I think I bottled my big beer WAY too soon...

I posted on here a few weeks ago about an Imperial IPA I brewed. When I added to the carboy after boiling, I couldn't get an OG because the wort was so thick, it wouldn't mix with the water for a few days (despite vigorous shaking). So, I have no OG. The recipe I used had 10 pounds of LME, a pound of crystal grains and a pound of maris otter grains, so I know this is one huge mutha of an IPA. I used one vial of White labs california ale yeast. I don't think the hops are relevant to my current question.

At any rate, being only my second batch, I realize now after reading on here that I did not leave it in the fermenter long enough. (My first batch fermented for 7 days and conditioned in the bottle for 2 weeks and was great, but it was a much smaller beer). Not knowing any better until now, this beer was only in the primary for 2 weeks before I bottled. While the airlock had stopped bubbling, I'm still worried I bottled too soon.

After a week in the bottle, I tried one and it was horrible. The carbonation wasn't all the way there, so I'm not worried about bottle bombs, but the beer tasted like jet fuel or like it was mixed with vodka or something. I think I hopped adequately for this beast because the bitterness was nice, but the alcohol aftertaste was just nasty.

I know that one week in the bottle is way too soon for any ale to taste good, but I want to try one every week so I can learn hoe beer improves with age. This one was so bad though, I'm worried.

Will this insanely high alcohol taste mellow out after a month or so in the bottles, or is this batch just ruined because I didn't leave it in the primary long enough?

Sorry I don't have hydrometer readings. I'm still really knew at this and realize now that this was my second major mistake.

Thank you guys so much; this forum is awesome.

Just wait it out. Two weeks is WAY too soon to try a big beer, and too soon to bottle. keep checking the pressure on those bottles, and deep six 'em for about three months.

did you just pitch the vial of yeast w/o any starter? for a big beer (my estimate gives about a 1.086 if you did a mini mash), you absolutely need a starter, otherwise you are stressing the yeast out definitely contributing to the production of fusel alcohols, which produces the 'jet fuel' taste. also, what temp did you ferment at? that can also have an major impact on fusel production. like said above, this is way too early to make any inference on how the final product will taste. if i were you, i'd wait at least another month before trying one again, you'll just be disappointed. it will mellow with age, but if too many fusels were produced, it might not fully go away. but just wait it out, i'm sure it'll be plenty drinkable with time.

android said:

did you just pitch the vial of yeast w/o any starter? for a big beer (my estimate gives about a 1.086 if you did a mini mash), you absolutely need a starter, otherwise you are stressing the yeast out definitely contributing to the production of fusel alcohols, which produces the 'jet fuel' taste. also, what temp did you ferment at? that can also have an major impact on fusel production. like said above, this is way too early to make any inference on how the final product will taste. if i were you, i'd wait at least another month before trying one again, you'll just be disappointed. it will mellow with age, but if too many fusels were produced, it might not fully go away. but just wait it out, i'm sure it'll be plenty drinkable with time.

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Thanks. This is reassuring. I think I'll take your advice and wait a month before trying another one. They're in bombers so it's quite waste of beer to open one and not even be able to drink it. The first one took me about 4 hours.

I did not use a starter; just pitched out of the vial.

I fermented at 70-72 degrees for 15 days.

If you bottled the entire batch in bombers, it will take a few months before it even starts carbonating properly. A beer that big will age for a couple of years, so I would hide it in a cool corner of your basement/cellar (IF you have one) and forget about it.
I did a big Saison (a little bigger than your IPA) two years ago this July, and it is just now aging to the point of palatability, although I can still detect a bit of the alcohol bite. Like you, I also neglected to use a starter. Lesson learned! It also fermented for a few weeks, BTW.

My first Barley wine was pitched without a starter. Needless to say, it did not ferment out fully and is a little on the thick side.

The next large beer (1.130) I did was started with a very large starter and it fermented down to 1.040 within the first five days. It was racked to secondary at 10 days to fully ferment and age.

A good healthy starter is the key to a good large beer.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm just gonna put it in a corner of the basement and try to forget about it until at least June.

I think I'll stick to the more normal gravity beers until I gain some experience with this whole thing.

Got a nice pale ale in the fermenter now. I won't even touch the IIPA until the pale is gone.

Thanks again!

tcbratto said:

Thank you all for your responses. I'm just gonna put it in a corner of the basement and try to forget about it until at least June.

I think I'll stick to the more normal gravity beers until I gain some experience with this whole thing.

Got a nice pale ale in the fermenter now. I won't even touch the IIPA until the pale is gone.

Thanks again!

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all of this could've been avoided with a hydrometer.

they're cheap too. look em up on amazon.

tcbratto,
Anytime you bottle beer without knowing if fermentation is complete, you have the potential for bottle bombs. Go ahead and store it in a corner of the basement, but make sure you have it enclosed behind something strong. An exploding bottle is no joke. It can kill you.

Minky said:

An exploding bottle is no joke. It can kill you.

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I agree that bottle bombs are a very bad thing, but KILL YOU? Come on. Unless your holding it up to your ear like a phone, or wearing them as a necklace, you might get cut, but death by homebrew, thats no good


(btw all meant in fun, Minky)

Potter1 said:

I agree that bottle bombs are a very bad thing, but KILL YOU? Come on. Unless your holding it up to your ear like a phone, or wearing them as a necklace, you might get cut, but death by homebrew, thats no good


(btw all meant in fun, Minky)

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a shard of class to the neck can be deadly, even if it's not big enough to cut a large vein.

could you imagine getting a tiny shard of class somehow circulating in your bloodstream?

An IPA at 1082? Certainly doesn't need to sit in your basement for years...

I'd say its drinkable in 3 months no problems in bottles. I've pitched plenty of 1080~ beers with just a vial of california and get fine attenuation. maybe a little higher than normal but i'm always happy with big beers that end at 1020~

Wow what are you guys final destination freaks?

h4rdluck said:

Wow what are you guys final destination freaks?

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I'm just aware of the threat of emboli on the body. even so much as one air bubble from a poorly administered IV can be problematic, so a tiny shard of glass floating around and cutting everything it hits would be a giant pain in the ass, especially when it finally makes it into your heart.


at the very least, it would be a pain in the ass to clean up a bottle bomb that's caused a lot of damage in your box and you might cut your hand or something.

In case you think I'm exaggerating about the power of an exploding bottle, a buddy of mine capped a bottle of yeast with a little beer that he took from a primary, intending to use it to brew with a week later. He placed it in the refrigerator and forgot about it. About 3 weeks later that sucker blew up. It drove a nice big, jugular-severing sized piece of the neck of the bottle into the refrigerator door with such force that it made a nice pointy dent on the outside steel skin of the door that stuck out about a quarter inch.

If your skin is stronger than that door, I wouldn't worry about it.

Minky said:

In case you think I'm exaggerating about the power of an exploding bottle, a buddy of mine capped a bottle of yeast with a little beer that he took from a primary, intending to use it to brew with a week later. He placed it in the refrigerator and forgot about it. About 3 weeks later that sucker blew up. It drove a nice big, jugular-severing sized piece of the neck of the bottle into the refrigerator door with such force that it made a nice pointy dent on the outside steel skin of the door that stuck out about a quarter inch.

If your skin is stronger than that door, I wouldn't worry about it.

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People have gotten seriously injured by bottle bombs. It is a possibility that it could kill you. Likely, no, but possible.

Seriously? Wow, I didnt think it would explode like THAT

And just think, the bombers are a thicker stronger glass, at least mine are. Thicker glass, means more gas - higher pressure - bigger BOOM!

Could make for a fun sticky! I'd be up for setting up controlled run.

I had 3 bottles of cider blow up at pasturizing... waited a day too long... The first one blew up in the pot, launched the bulk of the bottle with force into the stove duct fan, where it burst in tiny bits.

We wore safety glasses and long sleves and ov gloves the rest of the way. Had two more blow up, one jumped out of the pre warming pot, went about a foot in the air. The third one just popped on the counter.

While the first one was the most dangerous, if I were standing closer, easily would have had glass shrapnel in my eyes.

To the poster.. don't brew anymore it you have the tools that can give you readings to work from. Especially when you've bottled something that probably should have sat in the fermentor or secondary a lot longer.

I see the above discussion happened about 3 years ago - TC Bratto how did they come out in the end?

I am ultra new brewer (my first ever extract batch is still bottle conditioning). I am trying to understand what difference there is between (a) bottling too early (while yeast from the primary is still active) without adding any primer and (b) letting the yeast run its course and then adding a yeast primer...

- that is if you are happy to let your beer bottle condition for a long time?

Likefully said:

I see the above discussion happened about 3 years ago - TC Bratto how did they come out in the end?

I am ultra new brewer (my first ever extract batch is still bottle conditioning). I am trying to understand what difference there is between (a) bottling too early (while yeast from the primary is still active) without adding any primer and (b) letting the yeast run its course and then adding a yeast primer...

- that is if you are happy to let your beer bottle condition for a long time?

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While you can technically do (a), you shouldn't. It's too tricky to control in a home environment, and you won't know just how much fermentable stuff is left when you bottle, and that's asking for trouble. Trouble as in bottle bombs.

yancydc said:

While you can technically do (a), you shouldn't. It's too tricky to control in a home environment, and you won't know just how much fermentable stuff is left when you bottle, and that's asking for trouble. Trouble as in bottle bombs.

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Thanks. Will watch it closely!

I just bottled and am suddenly very worried I may have created 35 bottle bombs rather than 35 bottles of beer.

I got everything going in the fermenter and waited six days to check the gravity, it went down the recommended amount, from 1.040 to 1.030 and had been bubbling a LOT less than days prior. I had kept it above 70*F and it was really going for the first five days or so.

My question is, did I bottle dangerously early? I can't seem to get a consensus here, I see a week here and two weeks elsewhere all the way up to a month and even three months... I don't want a dangerous situation on my hands is all. Advice GREATLY appreciated.

drinkinfool said:

I just bottled and am suddenly very worried I may have created 35 bottle bombs rather than 35 bottles of beer.

I got everything going in the fermenter and waited six days to check the gravity, it went down the recommended amount, from 1.040 to 1.030 and had been bubbling a LOT less than days prior. I had kept it above 70*F and it was really going for the first five days or so.

My question is, did I bottle dangerously early? I can't seem to get a consensus here, I see a week here and two weeks elsewhere all the way up to a month and even three months... I don't want a dangerous situation on my hands is all. Advice GREATLY appreciated.

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I never check a first gravity before 14 days. With a bigger beer I would likely wait longer. No beer should be rushed to be bottled in less than 14 days in my opinion.

But my question is, is it dangerous?

drinkinfool said:

But my question is, is it dangerous?

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It can be. If fermentation wasn't done and they continue to ferment in the bottle the risk of explosion is higher. A beer should be fully fermented before bottling. The idea behind adding a prescribed amount of sugar is to control the amount of co2 the yeast will produce. If fermentation wasn't 100% done before giving the yeast the priming sugar you have know way of knowing how much co2 they produce since they are now fermenting priming sugar and whatever sugar was left in the wort.

sure sounds like it could be dangerous. can any explain why a bottle bomb would blow glass apart and not just blow the cap off? can the capping of a bottle actually withstand more pressure than the integrity of the glass bottle itself? my understanding are that these "bombs" are created by excessive Co2 buildup. doesn't that Co2 gather in the one inch or so head space at the top of the bottle closest to the cap?

I've had one bottle go, I think my bottle was a week bottle as it was the only one, I'm glad I wasn't holding it ! It was in a cupboard, glass went to every corner ! What surprised me was that the cap was still on and obviously held more than the glass.
Look to the safety , keep them in a closed environment, open them wearing gloves, in the sink and waterproof trousers are in order,
good luck !

Is six days WAY too short. I just want someone to either dispel my fear or validate it so I can act accordingly. I brewed once before about a year ago and had a lot going on at the time so I couldn't remember how long it was in the tank for... I just remember that I wasn't supposed to let the brew stop bubbling completely for whatever reason. So, once this was bubbling very infrequently I figured it was time to bottle it up.

Six days is to short. Take precautions and store them away from anything that would be damaged by liquids or glass.

Appreciated.

No problem. You could if you wanted uncap one at a week in the bottle and check it. If it seems really carbonated you could then choose to uncap each one which will degas and relieve the pressure and then recap them with sanitized fresh caps.

Drinkinfool I suppose you should ask the army , they must ask themselves that all the time "will my bombs go off ?" Lol

drinkinfool said:

I just bottled and am suddenly very worried I may have created 35 bottle bombs rather than 35 bottles of beer.

I got everything going in the fermenter and waited six days to check the gravity, it went down the recommended amount, from 1.040 to 1.030 and had been bubbling a LOT less than days prior. I had kept it above 70*F and it was really going for the first five days or so.

My question is, did I bottle dangerously early? I can't seem to get a consensus here, I see a week here and two weeks elsewhere all the way up to a month and even three months... I don't want a dangerous situation on my hands is all. Advice GREATLY appreciated.

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What the heck are you brewing that the gravity went down only 10 points?!?!?
I would think that any brew starting at 1.040 should get down around 1.010 for a final gravity.
70* is a bit high for most beers, the yeast generally prefer ambient temps around low to mid 60s, but you'll still end up with beer.
I personally allow at MINIMUM 2 weeks for fermentation and clean up to happen, I find I get better beer after 3 weeks.
I've seen a lot of beginner kits that talk about a week here, a week there, implying that you are ready to drink in 2 weeks... really a decent beer needs at least twice that. The yeast themselves will tell you when they're done, especially if you have a hydrometer.
My procedure is that after the wort is pitched and into my fermentation area, I will check it the next morning, evening and the following morning to make sure things are happening, then I forget about it until roughly 18 to 21 days after brew. I will check the gravity, then seal it back up and come back in 2 or 3 more days. If the gravity is the same, then I will bottle. I mostly use bombers, but I do a couple 12 oz bottles as testers. I'll open one of those 2 to 3 weeks after brewing to see how it's coming, and go from there. Sometimes it's ready to drink, sometimes it needs another week or 2.

Many of these kits offer lousy advice. If you started at 1.040, you should be going much lower than 1.030 and probably be in the 1.012-1.016 range. I'm sorry but it is not you. Your learning and should have been given better advice.

You basically should allow fermentation to continue until you get the same FG for 3 days in a row. Usually this will take about 2 weeks although I leave mine sit for 3 weeks.

I would follow the advice of checking a bottle every other day. Once they begin to overcarb and foam out of the bottles then you are going into dangerous territory. At that point I would start popping caps open. And yes, the will often bust rather than pop their caps, making a mess of broken glass and beer.

I would suggest getting a copy of Palmer's "How to Brew" and do some reading from a good source before your next brew. Give it another try. Once you got it going, you'll be happy you stuck with it.

1.040 to 1.030 is hardly finished and it hardly had the chance to ferment.

You've gotten some good advice. If it were me, I would put them in cardboard boxes or Tupperware containers and put them in a closet. Every 3-4 days, I would crack one, see how far along they are on the fermentation, and when they got to a good carb level, throw them in my beer fridge. At that point, you're going to slow down the speed of the yeasties. I would probably drink them fairly quickly. Is the beer going to be a little "green"? Yes. Is it beer? Yes. Chalk that one up to experience, and in the future, put it in the primary and don't even take a reading for 10 days. But that's just me. Good Luck!

I've now had a giggle, mocked a bit and thought about it.
You are in a place I don't want to be re safety.
I suggest you empty your bottles into an FV add half a packet of yeast, a bag of hops (1oz) and ferment it out to less than 1.006. Then prime and bottle again.

Radical, yes
Safe, yes
You can still get a good beer from this, and a terrific learning tale
Good luck.

To add to the alarm: infections can create bottle bombs under almost any conditions. When I first started brewing I tried fermenting some apple juice and didn't bother to sanitize the bottles I bottled it in. When I opened them two (of the four) came gushing out with pink foam. The thing that worries me is that it seems like a bottle would be most likely to burst is when being handled and having some pressure applied to take the cap off. Or it may be the case that this level of agitation would have only a tiny effect on the internal pressure of the bottle.

Thanks for your support and advice, all. I appreciate it as I really didn't want bottles blowing up in my tiny Scottish apartment given that I would probably lose my deposit and then some...

So, what I did was, for all the bottles I was 100% sure were totally safe--just had bought and were sanitized before use--I emptied them back out into the primary fermenter. I added 250 grams of hops and half an envelope of yeast. The other bottles--the ones I emptied and cleaned myself, the more suspect for "infection"--I am going to monitor and uncap/recap if necessary.

As had been said, not the *best* options, as I could have avoided this with more patience and better directions, but it will still salvage some beer and keep me a bit safer, haha.

Also took them out of the closet and they're fermenting in the hallway at 20-24*C and about 65*C.

Seriously, thanks for the advice, especially the more thorough stuff. Really appreciate it, folks.

I will keep you all in the loop about the final product