Bottle Bombs. Help me figure out what went wrong.

[dnslater]

After bottling about 30+ batches over the past few years I had my first combustion.....

So I recently brewed up a partial mash kit called John Palmer's Elevenses which promised to be a rich brown ale. OG was 1.044 and I pitched Safale S-04 and did my standard 4 week primary. FG was 1.020 after 4 weeks which seemed on the high side, but not unusual for darker brews I thought? Taste was great. Fermentation was done in my basement at a steady 68-70 degrees. Pitched 3 ounces of corn sugar per the style (5 Gallon batch) and bottled.

After 1 week in the bottles I had my first break. I reuse bottles over and over so I chalked it up to bad glass. 1 week later I've had two more breaks. Put the remaining bottles in the fridge to stop carbonation.

Thoughts on what went wrong? 1.020 obviously was too high I suppose to bottle? I aerated well and primed my yeast as usual and have never had stuck fermentation before.

 

[glick]

did you check the gravity 3 days apart? Was it steady? If you did and it was you could have had an infection in the bottles.

 

[dnslater]

did you check the gravity 3 days apart? Was it steady? If you did and it was you could have had an infection in the bottles.

I just checked once. Since I do a 4 week fermentation and don't normally do high gravity brews I have never had issues. 3 bottles have burst and i just opened one that fizzed out all over. Taste was excellent though, so I will drink them as usual, will just need to wait on the fiz to go down.

My assumption at this point is that for some reason the S-04 fermented partially and then dropped out early for some unknown reason. Bottling stirred up the yeast and allowed it to resume.

 

[Calder]

I suspect it wasn't finished. Next bottle, pour some into an hydrometer jar and let it go flat, and take a reading.

If it tastes OK, then you probably did not get an infection.

I try and raise the temperature a few degrees at the end of fermentation. It makes sure it is done, and also acts as a diecetyl rest.

 

[masskrug]

I've bottled a few at 1.020 with no issues. I regularly use 6 ounces of corn sugar for priming. What is this, " bad glass" you speak of? Does glass weaken over time?

A 1.044 at 4 weeks should be fine.

I'm going to guess infection.

 

[BigFloyd]

Funny that you should mention this. My last batch with S-04 did not go as expected either.

I'd just done a batch of coffee porter (mashed at a steady 154*F on my E-BIAB) that I fermented on S-04. Began at 63-64*F and then slowly raised to 68*F towards the end. It stuck at 1.026. So I gently roused the yeast off the bottom w/ a sanitized spoon and raised it to 72*F. That got it down to 1.024. I then harvested the S-04 from a 2g batch of graff (cider) I was bottling, made a starter with that and pitched it on the porter at 72*F. In the end, the lowest I could end up coaxing this beer to was 1.022.

Fearful of what you just experienced and on the advice of my LHBS owner, I racked it (and some cold brewed French roast) into a keg today even though I had this one planned for the bottles to give away during the holidays. He opined (and I tend to agree, especially after seeing your post) that in this situation, there's a risk that the addition of simple sugars for bottle priming could kick-start the S-04 enough that they would eat the priming sugar and then finish the job on any other fermentables still present.

I'm a bit gun-shy of S-04 right now. It had been a solid performer, but really let me down this time. Perhaps we both got packets out of a bad lot.

 

[Calder]

Does glass weaken over time?

Off subject, but, yes, glass does weaken over time.

It is more a fatigue issue. Every time you pressurize the bottle (carbonate), you weaken the bottle.

I don't have any information about how many times you can re-use bottles, or volumes of CO2 vs. life, but every time you use a bottle it weakens it a little.

 

[bethebrew]

Funny that you should mention this. My last batch with S-04 did not go as expected either.

I'd just done a batch of coffee porter (mashed at a steady 154*F on my E-BIAB) that I fermented on S-04. Began at 63-64*F and then slowly raised to 68*F towards the end. It stuck at 1.026. So I gently roused the yeast off the bottom w/ a sanitized spoon and raised it to 72*F. That got it down to 1.024. I then harvested the S-04 from a 2g batch of graff (cider) I was bottling, made a starter with that and pitched it on the porter at 72*F. In the end, the lowest I could end up coaxing this beer to was 1.022.

Fearful of what you just experienced and on the advice of my LHBS owner, I racked it (and some cold brewed French roast) into a keg today even though I had this one planned for the bottles to give away during the holidays. He opined (and I tend to agree, especially after seeing your post) that in this situation, there's a risk that the addition of simple sugars for bottle priming could kick-start the S-04 enough that they would eat the priming sugar and then finish the job on any other fermentables still present.

I'm a bit gun-shy of S-04 right now. It had been a solid performer, but really let me down this time. Perhaps we both got packets out of a bad lot.

I used a 2 year out of date pack on 1.070 english IPA, finished about as expected. Scored 39 and 35 in local contest. Not hoppy enough. Plus let's face it S-04 has always been a bit of an under performer in terms of flavor. Not great flavor, and not clean enough flavor.

Maybe it doesn't like rehydration and my toss it in approach even with a 2 year out of date (2010 pack actually) was the answer.

I do know this, I am not rushing out to buy a "fresh" pack of S-04 at the now silly price of $4 a pack.

 

[Epimetheus]

just opened one that fizzed out all over.

Infection, for sure.

Taste was excellent though

Not an infection.


Although I'm still thinking bacteria because of that foaming. If it starts to taste nasty in a coupla more weeks, it's a bug. If not, beats me.

 

[wonderbread23]

1.040 to 1.020 is only 54.5% attenuation. That is extremely low. There was almost certainly fermentable extract left when you bottled.

 

[bethebrew]

1.040 to 1.020 is only 54.5% attenuation. That is extremely low. There was almost certainly fermentable extract left when you bottled.

Seems like the extract brewers have this dreaded 1.020 FG syndrome. Granted this was partial mash, and a low OG, but still.

Just another reason to raise the bar and go AG OP!

 

[dnslater]

Seems like the extract brewers have this dreaded 1.020 FG syndrome. Granted this was partial mash, and a low OG, but still.

Just another reason to raise the bar and go AG OP!

Will go AG some day, but this is my first stuck fermentation after 30 or so extract brews.