So I had my second bottle bomb in almost 4 years of brewing yesterday and it made me take a look at my bottled home brew and most are very over carbed (I checked by refrigerating, then slightly prying up the cap and many foam up and want to gush out). So now Im going through the process of dumping some and releasing the pressure on others to try to salvage most of them, but avoid bottle bombs. I think my only option is to never trust these bottles and make sure they are stored in Rubbermaid totes just in case.
Everything Ive read about carbonating in the bottle says Im doing everything right. Make sure beer is done fermenting by taking multiple gravity readings (not all my early beers I did this, but definitely the latest). Using priming sugar calculator. Weighing appropriate amount of corn sugar. Adding water and nuking till boiling. Pour into bottling bucket. Adding beer on top and stirring gently to make sure its mixed. Storing at 68F minimum for 3 weeks minimum. Then storing at ~60F cellar or fridge as I want them.
Here are some of the over carbed ones Ive had:
Belgian dubbel 20 day primary; stable final gravity near what would be expected. Primed with NB priming sugar calculator to style. Stored at 68F for 3.5 weeks. Moved a few to fridge. After a couple days, its overcarbed. All bottles are overcarbed.
Imperial stout 5 weeks primary, 5 weeks secondary then bottled. Stable final gravity near what would be expected. These are about a year and half old. Primed to 2.2 vol CO2. These are all over carbed.
Imperial stout This beer is almost 2.5 years old now. 24 days primary; 3 months secondary. Added champagne yeast at bottling. This was a NB extract kit and this was before I was measuring the gravity. Dont know how much sugar, but this was probably with 5 oz primary sugar. So I understand why this beer was always over carbed. But about a year ago, I put them all in the fridge and then slowly released the pressure until they didnt immediately foam upon prying up the cap just a small amount. Then they were removed from the fridge for cellaring. These are now over carbed again. I know this would indicate an infection, but there is no sour taste. I follow all typical sanitation practices with starsan.
There are others, but they follow the same story. At this point Im not sure what to do. I keg the vast majority of my batches and have never had an issue with those, but Ive only have a 2 tap kegerator so I still want to bottle strong beers that are meant to age. And Ive been enjoying doing 1 gal batches and it seems silly to keg those when its so simple to bottle 10 bottles (and I never have a free keg to keg them anyway).
Anyone have any thoughts as this is very frustrating?
Everything Ive read about carbonating in the bottle says Im doing everything right. Make sure beer is done fermenting by taking multiple gravity readings (not all my early beers I did this, but definitely the latest). Using priming sugar calculator. Weighing appropriate amount of corn sugar. Adding water and nuking till boiling. Pour into bottling bucket. Adding beer on top and stirring gently to make sure its mixed. Storing at 68F minimum for 3 weeks minimum. Then storing at ~60F cellar or fridge as I want them.
Here are some of the over carbed ones Ive had:
Belgian dubbel 20 day primary; stable final gravity near what would be expected. Primed with NB priming sugar calculator to style. Stored at 68F for 3.5 weeks. Moved a few to fridge. After a couple days, its overcarbed. All bottles are overcarbed.
Imperial stout 5 weeks primary, 5 weeks secondary then bottled. Stable final gravity near what would be expected. These are about a year and half old. Primed to 2.2 vol CO2. These are all over carbed.
Imperial stout This beer is almost 2.5 years old now. 24 days primary; 3 months secondary. Added champagne yeast at bottling. This was a NB extract kit and this was before I was measuring the gravity. Dont know how much sugar, but this was probably with 5 oz primary sugar. So I understand why this beer was always over carbed. But about a year ago, I put them all in the fridge and then slowly released the pressure until they didnt immediately foam upon prying up the cap just a small amount. Then they were removed from the fridge for cellaring. These are now over carbed again. I know this would indicate an infection, but there is no sour taste. I follow all typical sanitation practices with starsan.
There are others, but they follow the same story. At this point Im not sure what to do. I keg the vast majority of my batches and have never had an issue with those, but Ive only have a 2 tap kegerator so I still want to bottle strong beers that are meant to age. And Ive been enjoying doing 1 gal batches and it seems silly to keg those when its so simple to bottle 10 bottles (and I never have a free keg to keg them anyway).
Anyone have any thoughts as this is very frustrating?