8.2 oz of priming sugar??

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I made a german roggenbier, a rye ale, that used WLP 300 Hefeweizen yeast to keep it true to style, then went to bottle it yesterday.
So I looked up a priming calculator, several of them actually, and to carbonate a Dunkleweizen (the category this beer fits into), the calculators called for a range of 3.6 - 4.5 volumes (similar data for a weizen). Based on the residual CO2 from fermentation, and 5 gallons of beer, I consistently found 8.1 - 8.3 oz of dextrose required. So, I mixed it up and bottled it.

Did I need special bottles for this??

Obviously, bottle bombs are a concern....

 

[dyqik]

Erm, yeah. I think the rule of thumb is that bottling above about 3.5 vols is risky in anything other than Belgian beer bottles or maybe champagne bottles.

At least you took the residual CO2 from fermentation into account, or you could be heading towards 5 vols or higher...

Maybe you could carbonate one or two bottles (pick which ones you think are weakest) in a safe environment at a higher temperature than the others, so that if they blow first, you'll have a chance to release the pressure and recap the others? E.g. inside an ale pail or cooler in a warmer room than the rest are stored in.

 

[phug]

What volume did you aim for? If 4.0 or less you might be able to do swing tops, but I wouldn't do anything over 3.0 in standard bottles. Pushing 4.5 or more I'd want Belgian bottles or champagne bottles

 

[SnakeRidge]

Yeah, in Germany don't they use those heavy duty returnable bottles that are all scuffed up? I bet those could hold 4 vols, but I wouldn't go over 3 in any of the bottles I have. 2.5-2.8 vols should be plenty.

 

[Yooper]

I'm thinking BOOM, unfortunately. Carbing 'to style' sounds good in theory, but when you open them, they will spray all over the place. Most US bottled beers are more like 2.4 volumes.

You can try to arrest bottle bombs by chilling the bottles as soon as they are carbed up, but you used about twice as much priming sugar as I normally do for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Rev2010]

When I was bottling I just used 6oz of priming sugar and the beers came out perfectly fine. Now that I'm kegging I use 18 psi which would be about 6.5oz of priming sugar. Honestly I don't see a need to go higher. I know the style guidelines but the bjcp guidelines have the amount lower. Anyhow, I think you'll be happy with 6oz and shouldn't have bottle bombs. I never did, but I was using delabeled Franziskaner bottles.


Rev.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I'm thinking BOOM, unfortunately. Carbing 'to style' sounds good in theory, but when you open them, they will spray all over the place. Most US bottled beers are more like 2.4 volumes.



You can try to arrest bottle bombs by chilling the bottles as soon as they are carbed up, but you used about twice as much priming sugar as I normally do for a 5 gallon batch.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Yikes, well that sucks! Its already bottled, and for 4.0 vol carb, it called for 8.2 oz dextrose, and I used 8.0... So....

Ive played this game before with backsweetened and bottled hard cider. I'll check em at 72 hours, and chill em when the carb is good. Never lost a bottle that way.

 

[phug]

Glad you have a plan

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Yep! At 72 hours, carbonation was minimal. Gonna check it in 2 days. Then each day thereafter. When it is jus slightly less than what I want, into the keezer to chill...

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Well, I bottled on Tuesday, and on Sunday placed all the bottles in keezer @ 38 deg.

Tonight, I poured one. The normal "pffftt" was accompanied by a 3/4" head that dissipated within a few minutes to a nice surface layer..... So, it looks like I caught it in time. Now to find out if WLP 300 sleeps well at 38 deg


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423533225.473378.jpg

 

[SnakeRidge]

Glad it worked out. Cheers!

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

It's a tasty Roggenbier... I would've hated to lose it. Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[FatsSchindee]

I have both a Hef and a Roggenbier fermenting right now, and was looking for carbonating/bottling advice as well...

When I made the Hef last summer, I carbed to 3.5 Vols, but bottled in champagne type bottles and flip-tops (both 750ml) for that reason. Well, I'd like to enter both of these in the NHC (assuming they turn out well!) coming up, but the rules state you need normal size 12 oz bottles. Do any of you know about any heavy-duty, thicker bottles that I could use for this purpose? Or should I just carb to 3.0 (the recommended max for normal bottles) vols and call it a day? Shouldn't be too much difference from 3.5, would it? Thx...