Bottle bombs

[bsruther]

I bottled my third batch last night. It's an American Amber LME kit from my LHBS. It had been fermenting for 16 days and the SG had stabilized. My first two were lighter beers and they were fine with bottling them after two weeks. I tasted some of the AA out of the bottling bucket and it had a slightly sweet wort flavor to it still. I should have known that since it was a heavier beer, the clean up would take longer. I bottled most of it in 16oz pet bottles. the rest is in 12oz glass.
I figure there's a good possibility that I'll have bombs.
The thing I'm wondering is, will the pet bottles be able to withstand more pressure?
It seems like those things can handle a lot more than the glass bottles.

OG-1.062
FG-1.011

 

[double_e5]

If your FG is at 1.011, I seriously doubt you'll have bombs on your hands. You got over 80% attenuation.

 

[ericm]

the pet bottles used for soda can take a lot more pressure than glass (I don't know if pet water bottles are designed to take as much pressure?)

 

[bsruther]

These are the brown pet bottles. I got a case of them from the HBS. Just to be safe, I'll place the glass ones in a plastic bin.
Even though I had a good FG, the sweetness made me kind of cautious. It wasn't an off flavor, just sweet.

 

[Bert]

Not to state the obvious, but you tasted before priming, right?

 

[bsruther]

Not to state the obvious, but you tasted before priming, right?

I thought about this too and no, I tasted after priming.
I also tasted my first two brews after priming and they weren't sweet at all. I guess it's just all part of the learning curve.

 

[Yooper]

A cause of "sweetness" might just be the ingredients you used. At 1.011, you don't have a risk of bottle bombs- the beer was definitely done. You may have used more malt, or less hops than in your other recipes so you taste a little more malt sweetness. You may have used sweet ingredients this time- caramel/crystal malt for example, and amber LME has some more sweetness than pale LME. So, my short version is "don't worry!".

 

[bsruther]

You're right Yooper. More malt than usual AND crystal malt. Thanks so much.
More than anything, I was curious as to where the sweetness was coming from.
Beyond the sweetnes, this brew had a full flavor with a lot of body. I can't wait until it's done.
4 lbs. of English light syrup
4 lbs of Canadian light syrup
0.5 lb. 60L Crystal Malt
0.13 lbs. Roasted Barley
0.5 oz Centennial pellet hops (bittering)
0.25 oz Centennial pellet hops (flavoring)
0.25 oz. Centennial pellet hops (aroma)
Nottingham ale yeast