Do I have potential bottle bombs?

[keelanfish]

Last week I primed and bottled my first batch of Ed Wort's Apfelwein following his recipe. I used several 1/2 gallon clear glass bottles like these:

and capped them with new screw on caps like these:

Should I be worried?

 

[LayMeister]

Yes! Depending on how active the yeast was how much sugar added they may self destruct before you get this message. Please wear a heavy jacket, leather gloves and a full face shield while you remove the caps. Put some plastic wrap over the tops until you can transfer to bottles that are designed to take carbonation.

Paul

 

[keelanfish]

I added 3/4 of a cup of priming sugar to a very full 5 gallon batch that had been in the primary for 6 weeks plus one day. Specific Gravity before adding priming sugar was 0.997.

Regardless, sounds like I should carefully transfer into different bottles.

 

[Ben25]

Think about how 'BOOM, SH!T EVERYWHERE!!!' will affect your Apfelwein. It may cause some off flavors. Do what Laymeister said and you should be ok.

 

[keelanfish]

So, I now have six 1/2 gallon containers that are potentially explosive. They have been bottled for a week. How would you all suggest I rebottle and salvage the batch? Should I pour all six into a sanitized bottling bucket and then bottle normally into proper bottles? Any need to add more priming sugar at this point, or do you think it will still carb up without?

Thanks for your help.

 

[conpewter]

Well you could do what the bomb squad does and set it out at a field and blow it up/shoot at it.

On the other hand, you could just try to wear facemask/leather etc mentioned and pour it into a bottling bucket, I'm not sure what to do about how much sugar considering it might not all be fermented out.

Then again it may be OK in those bottles, but probably, I wouldn't chance it.

 

[john from dc]

what i would do:

cover up, goggles, parka, leather, gloves, balaclava, whatever. best you can do. then if they're sitting loose in a closet, get them covered up as best you can. overturned rubbermaid containters are good, but whatever you think can withstand some impact.

then one at a time, carefully get each one into a blastproof container and bring it over to a sink or somewhere else a gusher wont be a problem and gently uncap. then replace the cap with sanitized cellophane and a rubber band or a sanitized balloon with a tiny hole pricked in it.

let everything sit for three more weeks to a month, so you're sure all the sugar has fermented out. then re-prime and bottle into beer bottles or something that's designed to hold pressure.

overkill? quite possibly, i don't really know how much pressure those bottles can take. but since i don't know, i'd personally go the ultra-cautious route.

 

[RugenBrau]

ekep us informed. Otherwise we might assume the worst!

 

[keelanfish]

Man, what a bummer. These were going to be nice looking Christmas Gifts. Any recommendations for larger clear bottles that can show off the nice color and clarity?

 

[conpewter]

Hey why not just uncap it, let off the pressure and then recap, do that over the next couple weeks (every other day or something) to let it ferment out the sugar and then give them as presents still. A lot of people love Apfelwein still (it is like white wine) instead of carbonated. I like the label and bottle look

 

[keelanfish]

conpewter - that's a good idea. I'll try to do that with one and see what happens. Might be able to tell alot based on how it reacts when the pressure is released. I'll do it in the kitchen sink and cover with thick towels just in case.

Thanks for the idea.

 

[keelanfish]

Well, that was a big non-event. I unscrewed the cap and nothing, not even a hiss. Now I'm wondering if these caps that I bought at the local HBS even seal.

 

[ChshreCat]

You could always pick out some "friends" you don't particularly care for and give them some special gifts of apfelwein. Make sure you point out that the longer you let it age, the better it is.

Seriously, you might have gotten lucky and gotten caps that are letting off the pressure. I'd open each of them up just in case.

 

[keelanfish]

Today we rebottled all six half gallon containers. When removing the caps, non of them even made a hiss. Good to know that these types of caps don't actually seal in pressure. Anywho, we ended up adding about 1.5 oz of priming sugar and then bottling and capping in typical brown beer bottles. Not nearly as attractive, but hopefully it will still carbonate and be tasty.

Thanks for the words of advice...Now I have 10 clear half gallon carboys for experimental batches or yeast starters, so not a total loss.

 

[RugenBrau]

Google Waterloo Container They have a large amount of glassware. They supply all over the east coast. If you don't see what you like online ask for a complete catalog. I think I saw some clear jeraboam champagne bottles.

 

[flatheadkissa]

my tongues a drippen just lookin at the pic,

 

[BrewinJack]

At the LHBS where i am they have things they call growlers... they look like that and they are rated for up to three atmospheres of pressure i asked... try googleing

Cheers

 

[PAC762]

Man, what a bummer. These were going to be nice looking Christmas Gifts. Any recommendations for larger clear bottles that can show off the nice color and clarity?

I really like those tags as opposed to adhesive labels that are a pain to remove. Did you make them yourself? Are their direction online?

 

[keelanfish]

Yeah, I made them myself. Kind of a pain, but it was worth it for presents. I did the design in AutoCAD (I'm a Civil Engineer) and printed on glossy 32# paper. There's print on the back as well, so instead of printing both sides and hoping they line up, I just printed side by side and folded in half and glued with a glue stick. This made them twice as thick and much more substantial. Cut them out with scissors and got a cheap grommet kit from Home Depot for $7. Took some time, but I'm happy with the end product.

Printing with a laser printer on glossy paper is nice because the ink doesn't smear even if it gets wet and the glossy paper is water resistant as well.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

 

[PAC762]

Yeah, I made them myself. Kind of a pain, but it was worth it for presents. I did the design in AutoCAD (I'm a Civil Engineer) and printed on glossy 32# paper. There's print on the back as well, so instead of printing both sides and hoping they line up, I just printed side by side and folded in half and glued with a glue stick. This made them twice as thick and much more substantial. Cut them out with scissors and got a cheap grommet kit from Home Depot for $7. Took some time, but I'm happy with the end product.

Printing with a laser printer on glossy paper is nice because the ink doesn't smear even if it gets wet and the glossy paper is water resistant as well.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Very nice work. I hope I can make something 1/10th as nice.

 

[GooBrew]

How about just un capping them and putting empty ballons over the necks?

Rather than bleeding the pressure every few days and worrying about forgetting to. Just let the ballon fill, glance at it every once in a while and when the ballon is getting big release the pressure and re apply.

Whats the worst that can happen? You have a ballon go flying out from the closet and your room smells like apfelwein?

 

[JoeSponge]

A friend's original recipe called for doing that w/ balloons w/ a pin-prick in the top... they'd still fill, but would adjust themselves if they got too full. Man, humans are inventive. (Me, I'm still using a little twig to get the ants out of the anthill.)

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

(Me, I'm still using a little twig to get the ants out of the anthill.)

Hmm, spread out a few smashed cockroachs on a ?clean? leaf, wait for them to fill up and then lick it all off. Learned that trick from someone who I suspect may be below apes on the evolutionary scale.
Apes that use sticks to pick out ant's are lucky to reproduce. They tend to be paying attention to ants when the females walk by.