Bottle bombs!!!!

[brewshki]

How in the world do I know if they are going to blow? From what I understand, if there are fermentable sugars left when they are bottled, they will explode at some point. What is a safe temp to avoid this? Right now I have 11 bottles of a Pilsner that fermented for 2 weeks and just finished it's second week in bottles. I was going to leave them in room temperature for two more weeks to make sure they carbonate and to being conditioning them. Are they going to explode?


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[David_Trucks]

It's not inevitable unless you did something wrong. Relax.


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[brewshki]

Well that's what I thought and I've been having some conversations on here and someone was telling me about how likely it is

Is there any way you could define what something wrong is. My current batch has been carbonating at room temp for two weeks and I was going to leave it maybe two more weeks.


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[Hackwood]

Leave it for 2 more weeks. You won't know you're going to get bombs until one or more explodes. If your process was good, don't worry.

 

[mdbrewer1]

As long as your gravity readings were stable prior to bottling, you shouldn't have any problems. If you're concerned about them for whatever reason, put them in a sealed box of some sort, even a taped-up heavy cardboard 12 pack box. Better safe than sorry.

 

[brewshki]

I should probably start taking gravity readings. I need a hydrometer for that right?


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[CBXBob]

Yes a hydrometer is an essential piece of equipment especially if your bottling. Reaching a stable final gravity tells you the fermentation is complete, and you can prime and bottle. They are cheap, and with a sample tube very easy to use. They also help you know what the alcohol content of your beer is.

 

[brewshki]

Awesome. Good to know. So for now, it's just wait and hope Ya? What is proper storage for stuff? I would be hard pressed to drink everything immediately, do I need to take up all that fridge space?


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[RM-MN]

Awesome. Good to know. So for now, it's just wait and hope Ya? What is proper storage for stuff? I would be hard pressed to drink everything immediately, do I need to take up all that fridge space?


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While you are at the store buying your hydrometer, buy a second one. The are very fragile and break at the most inopportune time.

You don't need to refrigerate your beer until just a day or so before you intend to drink it. I've stored bottles of beer at room temperature for over 2 years and the only thing I noticed was that the pale ales lost their hop aroma and the stouts kept getting better until they were all gone.

 

[brewkinger]

Getting a hydrometer (or 2, since they break easily) is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!!

Not having one is an example of a "mistake" mentioned above.

Bottle bombs are less a function of temperature and more a function of putting the beer into bottles before it is done fermenting.



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[Gameface]

I know I'm probably jinxing myself but I still have the hydrometer I got with my beginner kit. Not to say they are not very fragile but they don't exactly self destruct.

But yeah I can't imagine completely ignoring gravity, especially if bottling.

 

[brewkinger]

I know I'm probably jinxing myself but I still have the hydrometer I got with my beginner kit. Not to say they are not very fragile but they don't exactly self destruct.

But yeah I can't imagine completely ignoring gravity, especially if bottling.

I thought the same exact thing last week with my 3yr old hydrometer.....
Then I brain farted and set it down on the countertop and turned away..
Glad I had a second one!!!


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