Over Primed?? (long)

Hello Everyone,

I used my Beer Machine fermenter for a partial grain\extract recipe the LHBS guy prepared. It was a Stout that he specially weighed out to meet the Beer Machine's 2.5 gallon volume.

I experiemented a little bit as the fermenter has a pressure gauge on it and at six days the air release valve stopped bubbling. The gauge showed about 12psi. I put the keg in my fridge and let the coldness (40-42°) help absorb some of the CO2. When the gauge returned to zero I was at something like 8 days.

I pulled it from the fridge and returned it to room temps (70-74°) Low and behold the pressure went back up and the air release valve started bubbling again. I let this obvious un-stuck fermentation go and when it stopped the psi was at 12 again, so I returned it to the fridge and by today it was at 1 or 2 psi. I decided to bottle.

Here's the dillema, I tried a few ounces on Sunday while the pressure was high and it was wonderful! Head, carb charater etc. Tonight, I took out my pre-packaged corn sugar (pre-packed for full batch) and measured it out. It was 200ml, remembering the natural carbonation, I not only cut it in half (100ml) but shucked some more to make it 75ml.

Added all to my bottling bucket (after a boil in 1/2 cup water) and racked my beer. As it racked I became "frighfully" aware that the beer had a considerable amount of carb. I crossed my fingers.

What do you all think, do I have 23 bottle bombs sitting? I have them in boxes, with towels, yard bags etc to protect and serve. The bottles are filled to within ±1inch of the lip. Best bet? Please join me in "willing" these gems to stay quiet.

Thanks for any input...

Larry

I'm not sure I know the answer to your question, but why did you put it in the fridge when the fermentation slowed down? I would have thought you would just go ahead and bottle. If you're priming for carbonation you don't need to "capture" any of the fermentation carbonation.

i don't know why you did what you did either? be patient and let the yeast do its job. when it is done it will let you know, then bottle. just to be sure store the bottles in a SAFE PLACE!!!

Baron von BeeGee said:

why did you put it in the fridge when the fermentation slowed down? I would have thought you would just go ahead and bottle. If you're priming for carbonation you don't need to "capture" any of the fermentation carbonation.

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I put it in the fridge because I read that (in the case of a smaller fermentation vessle that can fit) cold temps help to absorb CO2 into the fluid. So, to take advantage of the greater opportunity to naturally carbonate my beer, I stuck it in there. I did so twice because of the re-occuring CO2 build ups during fermentation. The alternative would have been to release it prior to opening the fermenter or deal with a lot of foamy beer being forced out of the opening of my fermenter at the release of pressure and gas.

The dextrose prime was something I did out of "insurance" because I was not used to teh beer being as carbonated as it was this time ( I used no secondary for it to get flat in) Does this help?

thenatibrewer said:

i don't know why you did what you did either? be patient and let the yeast do its job. when it is done it will let you know, then bottle. just to be sure store the bottles in a SAFE PLACE!!!

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I was experimenting with the absorbtion theory. I truly believed that the initial fermentation was complete ( I have no hydrometer) I pitched a whole vial of WL Irish Ale yeast on 2.5 gallons so I surmised that there was certainly enough cells to accompish a complete fermentation in at least a week. The cold conditioning is not only viable, it works by my observation first hand and would repeat it again with another batch to keep from using corn sugar. Of course I would like to give it as much time as possible to ferment (I think 2 weeks is good) and then rack and bottle.