First Bottle Bomb...What to do?

[Hangfire]

Hey everyone,

Well, I just had my first bottle bomb, and I'm not sure why. I bottled my Houblonmonstre Tripel/IPA about 10 days ago. I tried one a couple of days ago and it was very carbonated already, and delicious. I used the instructions from NB that said to use 5/8 cup of sugar + 1oz. Anyway, now I'm wondering whether or not I should keep them in my closet (only 1 broke) or get them all into the fridge asap?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Erroneous]

Get them in the fridge. What was the FG? Could be your yeast had more to ferment, or if you used say a wine bottle or something not made for beer pressures that'd do it.

 

[Hangfire]

Don't remember what the FG was, but it was definitely done. 3 weeks in primary and 4 weeks in secondary.

 

[BarberSurgeon]

I've seen people suggest storing the bottles in a garbage bag. Makes sense to me.

 

[el_caro]

Thoughts on recapping them?

Anyone ever recapped and stored a bottle successfully? Would this not release the pressure or would it result in a flat beer. Must go try this for myself now.

 

[Clann]

If you are sure it was done then it was probabily a defect in the bottle. I have had two bottles bomb on me but that was in over two years of brewing and I chalked them up as weak bottles

What was the final gravity?

 

[Justibone]

Anyone ever recapped and stored a bottle successfully? Would this not release the pressure or would it result in a flat beer. Must go try this for myself now.

I've recapped. They were still carbonated afterwards, although slightly less so.

 

[Erroneous]

You could always just drink them all as fast as you can :rockin:

 

[bourgeoisbee]

Keep them cold if possible. Also, measuring carbing sugar by weight can help avoid over carbing. You said it was a tripel/IPA, some Belgian yeast can stall out around 1.030-1.040 and then picks up again. I've dealt with that with wlp500. You might need to warm it up a little more next time after a week or two to get it to finish off, time and not enough heat can still leave an underattenuated beer with some Belgian yeasts.

 

[Hangfire]

Okay, I think I will leave them in the closet for awhile and hope I don't get another one. I feel like I did everything correctly, so hopefully I can just chalk this up to a weak bottle.

I'm not exact on FG readings as my hydro reading skills aren't the best yet, but I know it was around 1.01. Also, I primaried for 1 week at about 65degrees, then bumped it up to about 72 for two weeks and then secondary for three weeks.

Although I said I did the 5/8 cup +1oz, I did also weight my sugar which came out to 5oz, which doesn't seem nearly hight enough for bombs. One thing is that it's been pretty warm here this past week (probably upper 70' to low 80's inside my place)...maybe that had something to do with it?

Thanks for the suggestions...! Btw, like I said in my original post (I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to drink any before three weeks, but this beer is amazingly good. By far the best of the three I've made).

 

[JJL]

If you are going to leave them in the closet at room temp, I'd suggest putting them in a rubbermaid tote or a cooler to contain the mess if another one blows.

 

[JimTheHick]

I have the same issue! Mine is a Surly Cynic from NB, which I believe uses the same yeast as yours (Ardennes). My ferment ended at 1.014 after two weeks primary two weeks secondary. It was stable. I added the recommended sucrose and the beer was Amazing at only one week in the bottle. Now a month later I open the bottles and the head will slowly rise out of the bottle over the course of about 30 minutes!

I really wonder if a bit if sucrose allows the yeast to start chewing up other sugars in the bottle that they were ignoring during bulk conditioning.

 

[JimTheHick]

Oh forgot to add the FG of the beer out of the bottles is now 1.012

 

[JJL]

I have the same issue! Mine is a Surly Cynic from NB, which I believe uses the same yeast as yours (Ardennes). My ferment ended at 1.014 after two weeks primary two weeks secondary. It was stable. I added the recommended sucrose and the beer was Amazing at only one week in the bottle. Now a month later I open the bottles and the head will slowly rise out of the bottle over the course of about 30 minutes!

I really wonder if a bit if sucrose allows the yeast to start chewing up other sugars in the bottle that they were ignoring during bulk conditioning.

Are you opening the bottles warm or cold. If they're warm I'm not surprised. High gravity beers (particularly with belgian strains) tend to be highly carbonated and have a lot of head when poured, usually even when cold.

 

[JimTheHick]

Cold. I seriously have to open them 30 minutes before drinking, leave in fridge, then get out two glasses where I carefully pour a glass of half beer half head in each. The carbonation is ridiculous! My other beers have been carbed OK. Beer tastes great, just foam city.

 

[JJL]

Still not that out of the ordinary for a high grav beer done with belgian yeast.

 

[JimTheHick]

Cynic is an og 1.050 beer, but i also have a tripel fermenting.

Would you suggest cutting the bottling sugar in half for these beers? I was really surprised by the cynic carb issue but I'm new to this so my fermentation was probably less than ideal.