer to bottles to a carboy or keg? I really don't want to dump this whole batch.

**geneb** · 02-07-2012, 05:06 PM

My guess would be that they are alright. 12 oz bottles should hold about 4 volumes of CO2. Of course some 12 oz bottles are thinner than others and some may have minor defects that won't be noticed until they blow up.

For safety's sake I'd suggest opening one a day or every other day and popping them all in the fridge once you like the carbonation level. In the mean time, you should store them in closed large plastic bins (such as what Dynachrome suggested) just in case they do blow.

kehaar · 02-07-2012, 07:01 PM

I carbed in bottles to about 3.5 volumes (according to an online calculator). The bottles and caps held fine.

After about 10 days they were so carbed I put the bottles all in the fridge. Over the next two weeks they seemed to continue to climb in carbonation. I didn't like the result so I eventually uncapped all the bottles and recapped. That vented the head space in the bottles and a week after recapping the beer was much better.

Bisco_Ben · 03-07-2012, 03:55 AM

just to update anyone who comes across this thread...my bottles came about absolutely fine, and even better as they aged and finally reached their final carbonation level. I am pretty damn sure I hit my final volume correctly and calculated this to reach a 3.5-3.6 volume of CO2. Assuming all was done right, this was absolutely the perfect level for a hefe/dunkel. Plan to keep my wheat beers at this level from now on!