Help! Gusher

[billted]

no i didnt take a reading. I did leave it 3 full weeks in primary. I thought that would be enough.

 

[Hang Glider]

that amount of time is often just fine - but the low number would tell us if you ended up with too much fermentable sugar left, lending to the possibilities of bottle bombs.

If you don't have a hydrometer, get one. If you have one, use it. Record the numbers with a sample of pre-fermented wort (starting gravity) and finished beer, prior to bottling (final gravity). The numbers will be something like 1.045 (sg) and 1.010 (fg). If your fg were 1.025, we would caution you about bottle bombs.

Once in a while, the yeast just poop out and you have a stuck fermentation. If they rouse up again in the bottle - you could have problems. Better to diagnose before you bottle. So if your fg was 1.025, we might have advised you to pitch another packet of yeast and warm up the beer a touch (70F, maybe), or even pitch a packet of champagne yeast to drive that number lower.

good luck with this one - ! Hope it all works out.

 

[knightbeer39]

I have the case in the fridge covered in towels. Will they still explode in the fridge? They no longer gush after leaving in fridge for 4days but are still gasy.

They can! I've had that happen. Chilling them down though dramatically reduces the chance of them going boom. If you have towels in there and the fridge is nice and cold, it probably won't hurt to wait a week if you want.

People tend to have strong feelings one direction or the other on this, but I have been brewing for over 15 years and once a bottle has exploded in my cases, I've never had the carbonation subside back into the others and end up just fine. That has always been a clear sign to me that they are grossly overcarbonated and I would just look to drink what you can....just my take

All that being said, definately take gravity readings from now on and don't bottle until you are confident your gravity is low enough. Its the only way to be sure.