Bottle Bomb Jitters

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Since day one I have always racked in a keg but here recently I have tried my hand at a few smaller batches. 3 gallons of cider and 1 gallon of stout. So I am not going to put them in a 5 gallon keg obviously... Now to the jitters part every day I see or read something about bottle bombs.. what do I need to know to make sure when I bottle these two brews that they don't become bombs..and what do I watch for just in case something does go wrong? Thanks in advance.

 

[unionrdr]

The most important thing is to do gravity tests to make sure it's completely done fermenting. Letting it settle out clear or slightly misty will also give less trub in the bottom of the bottles later. Make sure the bottles are squeaky clean & sanitized when filling them. And be sure you don't over-carbonate them with too much sugar in the priming solution.

 

[Vandulus]

1) Use software to calculate how much priming sugar you'll need and adjust according to temperature as that changes CO2 levels.
2) When in doubt, leave a little extra head-space in the bottle. I just bottled a pale ale for a competition this weekend and left an extra 1/4" as I would normally give it an extra 2-3 days in secondary, but couldn't wait that long.

 

[Rockn_M]

I've done small batches in kegs. It doesn't hurt the beer. At some point as you drink the beer it will get to the same level. But if you want to bottle the smaller batches to keep the kegs open for larger batches then there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Make sure fermentation is completed
2. Make sure you measure sugar accurately
3. Make sure the sugar is mixed thoroughly in the beer

If you are still worried you can keep the bottles in a cooler or something sturdy with a lid. That way if you do have bottle bombs they are contained.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Method 1: Extra anal. You can dose each bottle individually with sugar. If you're not picky about volumes of CO2 per style, 3/4 tsp of sugar per 12oz bottle will work just fine. I did this for 4 years and had 0 bombs.

But you shouldn't need to worry that much.

If you have a bottling bucket, use one of the online priming sugar calculators out there;
weigh out your sugar,
dissolve it in warm water,
Add the solution to your bucket,
rack on top of it in a way that swirls the wort without oxidizing it.
After that, if you're still anal, you can stir the beer in the bottling bucket to ensure it mixed in evenly.
Bottle as normal.

I've done this method too and haven't had bottle bombs either.

 

[z-bob]

You let them ferment completely before you bottle them. Then add a measured amount of sugar -- the yeast will run out of food before the pressure builds too much.

Bottle a couple of 1 liter plastic bottles (like Coke, tonic water, seltzer comes in) and use them for testers to monitor the carbonation. When the plastic bottles are hard, you know the beer is carbonated. If you think it's over carbonated, refrigerate your glass bottles to increase the solubility of the CO2 and reduce the pressure (you want them cold for drinking anyway)

I really like using the 1L plastic bottles; I've started putting most of my beer in them. Twelve of them fit in a milk crate.

 

[Sailingeric]

also put your bottles in a big plastic tote. Should you have one, then the mess will be contained. I have had one that went off about two days after bottling but I chalk that up to a bad bottle and the CO2 pressure. Rest of the batch had no issue.

 

[flars]

Bottle bombs are preventable.

Make sure the fermentation is complete in the primary. Fermentations take time. A calendar doesn't fit into this schedule.
Make sure the bottling equipment and bottles are clean and sanitized. Basic good practices can take care of this.
Do not over prime. Use a priming calculator and weigh the amount of priming sugar to use.

Nothing to watch for in the case of bottle bombs except the first exploding bottle. Exploding bottles is more of a rarity than a common occurrence.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

These are good ideas I think a cooler or plastic tote will be a good investment to be on the safe side. Also thanks for all the really quick responses.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Actually....this might be a dumb question but I am going to ask it. I if I use flip top beer bottles will the top pop off preventing the bottle from exploding first?

 

[Sailingeric]

Nope

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I notice you mentioned cider in your original post and no one has touched on that. You need to be careful if you are backsweetening your cider after fermentation is complete. If you backsweeten, say with frozen apple juice concentrate, and then bottle as usual, you are most likely going to end up with bottle bombs at some point if you don't refrigerate your bottles within a week or so (depends on how much sugar you added to sweeten your cider).

This also assumes that you are not stopping fermentation chemically with campden and sorbate or something like that. If you do that, you are effectively stopping the yeast that is left so that it cannot ferment further. In those cases you can bottle without worry but you will also not have any carbonation.

The cider forum has great tips on how to carbonate sweetened cider (pasteurizing) in the bottle that might be worth a look.

 

[Sailingeric]

I did a cider with WLP002. It is a lower attenuating so the cider came out just the right amount of sweetness. So give that one a try next time

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I did a cider with WLP002. It is a lower attenuating so the cider came out just the right amount of sweetness. So give that one a try next time

I used champagne yeast the first time which (obviously) completely dried it out. Then I tried S-05 which was better as far as residual sweetness. Then my wife told me she really didn't like my homemade ciders so I stopped making them!

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I notice you mentioned cider in your original post and no one has touched on that. You need to be careful if you are backsweetening your cider after fermentation is complete. If you backsweeten, say with frozen apple juice concentrate, and then bottle as usual, you are most likely going to end up with bottle bombs at some point if you don't refrigerate your bottles within a week or so (depends on how much sugar you added to sweeten your cider).

This also assumes that you are not stopping fermentation chemically with campden and sorbate or something like that. If you do that, you are effectively stopping the yeast that is left so that it cannot ferment further. In those cases you can bottle without worry but you will also not have any carbonation.

The cider forum has great tips on how to carbonate sweetened cider (pasteurizing) in the bottle that might be worth a look.

So, I don't plan on doing anything speical as this is my first batch of cider. So once the fermenting is done i was giogn to just add priming sugar and bottle it. But if I am reading what you said correctly, after one week at room temp I should go ahead and put them in the fridge?

Also I got the recipe from this forum and it says it is best a 4 months conditioned....that may be true and im sure ill save some of them that long but if I wanted to just try one to see how it was coming along...how long should I wait? I was thinking maybe 1 month.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I used champagne yeast the first time which (obviously) completely dried it out. Then I tried S-05 which was better as far as residual sweetness. Then my wife told me she really didn't like my homemade ciders so I stopped making them!

I used White Labs #WLP775 Dry English Cider yeast. I hope it turns out pretty good, I am also making this more for my wife than me. But who knows maybe I'll really enjoy it.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Last crazy question for anyone who doesn't mind answering.

Does it matter what color the bottle is? Ive got several green and white. I was thinking I put the cider in the white bottles and the stout in the green but...really..does it even matter? They won't be exposed to any sun b/c they will be inside my house or my fridge.

 

[unionrdr]

Beer with hops in it must be either in dark bottles or in a dark place. I use brown bottles & 12 pack/case boxes to store them in. Clear or green should definitely be stored in a cool, dry, dark place.