PET Bottle/Glass Bottle Bombs

[Franky]

Hi all, so if this question has been asked already and you can refer me to the answer please do so. I'm sorry if I'm repeating a quesiton that has already been asked. I did a search before posting here but couldn't seem to come up with my spicific question.

Feel free to jump down to 4th paragraph if you don't feel you need all the "pre info". I just see on these forms often us noobs don't give out enough info to get a clear answer so I tried to be detailed as I could.

I brewed a Sweet Stout about 7 weeks ago. It gave me a ton of problems. Fermintation quite on me around 1.035 (I was using Mangrove Jack's M10). I opened it up and tried to get the yeast back into suspension. This was good for only 1 more point over about 5 days. So I transfered to another fermenting bucked and dropped some Nottingham on it. Nothing for another 5 days then it started to bubble like crazy for about 6 days. When I took my reading two weeks later it was down to 1.019...which in reading all the forms about Sweet Stouts is seems quite good with all the unfermintables etc.

When I went to bottle after not seeing a single bubbles for over 2 weeks I noticed that when I moved it to the counter to bottle it started to bubble again. My brewing buddy and I decided that most likely it was just CO2 coming out of the beer from being moved. After popping of the lid and throwing it back on for a bit there seemed to be no more pressure build up so we decided to bottle. However, being new to homebrewing we were a bit uneasy...so we put some of the brew into a PET bottle. Our idea was if we start to see it going a bit out of shape we would right away crack all the glass bottles and recap.

The question is could that be to late? If there are going to be bottle bombs will they go off before we see any kind of odd shape in the PET bottle? After 48 hours the PET bottle is hard as a rock but still looks normal. It suprised me that it would carb this quick, is that normal?

One thing that also has me worried is that even though the Nottingham took off after re pitching there wasn't much yeast at the bottom of the bucket only a very very thin line. I did notice today a TON of yeast at the bottom of my bottles.

Anyway, any and all help I could get on this would be greatly appricated. If my bottles weren't stored in the same closet as my wifes crafts supplies I wouldn't be as nervous. No, there isn't any other place to store them...we live in a very small apartment.

Edit: If you came here with a similar question about PET/Glass etc please see a great post by podz post #14 on this thread.

 

[danath34]

48 hours is quick but not unusual at all if they're stored in a fairly warm place.

if you're worried about it put the bottles in a big plastic tub with a lid.

and yeah, I THINK you should see the PET expanding a lot before a bottle bursts. if it's the same shape, but hard like an unopened soda, i think it's carbing nicely.

and I also think you were right about the extra bubbling being co2 escaping rather than fermentation. fermentation won't start up that quickly, but jostling the beer will release co2.

I think you're just fine. besides. 1.019 is probably pretty close to what your fg should be. and if it's not, it's not far enough off to make for bottle bombs ( unless you're using an aggressive yeast and lots of simple sugars)

 

[Queequeg]

I think you have done the right thing. Just put the bottles into a secondary container of some sort to be safe.

In future take two gravity readings 4 days apart before bottling.

 

[Franky]

Thanks danath34 for the reply. Puts me at ease a bit. It's my 7th batch...of course being a bit worried makes me notice every little thing. I'm sure everything is normal and happened in my last batches. Such as there seems to be a lot of particals (yeast?) in suspension. Never noticed that in my last brews after 48 hours it all seemed pretty clear...

 

[Franky]

Thanks Queequeg for the reply...I did take a number of readings. So I think I'm pretty safe in that area. However, beersmith said my FG should be 1.010 and I finished at 1.019. Although a lot of people on the Milk/Sweet Stouts forms seem to agree low 20s is doing really good. So I just figured that I was ok, but maybe I was wrong.

 

[Queequeg]

Yes, milk stouts finish high. I think beersmith counts lactose as fermentable for some reason.

The last milk stout I made finish 1.020ish, so it sounds right to me.

 

[Franky]

Bottle bombs on this one...still not sure what I did wrong. As stated in my first post I got this thing down to 1.019. Given it was a milk stout and all the unfermetable sugars I think I finished on the low end of the milk stout FG range.

Maybe I just added to much priming sugar...I used the calculator of homebrewdads site.

If anyone else has the idea to use a PET bottle to make sure you dont get bottle bombs it dont work! The PET bottle showed no signs of extreme pressure before the glass bottles started going off.

 

[kh54s10]

Sorry about your Stout. At 1.019 I too would have thought it was finished. I would also have thought if it dropped any further it would have been an insignificant amount.

Any chance there was an infection? I read that sometimes infections will really ferment the beer much more.

 

[Franky]

Could be an infection. However, the beer tastes good. No hits of off flavor etc. Though at this point that has to be what it is.

 

[MindenMan]

PET bottles in theory hold more pressure w/o exploding than glass bottles do. I know your space is limited, but put a plastic tub in the tub/shower with the bottles in it, and some sort of a weight on top. It might be inconvenient, but it will keep any mess contained.

 

[Flboy]

PET bottles in theory hold more pressure w/o exploding than glass bottles do. I know your space is limited, but put a plastic tub in the tub/shower with the bottles in it, and some sort of a weight on top. It might be inconvenient, but it will keep any mess contained.

I am in the same boat, worse! Beer is building up so much pressure it is jamming caps. It isn't making me sick so am working my way thru it. Got it in a tub covered with towels. Every 2-3 day am cracking the caps.

 

[Franky]

MindenMan did not know that about PET bottles. Good to know...learn something new every day here on HBT. Thanks.

Right now I'm on vacation...my brewing buddy was the one that told me, his half started having the bottle bombs. He spent 2 hours disarming and re capping them. I was able to get him to move mine to a "safe" location. He said none had gone off yet. So we'll see what kind of mess I come home to!

 

[podz]

If anyone else has the idea to use a PET bottle to make sure you dont get bottle bombs it dont work! The PET bottle showed no signs of extreme pressure before the glass bottles started going off.

I bottle with PET all the time. I have two types: 1) with flat bottoms, and 2) with shamrock bottoms. Both have screwcaps and are very convenient.

The ones with flat bottoms will distort shape (the bottoms will round out). I use these a lot for beer because they are 1 liter each and I have 25 of them.

The ones with shamrock bottoms are specifically built for high pressure and they are able to withstand a whole helluva lot more pressure than a glass bottle. Your bottle will explode long before you'll get one of these to distort. I use these a lot for cider because they are 750ml each and I have 30 of them.

I would never use glass bottles. Of course my first choice would be a keg, but since I don't have one then I will continue to use PET. Why bother with glass when it's such a pain in the ass?

 

[MindenMan]

I never had any real luck de-pressurizng any over carbonated bottles before. I have a batch of Strong Scottish Ale I over primed, and the flavor is excellent, but by the time the foam subsides, it's just not the same...
I am open to suggestions, though.

 

[uatuba]

Was this an extract batch?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Franky]

My buddy was able to save 3/4 of the bottle then re caped...so didnt lose to much. It took him a while but he put downward pressure on the cap when opening slighly so the cap wouldn't fly off. This way he could slowly let out the pressure and not let half the beer fly out of the bottle due to the pressure.

He keeps opening one ever 3-4 days. Says the flavour keeps on improving. Lets be honest...it's fare from the best milk stout ever made. I'd say its on the high side of average for what I've tastes. But it's always sad to see the time, money, and effort you put into the beer go to waste. Not to mention loseing some tasty beer, even if its not the greatest ever made.

It was my first ever recipe I designed on my own...it is one I think worth a couple of re brews and revisions. Maybe I can get it from high end of average to my regular go to milk stout. A style I personally really enjoy.

I would love to keg at some point but simply not enough space...even for a small fridge. One day when the wife and I move into a house...

Glass is just more "sexy" then plastic. But after this...well I'll probably just start useing plastic. I'll keep a couple swing tops to pass out to friends, but for myself I think I'll be going to plastic from here on out.

No, it was an AG BIAB.