My first bottle bombs await!

Hello brewers!

So last night I was bottling with some friends and probably shouldn't have been drinking so much. I took a hydrometer sample but didn't even check the reading until after I bottled! I assumed my beer was done. Was it over confidence? Beer fog? Stupidity? Maybe all of the above. But my FG was 1.021! OG was 1.058. I only let her ferment for 3 weeks. Today I flipped through my notes and realized every time I used Nottingham I gave it 4 weeks in primary. Just venting my worry here I guess. I got them locked up tight in those tuperware bins.

If one goes, will they all go? Is there anything that can be done if they start popping? I don't want to lose 61 beers. Please feel free to point and laugh.

And if any fellow noobs are reading this, learn from my stupidity! NEVER ASSUME YOUR BEER IS READY!!!

From my experience with making this same mistake, the beers either came out wayyy too sweet and I didnt even enjoy drinking them, or they sat at room temp long enough to finish fermenting and were either wayyy over-carbed or in a few bottles cases, strong enough to explode.

But to salvage what you can, if the bottles are at a desirable carbonation level then stick them in the fridge to make the yeast go dormant and hopefully prevent any further fermentation. Depending on the style, the beer may be overly sweet at this point though.

Bottlebombs aren't even a remote possibility (assuming you didn't WAY overprime).

They might overcarb a bit. Just give them at least 4 weeks in the bottle, chil well, decant and see what you've got.

Don't worry at all unless you put in too much priming sugar. The beer should be done fermenting in a week or so, if not there is a problem with your process. Your beer is done fermenting and another week won't effect your FG especially with nottingham, post your recipe and mash temp.

I love you guys. I try to avoid "I ruined my beer" threads, but you're so damn mind settling. Earlier I found a thread from a guy who made the same mistake, same yeast but a lower OG(1.048). A couple people told him he bottled bombs but he didn't post a follow up. Thanks for putting me at ease.

I will post my recipe when I get back to my notebook.

Here it is,

6 gallon batch
OG 1.058
Mash temp 153*

5.25 lbs. Marris Otter
1.0# Munich 10
0.5# Crystal 80
0.5# Carared
0.5# Victory
0.25 Caraaroma
3.5# Dry Briess Extra Light extract

FWH 1 oz US Fuggles
3 min, 1 oz EKG
3 min, 1 oz US Fuggles

2 packets rehydrated Nottingham yeast

Just tried the first one tonight. It is sweet but definitely still good. This was version 3 of the red I've been working on. Compared it to version 2, and this one is actually a lot better.

Would it work to let them carb for a week, pop em and re cap thereby letting off some of the CO2 produced?

Evan_L said:

Would it work to let them carb for a week, pop em and re cap thereby letting off some of the CO2 produced?

Click to expand...

Carbonation is surprisingly good. I wonder if it might have been slightly under carbed had I not screwed up.