Help! Bottle Bomb Advice

[scottiebrown]

Right, so I made a 5g batch of Honey Wheat Ale and I (unwittingly) decided to add 2lbs of honey instead of 1lb to the wort. I am still a fairly new brewer so I didn't think about the implications of that decision until now. It has bottle conditioned now for 2 weeks and still needs one more before it is supposed to be ready. However, due to the increase in fermentable sugar, I now realize that I should have allowed the wort to ferment for at least another week before transferring it to the secondary fermenter. It was still fermenting quite a lot at that point, but when I checked the gravity it was right where it should have been for only having 1lb of honey. In my ignorance I moved it to the secondary and it almost halted fermentation. A week later, I checked the FG and it was on target for bottling (per 1lb of honey) so I bottled it. I opened a bottle yesterday to see if I thought it would be ready in a week or whether I thought it needed 2-3 more for conditioning. I noticed that it was well over carbonated and it nearly overflowed when I opened it. It also seemed like it was still fermenting in the glass by the amount of carbonation being created.

Fast forward to this afternoon:
I heard a pop in the closet where I am keeping the bottled batches and when I ran back there I noticed one had exploded. So, I have taken the others and am slightly opening them to release the excess CO2. I realise now that it is still fermenting in the bottles and that I had miscalculated the fermentation/bottling time.

My question is this: what should I do now? I have already slightly opened each bottle and released the mounting CO2. Should I leave it at that or do this every few days for a while? Do you think cold storing it will calm this down? It might have exploded because it recently got warmer and the area I was storing them in became a lot warmer today than I had anticipated (82F - 27C or so).

Also OG was 1.049

Beersmith is saying that my FG should have been 1.003 and the reading I took when I bottled it was 1.010. I bottled it because that was what it should have been with only 1lb - serious blunder lol.

Any help or thoughts on the matter are greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Scottie

 

[tektonjp]

Cooling down won't hurt. Want kind of bottles? Flip top? If so, reliving the pressure is good to do.
1003? Pretty dry. What was your recipe? Yeast and attenuation? Fermentation temp? Type and amount of sugar for priming?
You have a long post but not much info. Please help us out.

 

[scottiebrown]

Right, sorry mate. Wasn't trying to be vague, just wasn't sure how much info would be pertinent.

I'm using a mix of regular glass bottles with capped lids. No flip tops unfortunately. I've already vented each bottle by slightly lifting an edge the cap and then re-capping when the foam rose too near the top. I did this twice within an hour and then re-stored them.

The recipe was an "AHS Honey Wheat Mini Mash".
Yeast = American Hefeweizen Ale - White Labs
Fermentation Temp = 73-76 F
Priming Sugar - 4.5oz Priming Table Sugar

Attenuation:
OG = 1049
FG = 1010 (should have been 1005 when I bottled)
Measured ABV 5.1% but it would have been 6% at 1003. Actual ABV has probably changed in the bottle seeing as it is still fermenting quite a bit.

Once again, cheers.

 

[jamoke]

Priming Sugar - 1lb Priming Table Sugar

This is about 4X what you normally need.
Use caution as you may have some bottle bombs at large.

I would return all the beer into a secondary to finish fermenting the sugar, then re-start the bottle process.
...or remove caps, cover each bottle with foil, and let the fermentation finish.

 

[scottiebrown]

This is about 4X what you normally need.
Use caution as you may have some bottle bombs at large.

Sorry mate. Serious mistake on my part. I was looking at the info I had copied down into Beersmith and realized it was wrong. It was only 4.5oz of priming sugar not 1lb. I've edited the original post to quell any further confusion.

Appreciate the reply though. Given the change in circumstances, would you still recommend putting it back in the fermenter, or just perhaps venting it once more in 3-4 days perhaps?

 

[tektonjp]

Vent once more in 3-4 days. Actually, before venting, cool one down, and try it. You may be on target. If not, vent again. You didn't put enough sugar in to warrant putting them all into a secondary. Just my opinion.

 

[scottiebrown]

Vent once more in 3-4 days. Actually, before venting, cool one down, and try it. You may be on target. If not, vent again. You didn't put enough sugar in to warrant putting them all into a secondary. Just my opinion.

Great advice. Thanks a mill!

 

[DarkBrood]

Leaving your bottles cracked open is a good way to get your beer infected. Granted, there should be ample CO2 in the bottle to blanket the liquid, but remember that it exists on the entirety of the inside of the neck, rim, and lid. You are now in a room that had a bottle of beer explode - unless you are in a sanitizable walk-in cooler, you have what are essentially droplets of sugary malt extract (once the protective alcohol has evaporated) that will be prime breeding grounds for wild yeasts and other unwanted critters. Generally, your options are to:
* Pop the tops to release excess pressure. Sanitize rim of bottle and recap immediately.
* Gently pour/siphon your beer into a sanitized fermentor, blanket it with CO2, and rebottle when it seems right.
The first method minimizes exposure to contaminants, but is a short process with little control. The second method allows for more control, but at a much greater risk of oxidation. Either method creates a significant risk of spoilage and the end result of either could very well be an undercarbonated beer.

The proper remedy is found by looking at the cause. If your bottle bombs went off because temperatures spiked, what happened next? Remember that the yeast activity will follow the temperature, so a sudden sustained rise in temperature can awaken a dormant yeast or kick a slow one into high gear (of course, this will have effects on flavors and aromas!). If the temperature drops back down, it will certainly stress the yeast, but the yeast should calm back down as it cools. If it stays warmer, the yeast will stay more active until the sugars are all consumed, the alcohol kills it, or pressure buildup becomes extreme. It is often possible to save beers from high-temp conditions by chilling without agitation (i.e. put them in the BACK of the fridge).

If you have at-risk batches, it is worth considering storing in containers lined with garbage bags. If your temperatures are getting much higher than you want, cover your bottle storage with heavy blankets - it'll help insulate to stabilize temp changes and it'll provide a line of protection. A bottle bomb can explode hard enough to blast out the sides of bar-bottle-boxes and embed glass in the sheetrock - you DON'T want to be in the room when one goes off!!!

My best suggestion is to recap them all now and get them into cold storage/lagering immediately. Or decant them into 750mL champagne bottles and cork them with wired caps to support the pressure...see what you get.

I had a particularly strong winter IPA that was doing nicely until we had that random March week in the 80*s and I didn't have the a/c in the beer room yet...lost two bombers and a 16oz export bottle, but all went in the fridge and (burp) what remains has been keeping quite well.

It's also worth noting (although it looks like your over-sugaring guess is correct) that excessive pressure and foam gushing can be caused by other factors as well, most commonly from fusarium.

 

[scottiebrown]

Thanks darkbrood. I will take all of that into mind and act accordingly. I think I might leave it a day or two more to allow at least a decent of amount of carbonation to build back in the bottles before chilling them. Wednesday is supposed to be the end of the 3 week bottle conditioning period so it might actually make it to that schedule.

Since the explosion, I have vented all tops and have them all in boxes on top of plastic, covered by a thick towel. They also are in a more cool place with a more moderated temp.

I looked into fusarium as that was a new one on me and I honestly don't think that is the issue. While it was foaming over, it wasn't really gushing. It only foamed over a bit.

Thanks again for all the advice. It will definitely help me in the future and with this current batch.

 

[ACbrewer]

My best suggestion is to recap them all now and get them into cold storage/lagering immediately. Or decant them into 750mL champagne bottles and cork them with wired caps to support the pressure...see what you get.

One better than champagne bottles is using plastic PET bottles, they can go 2x what any glass (even champagne) can do. However there are drawbacks - getting enough, plastic is generally not as good as glass for storage, etc. but hands down they can go high on the preasure scale.