Bottle Bombs????

[jstofer]

So I bottled up about 5 gallons of a wheat that I used wy1010 on. I fermented it for a week and then moved to secondary for another week (krausen dropped after 5 days in the primary...fermented at 64). Somewhere in there, my two year old had gotten a hold of my hydrometer and hid it. I wanted this to be ready for the 4th and I didn't figure I would have any issues so I bottled it this past Tuesday....just slightly over 4oz corn sugar. Well, I opened a bottle up tonight (two days) to see how they were coming along and needless to say, they are fully carbbed! I found my hydrometer and haven't got a good reading yet b/c of all the co2 pushing it up. I immediately put all of the bottles in the fridge to buy me some time, but here is my question/solution....
Can I, or has anyone, dumped the bottles back in the carboy and then rebottled again? I know I run the risk of oxidizing it and infections; however, I'm looking to salvage it b/c it tasted pretty decent.

 

[CBMbrewer]

Why would you want to? They are carbed and chilling in the fridge. Does it taste sweet enough to make you think it hasn't reached its fg?
Also, DON'T DO IT. Aside from the fact that it will oxidize your beer there is now a ton of carbonic acid in it (supposed to be there) but I wouldn't think that would be conducive to fermentation.

 

[travis0123]

Had a pilsner in a similar situation once. I just popped the caps and let the bottles fizz (while cold), then recapped. Not ideal, leaves lots of airspace in the bottles, and wasted some beer,but they turned out ok. I figured the excessive foaming was purging the bottles, so the airspace was mostly co2. I'm not sure that dumping and rebottling is a good idea as you already assumed. (not that what I did was the best idea either)

 

[BlackGoat]

I don't understand. Why would you even want to re-bottle it? What is the purpose (or more specifically what is the problem)? From what you have said, it sounds like you have a perfectly good beer that has been bottled and should be ready to drink with a bit of conditioning. Just trying to understand why you'd even want to do this in the first place.

 

[jstofer]

Not sue what I'll do....I think I'll let the co2 go out of a couple and take a gravity reading....my concern is if it is still too high (not fully fermented), then I might have issues. If I feel good about it, I'll just leave them. I understand not wanting to do it, but after two days in the bottle they spray like a shook champagne bottle and I have a feeling if they have to continue to ferment, I'll have shattered glass.

 

[CBMbrewer]

Handle with extreme care and get them all in the fridge pronto!

 

[BlackGoat]

didn't realize they were overcarbed, just put them in the fridge if you can.

 

[kh54s10]

Are they truly over carbed? It is my understanding that opening too early the carbonation will spew because the carbonation has not gone into the solution. If you don't know that you have done something drastically wrong like bottling before fermentation has finished or used too much priming sugar I would wait at minimum 2 weeks and more likely 3 or more for them to bottle condition properly.

 

[travis0123]

If they're anything like mine, you can't pour them into a glass without it turning into pure foam--even super cold. Overcarbed is one thing, but his isn't done yet if it's only been 2 days.

 

[jstofer]

I'm going to wait a few days. My Fg is reading 1.01 so it should be done. They are going to be overcarbbed, but hopefully the fridge will help

 

[travis0123]

does dissolved co2 in beer change the specific gravity?

 

[jstofer]

I degassed it as much as I could, and yes it does...the bubbles will push the hydrometer up