1 Day Bottled & Plastic Bottles Stiff Already

Hello everyone & Merry Christmas to everyone!

I bottled my first batch from my Mr. Beer kit on Monday (received it for Hanukkah this year). I bottled into 3 of the 1-Liter PET Bottles and the rest into 12oz glass bottles as people recommended the 1L bottles to test for carbonation progress as the plastic bottles will get stiff as the carbonation is happening.

So I used the recommended amount of table sugar as per Mr. Beer instructions. I checked on them before going to bed last night and my 1L plastic bottles are already stiff as if they are fully carbonated already. My concern is that I have used too much sugar and that my glass bottles may become too carbonated and I may have a bad thing happen to them.

Is this something I should worry about or are my plastic bottles just stiff because of the beer & the sugar and the amount of liquid in them?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

How long did you let it ferment and at what temperature?
What was your original gravity?
What gravity did it drop to before bottling?
Was the final gravity stable for several days?
How much sugar into how much beer?
What temperature are the bottles carbonating at?


bosco

1. Fermented for 2 weeks at 68°
2. OG was 1.040 before pitching.
3. FG was 1.006 before bottling.
4. FG measured same for two days.
5. As per instructions, 2.5 tsp per 1L bottle.
6. Bottles carbonating at the same 68° as fermentation.

I used a mixture of glass and plastic bottles to bottle my first brew, all the plastic bottles got stiff rather quickly, and got stiffer and stiffer, to the point where I could get no flex at all, all within a couple of days. If the temperature you're storing the bottles at is quite high, that could be a factor. I stored mine at around 23-25 degrees C for around 5 days, then moved them to a cooler place.

George7 said:

I used a mixture of glass and plastic bottles to bottle my first brew, all the plastic bottles got stiff rather quickly, and got stiffer and stiffer, to the point where I could get no flex at all, all within a couple of days. If the temperature you're storing the bottles at is quite high, that could be a factor. I stored mine at around 23-25 degrees C for around 5 days, then moved them to a cooler place.

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So yours were at about 73-77°F for a few days and mine are a bit cooler than that.

Either way you had no problems with the glass bottles though during this bottling of your first batch?

If my numbers are right, you added about 1.3 - 1.4 ounces of sugar per gallon.

Plug that into one of the carbonating calculators and see how it works out.
Sounds a little high to me?
OMO

bosco

Wow you're right, according to Screwy's calculator the sugar levels provided by Mr. Beer are really, really high, almost double what they should be. Should I be concerned about my glass bottles now?

According to the calculator, I need the following:
12oz Bottle - Need 0.5 tsp, Used 0.75 tsp
1L Bottle - Need 1.5 tsp, Used 2.25 tsp

Relax. I used the mr beer chart and never had a problem. While the beers were typically over carbonated, I never had a bottle bomb. If you hadn't used plastic bottles you probably would not have even given it another thought. I say relax. Wait two more weeks and enjoy your homebrew. Cheers

captwalt said:

Relax. I used the mr beer chart and never had a problem. While the beers were typically over carbonated, I never had a bottle bomb. If you hadn't used plastic bottles you probably would not have even given it another thought. I say relax. Wait two more weeks and enjoy your homebrew. Cheers

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HAHA thanks I think that is what I just needed to hear.

I get concerned when something I do conflicts with some other thing I read online and I am quick to jump to conclusions, but you are right. Without plastic I never would have second guessed myself and just let them sit for 2-3 weeks and would've had some delicious beer to drink without any worry.

I think I will just let them be until I drink them and enjoy the delicious brew and if they are over-carbonated then I will just use one of the online calculators to figure out the amount of sugar for next time.

Thanks again, I feel a bit better already.

Stigy said:

So yours were at about 73-77°F for a few days and mine are a bit cooler than that.

Either way you had no problems with the glass bottles though during this bottling of your first batch?

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They were stiff after the first day (and I did get slightly concerned that my glass bottles would explode at this point), they got stiffer and stiffer. Probably peaked at day 3. I had no bottle bomb issues in the end, and they all turned out very nicely (most have been drunk now!). All were very well carbonated.