JWhitBeer
Member
This weekend I experienced my first ever bottle bomb. Thank God I it exploded in the bottom of a tiled closet, so nobody was hurt and the mess was minimal.
I had bottled a Hefeweizen (5-Gal Extract batch, 14-days in primary, SG 1.050, FG-1.010) with 7.25 oz of dextrose intending to hit 3.5-4 volumes of CO2, consistent with the style. I bottled a 6-pk of 12-oz first and filled the rest in 22-oz bottles. All bottles were kept in the AC house temp of about 72F. The bomb occurred in a 12-oz bottle at 16 days post priming. I carefully bled the pressure off the remainig five 12-oz bottles and moved them to refrigeration temp. I moved the 22-oz bottles into my fermentation fridge at about 65F, but did not bleed off any pressure.
Its been almost a week and no more bombs have happened. The 22-oz brews are great when I drink them now, no gushers at all and they are nice an fizzy like I had intended. I gave one of the 12-ozer to a friend at work, but he said that it gushed (free flowing) when he opened it. I did let it warm to room temp in the office before he took it home, but then it sat in his fridge for a day.
Finally to the point...Why are the 12-oz bottles giving an issue but not the 22-oz ones? Will my 22-oz bottles reach dangerous carb levels with time if I leave them as is (@65F) or will they be fine? Is putting them in a colder environment sufficient to combat my overcarb issue or should I bleed them a bit? Is it possible that since the 12-oz bottles were the first to be filled they got a richer primimg mix? (I racked on top of the priming sugar solution in my bottling bucket).
Any input is appeciated. Maybe I should just stick with the standard 5oz of dextrose I had always been using, lol.
Cheers
,
Jason
Primary - Graff (cider-beer) & German Altbier & Mead #1,#2,#3
Secondary - nada
Bottled - Porter, American Abbey IPA, Hefeweizen
On Deck - Pale Ale & California Common
I had bottled a Hefeweizen (5-Gal Extract batch, 14-days in primary, SG 1.050, FG-1.010) with 7.25 oz of dextrose intending to hit 3.5-4 volumes of CO2, consistent with the style. I bottled a 6-pk of 12-oz first and filled the rest in 22-oz bottles. All bottles were kept in the AC house temp of about 72F. The bomb occurred in a 12-oz bottle at 16 days post priming. I carefully bled the pressure off the remainig five 12-oz bottles and moved them to refrigeration temp. I moved the 22-oz bottles into my fermentation fridge at about 65F, but did not bleed off any pressure.
Its been almost a week and no more bombs have happened. The 22-oz brews are great when I drink them now, no gushers at all and they are nice an fizzy like I had intended. I gave one of the 12-ozer to a friend at work, but he said that it gushed (free flowing) when he opened it. I did let it warm to room temp in the office before he took it home, but then it sat in his fridge for a day.
Finally to the point...Why are the 12-oz bottles giving an issue but not the 22-oz ones? Will my 22-oz bottles reach dangerous carb levels with time if I leave them as is (@65F) or will they be fine? Is putting them in a colder environment sufficient to combat my overcarb issue or should I bleed them a bit? Is it possible that since the 12-oz bottles were the first to be filled they got a richer primimg mix? (I racked on top of the priming sugar solution in my bottling bucket).
Any input is appeciated. Maybe I should just stick with the standard 5oz of dextrose I had always been using, lol.
Cheers
,Jason
Primary - Graff (cider-beer) & German Altbier & Mead #1,#2,#3
Secondary - nada
Bottled - Porter, American Abbey IPA, Hefeweizen
On Deck - Pale Ale & California Common
