Avoiding Bottle Bombs

[MMAniacle]

6 days ago I bottled a buddy and I decided to experiment while bottling 5 gallons of Graff. We primed about 2 gallons of it with 18oz of apple juice concentrate (I tried to use an educated guess after some research online). To help us track the progress, we filled a crushed water bottle with a bit of the graff so that we would see it expand and it carbed up.

Only 6 days later, and the water bottle is pretty much fully expanded. I chilled one bottle and cracked it open, and its quite carbonated. What are the chances that this batch is about to produce a bunch of bottle bombs in the next few days? Is there anything that I can preemptively do to try to avoid that result??


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[GilSwillBasementBrews]

You could try stove top pasteurization to kill off the yeast. Or get them real cold and keep them there to slow down your yeast activity. If they're not done carbing up and you warm them back up the yeast will go back to work.
You could also loosen the cap to relieve pressure and reseal with your capper if your that worried they will blow.
Better to be safe than sorry lots of threads on here show the results when the go boom and NOBODY wants that to happen.


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[Paps]

Chances are very high that they are about to pop.
Pasturise them either on your stovetop in a double boiler or run them through your dishwasher on `sanitise` cycle (super high heat)

 

[MMAniacle]

I was considering pasteurization, but I'm worried that if I warm them up now I may increase the pressure to the point where they pop anyways. Is that something I should be worried about at the moment?

Right now I would probably compare the carbonation to a little bit less carbonated than a commercial sparkling cider. How much more carbonation can I expect in the next week or two before I was planning on putting the bottles in the fridge?


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[MMAniacle]

UPDATE: Just cracked open a cider and tested the gravity with a hydrometer. It was 1.14. Holy crap did I overshoot the mark with how much concentrate to use. I moved the bottles to the fridge. It still tastes fantastic and I've thoroughly enjoyed the last few hours where I had to sit down and try a few ciders to figure this out. I'm sure I'll still enjoy drinking the rest


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[GilSwillBasementBrews]

UPDATE: Just cracked open a cider and tested the gravity with a hydrometer. It was 1.14. Holy crap did I overshoot the mark with how much concentrate to use. I moved the bottles to the fridge. It still tastes fantastic and I've thoroughly enjoyed the last few hours where I had to sit down and try a few ciders to figure this out. I'm sure I'll still enjoy drinking the rest


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Keep in mind a carbonated sample will give a higher reading than actual gravity as all the little bubbles will push upwards on your hydrometer.



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[MMAniacle]

Keep in mind a carbonated sample will give a higher reading than actual gravity as all the little bubbles will push upwards on your hydrometer.

Yeah I thought about that, but I figure it can't be significant enough to push the gravity up that high (I feel like I heard somewhere not to go much higher than 1.008 or so with regular bottles). I think that my best course of action may be to just play it safe. I'm headed out of town for a few days, and the last thing I want is to come home to a pile of shrapnel and cider.

I still have 3 more gallons that I primed with 60 grams of regular priming sugar, so I will still have 3 gallons of good conditioned cider to look forward to.





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[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Just stick the ones your unsure of in a plastic tub with lid sit something heavy on it. Maybe you'll be lucky and the yeast already ate all the sugars and you will come back to all your bottles. If not at least the tub will make cleanup easier/safer.


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