Bottle Bombs! I am worrying for nothing??

Here is the deal; this is my 15th brew and I have only had one single beer ever explode on me and i think the bottle was bad..... but here is why i am worried this time and would love to hear anyones opinion.


Brewed a belgian wit with an OG of 1.048 on sunday july 19th. took a gravity reading on friday the 24th and the gravity was at 1.009. Took a gravity reading two days later on the 26th of july and gravity was the same; 1.009. Figured it was done so I bottled yesterday, july 28th; 1 week and two days since i brewed the beer.

I take a look at one of my grolsch flip tops 6 hours after bottling and it looks like a small amount of white bubbles at the top of the beer, I give the bottle a whirl and a decent amount of bubbles seem to rise to the top. I am thinking man are these already carbing?? I pop the top of the grolsch and there is already a slight carbonation pop.

Now today I grab a 12 oz bottle that i have from the same batch and place it in the fridge for an hour. I open the bottle cap and there is a pretty decent "pfft" that comes from the bottle, after only 24 hours of priming.

Any thoughts???

I am scared, and think that i should pop all caps and then re cap??

Any thoughts would be awesome


Thanks

BTW; i fermented at 68-72 F with WYEAST 3944; i made a starter and it was a very active/almost explosive fermentation

ok, you fermented at those temps, but what temps are the bottles at? I assume about 72 or so? That is kind of quick, but I have never been that anxious to check it out at 24 hrs after bottling. I would just place them all in a bag in case they do blow. Unfortunately, I'm thinking infection. 1.009 is a pretty dry beer and shouldn't ferment anymore after you took grav readings a few days apart.

DId you use too much sugar to carb with?

If you used the same amount of sugar as you usually do to carb I wouldn't be toscared. Remember that the yeast are still fresh and active when you prime, not like when you're starting from scratch when you pitch your wort.

I've never messed with a bottle a day after priming, but I can tell you that I've pitched onto fresh yeast cakes, and they're doing their thing in a day. Essentially this is the same thing, so I would expect similar results.

i think you fine.. i've had bottles "pfffttt" a day or two after bottling

I have popped one about 36 hours after bottling, and I did have a decent amount of carbonation, but I imagine that it's different for every beer/batch.

The yeasties do go to work right away, and they do work fast.

As long as you used the proper amount of priming sugar and the beer had reached FG, you should be fine. Let them rest and do their thing.

Also, what temp are conditioning at? You should be between 65f-70f.

it is about 72-76 in my garage where the bottles are conditioning

I always take a hydrometer reading before racking from the primary, and I just assumed that if the FG shows the correct amount of attenuation, then bottle bombs are not an issue. Of course, I'm in pretty good shape for the first few weeks, as I keep the bottles upstairs where it's warmer in plastic totes with lids. If there are bombs, there may be a mess inside the tote, but that's it.

thanks for all the thoughts.

For right now i put all my bottles in a plastic tub with water and ice to keep the bottles cool. I took three beers and placed them in another plastic tub with no water or ice. I will be closley monitoring the three that are not in ice water.

Don't cool the bottles down! You are fine. They will not carb up if they are too cool.

You've been a member since 2006 and you are checking your bottles a day later?

i know I just smelled something fishy when I looked at the bottle a day later and saw some bubbleage at the top; then openning up a grolsch bottle and a full on carb sound made me think, maybe the beer was not at final gravity; i was hoping for 1.007.

We will see

ethangray19 said:

i know I just smelled something fishy when I looked at the bottle a day later and saw some bubbleage at the top; then openning up a grolsch bottle and a full on carb sound made me think, maybe the beer was not at final gravity; i was hoping for 1.007.

We will see

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There will be more gas escape a day or two after bottling than a couple of weeks when they are fully carbed. The gas hasn't gone into the solution yet, so more will come out when you open, but the beer will be flatter.

My guess is if you were doing a wit, you probably bottled within a week-10 days from pitching, and the yeast are still very active, and there are more of them in suspension so they get to work on the bottling sugar quickly. If you are bottling 3-4 weeks after pitching, or bottling form a secondary, the yeast won't be so active and won't be as suspended so they will take longer to start.


You probably just didn't have a good seal on the bottle that was leaking.

thanks; all good info and i will go with what the majority say; basically everything is probably cool.

It still is crazy how carbed the bottle are after 1.5 days

So, how'd it turn out?