Hefe Explosion

[davidkrau]

Last night I was awakened by an explosion. A bottle of Hefe Weizen that I bottled 10 days earlier had exploded. I opened 2 other bottles at room temp. they seemed normal. No Mount Vesuvius eruptions. There was a lot of foam when I poured the beer into a Glass. I am sure the fermtation was complete . The final SG was 1.010 and had been the same for several days.
I followed my normal procedure for a 5 gal batch, 5 ounces corn sugar boiled 5 minutes in a cup of water cooled and poured into a bottling bucket. I then siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket and then bottled the beer. THE ONLY THING I FORGOT TO DO WAS STIR THE BEER IN THE BOTTLING BUCKET WITH THE CORN SUGAR.

What should I do? I don't want anyone to get hurt.should I Wait and see if anymore explode? Uncap the whole batcand recap? Uncap the whole batch a pour the beer down the drain?

The only other time I had bottle grenades was when I made root beer.
This my be my last attempt at Hefe Weizen

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

The bottle that exploded may have gotten infected somehow. I would get them in the fridge ASAP and then start enjoying them. Alternatively, put them in a box in the garage so they'll be contained.

This my be my last attempt at Hefe Weizen

The style of beer doesn't have anything to do with this, so I'm not following...

 

[Kaiser]

You can lift the caps slighly (but not so much that they don't seal anymore) to vent them. Maybe you find more that have a higher pressure. Make sure you wear protective eyewear for this.

Kai

 

[Brewpastor]

It is hefe, throw it all away. Pour it down the toilet. Ship it to Iraq. Just don't drink it!

 

[johnoswald]

The bottle that exploded may have gotten infected somehow....

I agree! I routinely bottle in Das Schwarze bottles from Germany. When I drink a bottle, I rinse it well, let it dry and store it safely out of the way. Before the next filling, I just have to do a quick sanitizing and am good to go. Well a few batches ago, I opened a porter (at basement temp) and it wouldn't stop foaming. Ususally I can let the bail back down (to seal it) and the CO2 release would slow/stabilize and then I could proceed to pour and enjoy. But not this time - I ended up having to quickly dump ~half the bottle into my glass - mainly foam- and reclose the bottle. The second half was nearly the same (foam) but the last thing to come out was a nasty slug of slime! Since the first half of the bottle tasted great and I wasn't wreching, I fished out the slime slug and enjoyed the second half too. None of my beer loving children nor SWMBO chose to sip that second half. The rest of the bottles from that batch were fine.

So... make sure your bottles are clean.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Is there a ring in the bottle neck at the top of the liquid? Then it's an infection.

Chances are the beer and priming sugars weren't mixed well. Open another one and pour it into a glass. If it pours well then your beers ready for the fridge anyway.

 

[davidkrau]

Final Report on my hefe explosion. I had put a drop cloth over the bottles and went on vacation for a week. When I came back there were no other bottle bombs. I put on safety glasses, a winter coat and gloves and gingerly removed the cap on one of the bottles. No problem. Poured it into a glass, nicely carbonated with plenty of foam. I opened another bottle and it erupted like a volcano. I then decided that I wanted nothing to do with this batch of beer. I uncapped then and poured the beer down the drain. Several of the bottles erupted and some seemed rather flat. I think the problem was that I just poured the corn sugar water mix into the bottling bucket, siphoned in the beer and forgot to stir so that some bottles had a lot more corn sugar than others.

 

[Mykel Obvious]

Final Report on my hefe explosion. I had put a drop cloth over the bottles and went on vacation for a week. When I came back there were no other bottle bombs. I put on safety glasses, a winter coat and gloves and gingerly removed the cap on one of the bottles. No problem. Poured it into a glass, nicely carbonated with plenty of foam. I opened another bottle and it erupted like a volcano. I then decided that I wanted nothing to do with this batch of beer. I uncapped then and poured the beer down the drain. Several of the bottles erupted and some seemed rather flat. I think the problem was that I just poured the corn sugar water mix into the bottling bucket, siphoned in the beer and forgot to stir so that some bottles had a lot more corn sugar than others.

If you siphoned onto the priming sugar that should have mixed it enough, I get a gentle whirlpool action by placing the racking hose along the curve of the bottom of the bucket... stirring much more than that leads to oxidation if you aren't careful... I've done it that way over 100 times without any trouble/gushers/bottle bombs, and never a noticeable variation in the CO2 levels in each bottle... sounds to me like an infection is a more likely culprit (though I could be wrong )... how did you sanitize your bottles???

And how did the one beer taste???

And to everyone else, do YOU stir your beer to mix in your priming sugar??? Am I just the odd man out???

mikey

 

[texasgeorge]

And to everyone else, do YOU stir your beer to mix in your priming sugar??? Am I just the odd man out???

mikey

I stir... VERY GENTLY, and for a very short amount of time... maybe 5 or 6 slow swirls around my priming bucket.


On another note: I think dumping out all that brew is considered alcohol abuse in 31 states. I'd try to avoid it next time.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I stir, let sit for a few minutes and give it another swirling stir.

Then I bottle about a 10-12 bottles, re-swirl/stir and cap, bottle another 12 or so and cap, re-swirl, bottle and cap. Never had any problems or explosions.

 

[davidkrau]

I thought I sanatized the Bottles properly with 1 step. In answer to the question of how the beer tasted. The answer is I didn't like either the taste or the smell. Then again it had only been bottled for a little over 2 weeks. This was my first (and probably my last) experience with hefe weitzen and I dont know how it was supposed to smell and taste.

I've have been brewing off and on for 6 years, first with extracts and recently all grain. With the exception of a root beer fiasco this was the first time I had a bad experience. You had better believe I will be stirring the corn sugar the next time I bottle!

 

[homebrewer_99]

...This was my first (and probably my last) experience with hefe weitzen and I dont know how it was supposed to smell and taste...

Firstly, I want to say that I don't like hearing you're quitting on brewing one of the best beers in the world because of this one experience. That's disheartening.

Secondly, you broke what I consider my LAW #1 of brewing - You brewed a beer you've never tasted and have no idea what it's supposed to taste like.

How were you going to judge whether or not your brew was a success? I recommend you get yourself some "fresh" HW from somewhere and try it. If I were close to you I'd gladly help you out.

 

[davidkrau]

Although I never tasted hefe weizen I did have a bottle of weiss beer in a German restaurant. I understand that in northern Germany wheat beer is called weiss beer in southern Germany it's called Weitzen. I don't remember the brand of weiss that drank but it tasted nothing like the hefe wiezen. If nothing else the hefe weizen was much hoppier and had a strange smell.

I will look for a bottle of hefe weixen and if i like it I'll brew it again.

At least we are from the same state, I live in Mt Prospect IL

 

[homebrewer_99]

Although I never tasted hefe weizen I did have a bottle of weiss beer in a German restaurant. I understand that in northern Germany wheat beer is called weiss beer in southern Germany it's called Weitzen. I don't remember the brand of weiss that drank but it tasted nothing like the hefe wiezen. If nothing else the hefe weizen was much hoppier and had a strange smell.

I will look for a bottle of hefe weixen and if i like it I'll brew it again.

At least we are from the same state, I live in Mt Prospect IL

OK, so you don't have a TOTAL lack of experience with HWs good.

As luck would have it, one of my granddaughter's and her fiance are flying into O'hare on Thurs, 25 May at 1:45, that would give us plenty of time to brew. Unfortunately, other people in her family will be up in Chicago on the same day. How much room they'll have in their vehicles is an unknown so I don't know if I've been recruited to pick them up or not. Of course, that doesn't take into consideration your schedule.

In the meantime, how about your recipe and the yeast you used? Still have those notes? Email them to me and I'll take a look at them... [email protected]
Incidently, MOST HWs are sweet, not bitter...