Overprimed or Impatient?

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maztec

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Two weeks ago I bottled a Hefeweizen. I primed with 233g sucrose in 5 gallons of brew.

I was aiming for Bavarian style Hefeweizen at about 4.0 volumes CO2.

So, two weeks have gone past. In the past, when I have opened a bottle at the two week point, I get a satisfying pop, a little fizzle, pour it, and it comes out fine.

This time, I have BEER VOLCANOES! Tastes great, but it will literally foam out every drop of beer if I don't pour it off fast and let it settle.

I understand this is what some people call a "bottle bomb".

So, have I overprimed it? I used this to calculate my priming: TastyBrew.com | Homebrewing Calculators | Botting Priming Calculator

Or, am I being impatient, and I should wait another week or several to see how it goes?

:confused:

And two things for future reference:

At about what CO2 level do BEER VOLCANOES usually become a problem?

And if I leave more headroom when bottling a high CO2 beer will that decrease the odds of having a BEER VOLCANO?

:drunk:

-M

PS: No, it is not as fizzy as soda. Yes, I have tried letting it sit in the fridge for up to three days before opening it. Yes, it has been hot out lately. Yes, these are fliptop bottles so I can offgas by opening and closing them to reduce the volcano. My fermentation did not appear to be stuck, I had it in the primary for 3 weeks and the secondary for 2 weeks, OG was 1.045 - FG was 1.014. Expected OG/FG for the recipe were 1.49/1.015. SG was steady for 4 days before going into the secondary and 3 days before bottling.

PPS: Imagine BEER VOLCANO said in a deep, movie, dramatic voice.

:tank:

Thanks!
 
The house has been 80F-90F consistently the last few weeks, SWMBO refuses to let me leave the windows open while we are at work. This is very unusual heat for this time of year in my area. I have kept the bottles in a slightly cooler area with a fan on them and a temperature monitor. The lowest they have been at is 75F, the highest 83F, average has been about 80F.

I estimated, based on the weather forecast, that it would be about 75F, so entered 75F into the calculator.

From my basic calculations, for about 4 volumes of CO2 [what are the actual units here?] I should be looking at about 3g difference in sucrose per 5 degree rise from 75F to 85F. I would think that would not be enough to make it go from nice amount of CO2 to bottle volcano. Would it?


Thanks Mad Milo.
 
i have the same problem!

whenever i bottle a hef all the beer starts fizzing over?

is it because im bottling too early? i usually a bottle a hef after 7 days in the ferementer?
 
Um... That's not a bottle bomb. A bottle bomb is when the co2 pressure builds to a point that your bottle breaks, dumping the beer all over the place. The rule of thumb is this will only happen when you're away from home and not available to clean it up, and it will only happen in the one part of the house that SWMBO definitely, positively, and absolutely does not want beer spilled in. It will then leak through the floor and destroy priceless, unreplaceable family photos that you have stored in the basement.

Now, on to the carbing... It takes time for liquid to absorb co2. Just because the yeast have produced it doesn't mean that the beer has absorbed it yet.

4 volumes is a lot of co2, you should expect and plan for additional time to allow that to soak into the beer. Also, cold liquid absorbs more co2 than warm, and does it more quickly, so after enough time had gone by for the yeast to produce all that gas, you should probably give them a few days in the fridge to allow it to absorb into the beer instead of just having super high pressure in your headspace.
 
yellowthunda said:
i have the same problem!

whenever i bottle a hef all the beer starts fizzing over?

is it because im bottling too early? i usually a bottle a hef after 7 days in the ferementer?

I wait 3 weeks minimum before bottling, for regular gravity beers this gives time for yeast to clean up complex dextrins.

Also more yeast will settle to bottom of primary/secondary further clearing your beer. 7 days is too soon.

For the OP wait it out allow them to sit in fridge longer there isn't much else you can do.

You may have used too much sugar, conditioned too hot of temp or wild yeast got into your beer.
 
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