First batch, got exploding beers

[Lineman09]

Hey guys, so I'm brand new to home brewing and bought a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit back in December, the Everyday IPA mix. I followed the instructions for it exactly, had it in the fermenting jug for 2 weeks, then when bottling it mixed in a 1/2 cup of water with 3 tablespoons of honey which the instructions said creates the carbonation in the bottle. After bottling, the bottles sat in a dark closet at room temp for 2 weeks, and then in the fridge for another 3 weeks. The result I got is beers that are exploding when opened as if they had been shaken for a while. It was like a beer grenade went off in my kitchen, had beer on every surface including the ceiling lol. My question is, is this just a case of over-carbonation (and if so how much should I lessen the recipe), or is this the result of the batch being infected? I took a video of opening one of them today, had to cover it with a plastic bag to prevent the beer from getting everywhere: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qZgPCyDzc[/ame]

Is there any way that the remaining 3 bottles can be saved? I'm hoping the last 2 months wasnt a waste. I also have another batch of their Blonde Ale mix sitting in the fermenting jug right now, hopefully that one turns out better Any advice is much appreciated, as I'm brand new to this and definitely still learning the basics

 

[TheCADJockey]

Hey buddy, thats rough. I had a batch of gushers myself with one of my first extract kits but believe mine was due to improper sanitation. It turns out I was using a cleaning agent that I received with my brewing kit for the first three batches I did, before the gusher batch I had. Only later realizing that this was not a sanitizer and immediately went out and bought starsan. I've had no similar issues since then, it is very easy to use.

What did you use?

 

[Lineman09]

The sanitizer I used was the one that came with the kit, which I guess is just their "brand", it doesnt say much on the packet except "Brooklyn Brew Shop Sanitizer"

 

[pegcitybrewer]

could also be that you're beer wasn't finished fermenting/ had stalled earlier. I've had beers not attenuate as much as I'd liked when I had started and then when I bottled them the yeasties woke up and went to work, with all the leftover residual sugars they gushed like crazy.

 

[barnaclebob]

There is a lot of sediment in the bottle, are you sure it was done fermenting when you bottled it? Bottling at two weeks could be the likely cause if the fermentation was slow due to lower temps. I assume this was a 1 gallon batch.

I would try again and let it sit for a month.

How does the beer taste carbonation issues aside?

 

[Oberon67]

I was advised that all the Brooklyn Brew kits really call for too much priming. Cut the priming sugar in half for the next batch; you should have no trouble.

My Everyday IPA turned out wonderful, but once it had been in the bottles for two weeks I took it all to a party and it promptly disappeared. So it didn't have quite enough time to make bottle bombs.

 

[Pataka]

There is a lot of sediment in the bottle, are you sure it was done fermenting when you bottled it? Bottling at two weeks could be the likely cause if the fermentation was slow due to lower temps.

+1 from me on this.

That looks more like the bottom of a carboy than the bottom of a bottle.

I'm by no means an experienced brewer so take my word with a grain of salt. However, the fastest brew I've had arrive at the point where I'm happy fermentation is complete and ready to bottle is about 17 days, and even there I was asking questions about whether now is the right time. Everything else has been around the three week mark.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, kit beer instructions do tend to heavily underestimate the time it takes to achieve anything they claim to. I've only brewed ales before, but the times I generally work to are:

Active Fermentation: finished at day 3-7
Slower Fermentation: finished at day 16-21, but can be considerably more if yeast is a fickle strain

These aren't standard homebrewing terms, but ones I invented as it does seem beer goes through two stages - one where fermentation happens no matter what, another where it seems slower and more vulnerable to temperature changes.

 

[Lineman09]

There is a lot of sediment in the bottle, are you sure it was done fermenting when you bottled it? Bottling at two weeks could be the likely cause if the fermentation was slow due to lower temps. I assume this was a 1 gallon batch.

I would try again and let it sit for a month.

How does the beer taste carbonation issues aside?

That is a possibility, I was just going straight off the instructions which said "bottle after two weeks" so maybe it did need some more time, and yes it was a 1 gallon batch. After the carbonation subsides I'm left with about 1/4 of the bottle left, but what is left tastes fine to me

 

[bolus14]

Use a hydrometer to make sure it's done fermenting, make sure the gravity stays the same for at least three days in a row.

Don't use all the priming sugar, use a calculator like this one to figure out how much of it to use:
http://www.homebrewdad.com/priming_sugar_calculator.php

 

[Lineman09]

Use a hydrometer to make sure it's done fermenting, make sure the gravity stays the same for at least three days in a row.

Don't use all the priming sugar, use a calculator like this one to figure out how much of it to use:
http://www.homebrewdad.com/priming_sugar_calculator.php

That brings up another question I had, should I use sugar for the carbonation or stick with mixing honey in like the instructions with the kit. Would it make a difference?

 

[eadavis80]

At what temperature did you ferment those bottles prior to bottling them? The amount of sediment is staggering to me, so it leads me to believe that most, if not all, of the fermentation might have taken place in the bottles, not the gallon jug that came with the kit. I had good luck brewing that kit and it turned out well. Here is how I prime 1-gallon batches, FYI: To carbonate 1 gallon of beer:

1/10th of a cup of table sugar (sucrose)
6 ounces of water
Bring to a boil for 5 minutes – cover lid
Let cool to room temp
Pour solution into bottling thing (I use a sanitized 1 gallon glass jar)
Rack beer on top with mini auto siphon
Bottle with small bottling wand

 

[Oberon67]

My bottles only had a light dusting of sediment in the bottom, for what it's worth.

 

[Lineman09]

At what temperature did you ferment those bottles prior to bottling them? The amount of sediment is staggering to me, so it leads me to believe that most, if not all, of the fermentation might have taken place in the bottles, not the gallon jug that came with the kit. I had good luck brewing that kit and it turned out well. Here is how I prime 1-gallon batches, FYI: To carbonate 1 gallon of beer:

1/10th of a cup of table sugar (sucrose)
6 ounces of water
Bring to a boil for 5 minutes – cover lid
Let cool to room temp
Pour solution into bottling thing (I use a sanitized 1 gallon glass jar)
Rack beer on top with mini auto siphon
Bottle with small bottling wand

Room temp, 68-70 degrees

 

[eadavis80]

Hmmm... that's odd. 2 weeks should have been enough, but you can't know for sure without gravity readings (which I'm pretty sure they never remotely include in their directions). Sorry it didn't turn out. It stinks to invest all that time and patience and have that be the result.

 

[joshesmusica]

kits can be really screwy sometimes. it's unfortunate that they're often a new brewer's entrance into the homebrewing world. ingredients can often be old, including the yeast, which could've led to a stalled fermentation.
in the future, before bottling, i would do as others have said and invest in a hydrometer. you don't actually have to test three days in a row, but test one day, skip the next, then test the third day. especially with a 1-gallon batch, every test is slightly a waste. i always prime with table sugar. it's cheaper than honey, and easier to use (weigh, dissolve, etc.). i always use a priming sugar calculator.

on the other end of the spectrum is the possibility of infection. as another poster said, these kits can sometimes throw in some cheap cleaner that may not even be a sanitizer. you can use starsan, it's probably the most popular among homebrewers, or you can use iodine, which i personally use.

if you make sure to sanitize well, do hydrometer readings, and use a priming sugar calculator, you will make sure that this problem won't happen on your next batch. i would recommend doing all three because 1) it's good practice for every batch, and 2) all 3 could be possible reasons as to why this happened on this batch.

 

[Lineman09]

kits can be really screwy sometimes. it's unfortunate that they're often a new brewer's entrance into the homebrewing world. ingredients can often be old, including the yeast, which could've led to a stalled fermentation.
in the future, before bottling, i would do as others have said and invest in a hydrometer. you don't actually have to test three days in a row, but test one day, skip the next, then test the third day. especially with a 1-gallon batch, every test is slightly a waste. i always prime with table sugar. it's cheaper than honey, and easier to use (weigh, dissolve, etc.). i always use a priming sugar calculator.

on the other end of the spectrum is the possibility of infection. as another poster said, these kits can sometimes throw in some cheap cleaner that may not even be a sanitizer. you can use starsan, it's probably the most popular among homebrewers, or you can use iodine, which i personally use.

if you make sure to sanitize well, do hydrometer readings, and use a priming sugar calculator, you will make sure that this problem won't happen on your next batch. i would recommend doing all three because 1) it's good practice for every batch, and 2) all 3 could be possible reasons as to why this happened on this batch.

Sounds good, thanks for the tips

 

[THorsBrewing]

To mimic what others have said it is so critical to get a Hydro reading before bottling. I had one of my first fermentations do something similar (although less extreme) to what you state. When you follow the kit number of days it leaves little room for error when it comes to a stalled ferm.

 

[Jsmtg32]

3 tablespoons of honey which the instructions said creates the carbonation.

According to http://www.homebrewdad.com/priming_sugar_calculator.php You only need 4 teaspoons of Honey. So I'm guessing your just a little over carbonated.

 

[Ash1616]

Having used BBS shop recipes in the past, I can confidently say that their recommended 3tbsp of honey is too much. I adjusted after my first round of gushers and use 2.5tbsp of honey now.

Im going to assume that you are doing 1 gallon batches and thus using a hydrometer, while prefered, is going to take up a bunch of your limited finished product so if you plan to continue to brew 1 gallon batches you may want to look into using a refractometer.

Just a suggeation from a fellow 1 Gallon brewer.

 

[dokken5]

I am going to agree that it probably wasn't a infection problem and was probably a carbonation problem. Not that I think that I know anything. Try using corn sugar and use a priming calculator. You will have better luck next time.

Did you use tablespoons instead of teaspoons? The amount of honey blend would mess you up too. Was it pure honey or a mix? Again, use corn sugar and eliminate the variables. You can even buy the drops. One drop one bottle.

 

[quist]

I'm not sure if it's better to start a new thread or add in here (I don't want to derail), but I just had a bottle explode on me last night.

As I thought through my steps, I realized I added way too much priming sugar....like a 1 pound of corn sugar for 5 gallons....yeah. I have no excuse other than not paying attention and being completely uncritical when the recipe called for dissolving my bag of priming sugar in water. Of course, the recipe was referring a little bag in a kit, not the 1 lb bag I chose to use lol.

I'm not really sure what to do here.

The bottles are in a plastic tub and low water bath, so there isn't much of a mess. I put some frozen water bottles in the tub to slow down any more carbonation and covered the tub in case another bottle blows up. I got the water down to about 60F right now.

I cooled one bottle down and slowly broke the seal. Tons of fizzing and and a decent amount of foam coming out of the bottle. That has calmed down now, but there are still a lot of bubbles coming up in the beer

Can I reseal the bottle? Should I let it go flat and re-seal?

The real tragedy is that this was a flawless brew prior to bottling and the foam tastes great. I'd like to save this batch if I could.

It's a Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone. I fermented for 5 weeks and they have been bottled for about a week and a half, if any of that info helps.

 

[Oberon67]

With them that overprimed, I don't think you'll have a bottle that DOESN'T explode. I would open every one of them over a sanitized food-grade bucket, recover as much of the bulk beer as you can, and get it back in a carboy for a couple weeks to let that pound of priming sugar get eaten up.

Then with clean bottles, fresh caps, and the right amount of priming, bottle again. Labor intensive, yes, but I don't think you'll be able to save it any other way.

 

[quist]

With them that overprimed, I don't think you'll have a bottle that DOESN'T explode. I would open every one of them over a sanitized food-grade bucket, recover as much of the bulk beer as you can, and get it back in a carboy for a couple weeks to let that pound of priming sugar get eaten up.

Then with clean bottles, fresh caps, and the right amount of priming, bottle again. Labor intensive, yes, but I don't think you'll be able to save it any other way.

Ugh. There's probably a good chance of killing the good taste I got out of it, no?

Better than exploding shards of glass I suppose...

You don't think chilling, venting and recapping will work?

 

[Oberon67]

You don't think chilling, venting and recapping will work?

I doubt it, but that's just me, and I'm no expert.

While there is some risk to decanting, fermenting, and rebottling, think of it this way... the alcohol and the hops are preservatives. The death of your good beer is by no means certain.

 

[dokken5]

Drink the ones that you can salvage, and better luck next time.

 

[joshesmusica]

I doubt it, but that's just me, and I'm no expert.

While there is some risk to decanting, fermenting, and rebottling, think of it this way... the alcohol and the hops are preservatives. The death of your good beer is by no means certain.

although with that much sugar, it's likely to be a very, very dry beer. could still be decent though, i suppose. hell i think he should try this method just for the sake of experimentation.

 

[beergolf]

Get them as cold as you can. Wear some protective gear. Heavy gloves, and definitely some saftey glasses or even a face shield and open them up ASAP. With that much sugar they WILL explode.