What should I do with my potential bottle bombs?

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bwoodworth

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So I am trying to get a batch of Hefeweizen ready for a party I am having in a couple weeks. I brewed on 3/23. My expected OG was 1.057, but I ended up with 1.052. I bottled it on 4/2 in hopes that it would carbonate in time (12 days before party). The FG at that point was 1.016. According to my recipe calculator it should have been 1.013. I put in enough priming sugar for 4.04 vols of CO2. I'm worried that I may have bottled too soon and I could be in danger of having bottle bombs. What do you all think?
Here is the recipe I followed: http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/edit/3681

I decided to go open one and see where it is at and once opened it foamed up fast and overflowed the bottle. It was warm, but that stills seems bad since it has only been 2 days and it still tastes sweet. Help! What should I do? Can I pour them all back into a fermenter and wait until I am sure fermentation is done?
 
At this point, pouring them back in the fermenter is definately NOT a good idea. I've done the pour back thing to a recent batch (see this thread) and I've been told it was a big mistake due to the likelihood of oxidation ruining the beer. My batch is still drinkable, in fact tastes quite good, but everyone on that thread are telling me it needs to be drunk fast before oxidation takes hold. But I poured mine back right away, yours is already carbonated, so pouring back would be even worse. If it really was 1.016 you are probably not at high risk of bottle bombs, just over-carbonation. But to be safe, I would make sure the bottles are in an enclosed box or covered container, a plastic container such as a cooler would be best.

Try chilling a bottle and then open it and see if it still foams out of the bottle when opened. One possible option to releive the overcarbination might be to de-cap the bottles, cover with cling film, let them de-gas a bit and re cap them. (That's assuming that you can de-cap them without having the beer gush out.) I have no experience doing this so hopefully someone else will chime in on whether this is a good idea or not.
 
Since it will be drunk at a party WTH chill pop all the tops recap and let them come to room temp. Open one in a couple of days and see what you have.
 
You FG is not that bad but 4.04 volumes seems like a lot to me. Handle carefully (don't clink bottles together) chill for 24 hours and open one to see what it does. I have had some over carbonated beers that I had to pour into a pitcher a let the foam die down, then pour into a glass. Otherwise, the beer was fine.

I did have a bottle blow up in my hand many years ago and it took some stitches to close the wound. Be careful and wear heavy gloves and/or wrap the bottle in a towel plus use eye protection until you figure out just how bad it is.
 
I'm not an expert, but don't recently bottled warm beers tend to foam?

It could just be that and you're worrying for nothing. Put em in a tupperware, wait a week, fridge one for 2 days. If it still foams....don't bring them to the party as you'll make a mess.
 
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