Carbonation Question???

[Broadbeer]

Bottled my beer last Tuesday. It looked great (clear) and smelled awesome. It had a slight carbonation in it when I bottled.
I stuck a bottle in the fridge yesterday morning to enjoy it after work. It was perfect! My first brew kicked a$$. BTW it's a Belgium Honey Ale. Some of you might remember that my cat chewed the airlock. I still hate that cat! Anyway, the carbonation was right on after a week in the bottles. Should I be worried about over carbonation if I let it sit two more weeks?

 

[mojotele]

How much did you bottle (5 gallons?) and how much priming sugar did you use?

 

[BadgerBrewer]

As long as you added the correct amount of DME/sugar when you bottled, you have nothing to worry about. You can keep those bottles for months and they will remain at the perfect carb level.

Now if you added too much sugar...bottle bombs might ruin your day but you won't have to worry about over carbonation

 

[Broadbeer]

That's nice to know
It was just short of 5 gallons and I used 3/4 c corn sugar

 

[BadgerBrewer]

That is perfect per John Palmer so it is perfect for me! Your bottles should be fine for long term storage.

 

[Broadbeer]

Thanks for all your smarts

 

[MonkeyWrangler]

Just an FYI, bottles will either explode in the first day or two or they won't.

 

[Broadbeer]

That's good to know. I can relax now

 

[joety]

Just an FYI, bottles will either explode in the first day or two or they won't.

Depending how long between primary fermentation and bottlling and the ambient temperature where you store the bottles (as well as many other factors), they can take far longer than that to carbonate. If you want to be 100% safe from bottle bombs, I would think a month or two is needed.

 

[Broadbeer]

Depending how long between primary fermentation and bottlling and the ambient temperature where you store the bottles (as well as many other factors), they can take far longer than that to carbonate. If you want to be 100% safe from bottle bombs, I would think a month or two is needed.

I guess I'm lost, it's not hard for me....
A month or two is needed to be out of the bottle bomb threat?
It had two weeks in the primary 60-65 F. Racked it to the secondary and let it sit for another two weeks same temp. Primed and bottled. Now it's carbonation is just right and it's only been a week....and a couple days now.
So you're suggesting to keep a hawk eye still?

 

[MonkeyWrangler]

No.

Bottle bombs happen because you have excess CO2 being made. CO2 comes from only 1 source, sugar. Which in beer making is in the wort and in the sugar you add for bottling as long as you have reached the end of fermentation (stable gravity for 2-3 days) and add the correct amount of sugar you are fine.

Dear lord, usually I bottle after 5-10 days and age in the bottle (less risk of the beer being light struck and actually an air tight seal so contamination is minimized, easier to move etc).

Yes temperature can play a role since that changes the amount of dissolved CO2 in your beer and changes the density of the CO2 (but we're talking 5% variance per 10C change...) so if you lager at the bottom of the temperature range and bottle condition at like 80 F you *might* have a problem with dissolved CO2 causing problems. But realistically no.

 

[joety]

I guess I'm lost, it's not hard for me....
A month or two is needed to be out of the bottle bomb threat?
It had two weeks in the primary 60-65 F. Racked it to the secondary and let it sit for another two weeks same temp. Primed and bottled. Now it's carbonation is just right and it's only been a week....and a couple days now.
So you're suggesting to keep a hawk eye still?

You don't "need" a month or two, but MonkeyWrangler made the statement that it's not possible to have bottle bombs after one or two days and that is simply innaccurate. There are many other factors that can delay the refermentation in the bottle, the most important being how long the yeast has been idle from initial fermentation and the second most important, in my experience, being the ambient temperature where the bottles are stored. I would say the base case from my experience is 5-7 days, but Hieronymous and others have pointed to far longer refermentation periods in certain situations.

That said, if you allowed it to ferment out copletely, and if you added the proper amount of sugar, you will not have a bottle bomb. If you are uncertain, 1 to 2 days is not long enough to remove that uncertainty.

 

[joety]

No.

Bottle bombs happen because you have excess CO2 being made. CO2 comes from only 1 source, sugar. Which in beer making is in the wort and in the sugar you add for bottling as long as you have reached the end of fermentation (stable gravity for 2-3 days) and add the correct amount of sugar you are fine.

Dear lord, usually I bottle after 5-10 days and age in the bottle (less risk of the beer being light struck and actually an air tight seal so contamination is minimized, easier to move etc).

Yes temperature can play a role since that changes the amount of dissolved CO2 in your beer and changes the density of the CO2 (but we're talking 5% variance per 10C change...) so if you lager at the bottom of the temperature range and bottle condition at like 80 F you *might* have a problem with dissolved CO2 causing problems. But realistically no.

Temperature plays a role in the yeast activity on the added sugar. Lower temperatures will take longer for the yeast to convert the sugar. Yes, your beer will absorb more or less CO2 based on temperature, but that's not what I was referring to.

I am glad all your beers ferment out in 5-10 days, but I've had big belgians go three weeks with rapid fermentation happening the entire time. Furthermore, by bottling in as little as five days (ten is still too short), even though primary fermentation is complete you are cutting off the ability of the yeast to clean up after itself and remove some of the undesirable esters created during fermentation. I know you are new to this group, but if you do some quick searches you will see lots of discussion on this topic. Revvy's rule of thumb is no shorter than ten days and preferrably more than 14, IIRC.

 

[Broadbeer]

There are many other factors that can delay the refermentation in the bottle, the most important being how long the yeast has been idle from initial fermentation and the second most important, in my experience, being the ambient temperature where the bottles are stored. I would say the base case from my experience is 5-7 days.

Soooooooo...I guess since the bottles are stored between 65 and 70. I guess it's safe to say that after 9 days I should be in the clear.
Thanks for all the info gang.
I guess I'll just relax now and have a HB

 

[munche]

I had a bit of the same issue, I tried my beer after a week, but Revvy's posts have trained me that my beer shouldn't be ready until the 3 week mark so I was a bit worried that it was perfectly foamy and carbed. But a week later it seems fine still and I don't have piles of shattered glass and beer in that closet.

 

[joety]

I had a bit of the same issue, I tried my beer after a week, but Revvy's posts have trained me that my beer shouldn't be ready until the 3 week mark so I was a bit worried that it was perfectly foamy and carbed. But a week later it seems fine still and I don't have piles of shattered glass and beer in that closet.

Revvy's three week mark has more to do with taste than carbonation, if you are talking about the same thing I was.

Like I said, I've found with most beers 5-7 days is sufficient. This is, after all, the beginner section, and most folks on here aren't brewing up big complicated beers. The normal grav beers using one of the more mainstream ale yeasts, particularly dry yeasts, are all going to ferment out quicker with less potential issues. When I started brewing in 1988 I didn't even have a hydrometer and I really didn't need one as all my beers took the same predictable path. The mistake is to assume that will always apply as you start to increase the breadth of products you brew.