Pumpkin Bomb! How do I fix this for next time?

I made a pumpkin ale about 6 weeks ago. They've been in the bottle for nearly a month now and one of them just exploded. All of the bottles seem to be over carbonated and I'm pretty frustrated, even if it was just my second brew. I used an amber ale extract kit, 1lb can of pumpkin and 8oz priming sugar. The beer tastes great but I don't know how to fix the carbonation problem for next time. Any thoughts?

Also, when I bottled the beer it had been sitting in the fermenter for about 5 days with no bubbling. I realize now that's not the best way to know when the beer is done fermenting, but I didn't know that then.

Use your hydrometer. Once readings have stabilized for several days, bottle as normal. The reason you have bottle bombs is you beer was not finished fermenting.

You have two problems going on. First, don't bottle after a week. If you're not using a secondary, leave it in primary for at least 2 weeks, 3 better.

Also 8oz priming sugar? On a 5 gallon batch right? Way too much. 4oz is normal, 5oz if you like a lot of carb.

Somehow I missed the 8oz priming sugar part. This is most likely the problem as Bobby said.

you might try refrigerating them, get the temp down

This batch may require some drastic measures. Sounds like at best, every one of your bottles is going to be a gusher.

Chill one to near freezing and then try to open and pour. If it is completely unmanageable, go to plan "B".

Plan "B" - Get those bottels chilled and then move to a sink or tub and open, let them gush.

Whatever beer remains in the bottles...pour into a bottling bucket and then re-bottle. Do NOT add more sugar.

This degaussing should be enough to release unwanted excess carbonation, but leave enough in so the beer is still drinkable.

Whatever you do...don't do nothing. One bottle has already exploded and the others are potential hazards.

Next time...take hydrometer readings...minimum of three weeks in the fermenter(s)...4-5Oz of priming sugar.

on plan B, pour carefully into the bottling bucket so the remaining CO2 doesn't get released...or you could end up on the other end of the spectrum, with flat beer.

a hydrometer is a necessary tool, so get one asap.

plan b - could you not just open all the beers to let the co2 out and then recap them? why is bottling bucket>rebottling necessary?

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think I was clear in my first post, but I know now that I should check its gravity with a hydrometer. It was just my second batch and I figured that it wasn't bubbling so it was done. Being a noob is so much fun.

I think that at this point, I'll just dump the rest out. I only have about 6 bottles left. It's not worth the trouble to try and salvage any of it. It was a good beer, but not great by anymeans. It had a very pronounced clove flavor.

But thanks again for the suggestions, I'll certainly use them if this happens to another beer that is worth salvaging.

Sounds like the main problem was using too much priming sugar; too much sugar will cause bottle bombs regardless of whether or not your fermentation was truly finished (so gravity readings won't help).

I took my last few bottles into the garage and opened them there. Check out these bottle rockets:
http://www.nonameswereleft.com/NNWL/Exploding_Beer.html

cool vid, but a bit of advice: the neck of those bottles could break pretty easily when popping those tops. Looks like you made it out fine but if it happens again I would recommend gloves, and maybe a pair of shoes!

krispy d said:

cool vid, but a bit of advice: the neck of those bottles could break pretty easily when popping those tops. Looks like you made it out fine but if it happens again I would recommend gloves, and maybe a pair of shoes!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I was cringing watching that. Gloves would definitely be a good idea. Glad that there were no injuries.

It is hard to see in the video but i had a couple thick towels over the bottle. Shoes probably would have been smart, maybe goggles too, but then I'm not that smart it seems.