how fast is too fast in carbonation in the bottle?

[Mechphisto]

So I bottled my first batch ever last night. The gravity reading had been 0.010 for 4 days straight (the FG was estimated to be at 0.008, though).

As suggested by Palmer's HOW TO BREW, I filled a 20oz soda bottle with a bit of head space then collapsed the remaining air out of it. It's the next day, and while the bottle is still quite pushable, it's already uncollapsed. I'm afraid if it continues to carbonate at this pace, I'll have blown bottles well before 2 weeks! Is this normal?

And what if, say, in a couple of days the soda bottle feels dangerously close to bursting... Should I de- and re-cap the bottles for safety sake?

I appreciate any advice!

 

[Yooper]

It sounds perfectly normal! Don't worry about it. The bottle will get firm, but not explode- if you added the correct amount of priming sugar to the batch.

 

[unionrdr]

How much priming sugar did you use for the priming solution? How many gallons did you add it to?

 

[Mechphisto]

I used a prepackaged kit made up by my local brew supply shop. I'm not sure how much sugar was in the packet, but I'd guess about 1/4 cup, maybe? Boiled into 2 cups of water, cooled, then added to the 5 gallon batch.
I wish I had measured the sugar, but I just trusted the package. They've been making these kits for decades, so I'm sure it's the right amount. But for the future, even if I use a kit again, I should measure just so I know.

 

[Yooper]

I used a prepackaged kit made up by my local brew supply shop. I'm not sure how much sugar was in the packet, but I'd guess about 1/4 cup, maybe? Boiled into 2 cups of water, cooled, then added to the 5 gallon batch.
I wish I had measured the sugar, but I just trusted the package. They've been making these kits for decades, so I'm sure it's the right amount. But for the future, even if I use a kit again, I should measure just so I know.

A little kitchen scale is great for things like that- for measuring priming sugar, and for hops. Weight is the most accurate way to measure those things.

I use 4-5 ounces by weight of corn sugar for 5 gallons. I think that would be about 2/3 cup in "cups" measurements, give or take.

 

[Mechphisto]

Ah, ok. I have a scale: I'll start using it.

 

[unionrdr]

The priming calculators give amounts of sugars by weight,so you'll be better of with the scale anyway. Hops,extracts,& grains can be weighed out on a $20 scale. I got mine from the kitchen isle of walmart. It goes up to 10lbs. Handy to have. But the typical kit does come with 5oz of dextrose for priming,so maybe that's what you had?...

 

[RM-MN]

A little kitchen scale is great for things like that- for measuring priming sugar, and for hops. Weight is the most accurate way to measure those things.

I use 4-5 ounces by weight of corn sugar for 5 gallons. I think that would be about 2/3 cup in "cups" measurements, give or take.

The kits I was buying had 5 ounces of priming sugar and it carbonate my brews about right. Once I started brewing all grain I had overcarbonation issues and blamed it on weighing wrong but now it seems that every batch is overcarbonated with 4.3 ounces. My beers stay in the fermenter for 3 weeks and are at or below the predicted FG when I bottle. I don't believe it's an infection because it will be every bottle and once fully carbed they don't go farther. Any ideas? My beer is at 72 degrees when I put it in the bottling bucket.

 

[peterj]

So I bottled my first batch ever last night. The gravity reading had been 0.010 for 4 days straight (the FG was estimated to be at 0.008, though).

As suggested by Palmer's HOW TO BREW, I filled a 20oz soda bottle with a bit of head space then collapsed the remaining air out of it. It's the next day, and while the bottle is still quite pushable, it's already uncollapsed. I'm afraid if it continues to carbonate at this pace, I'll have blown bottles well before 2 weeks! Is this normal?

And what if, say, in a couple of days the soda bottle feels dangerously close to bursting... Should I de- and re-cap the bottles for safety sake?

I appreciate any advice!

If your gravity was stable for 4 days and you added only the priming sugar the kit came with then you did it right and it will be fine. Don't worry about the FG estimate. That's just a rough estimate of the gravity your beer might be when it is finished. All that matters is what it actually is when it is finished, which you determined to be 1.010 by taking gravity readings over 4 days. Also, I don't think the soda bottle thing is necessary unless you're planning on stopping carbonation by pasteurizing in order to leave some sweetness in your beer.

 

[peterj]

The kits I was buying had 5 ounces of priming sugar and it carbonate my brews about right. Once I started brewing all grain I had overcarbonation issues and blamed it on weighing wrong but now it seems that every batch is overcarbonated with 4.3 ounces. My beers stay in the fermenter for 3 weeks and are at or below the predicted FG when I bottle. I don't believe it's an infection because it will be every bottle and once fully carbed they don't go farther. Any ideas? My beer is at 72 degrees when I put it in the bottling bucket.

Use this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

If you still get overcarbonation use less priming sugar.

 

[Mechphisto]

If your gravity was stable for 4 days and you added only the priming sugar the kit came with then you did it right and it will be fine. Don't worry about the FG estimate. That's just a rough estimate of the gravity your beer might be when it is finished. All that matters is what it actually is when it is finished, which you determined to be 1.010 by taking gravity readings over 4 days. Also, I don't think the soda bottle thing is necessary unless you're planning on stopping carbonation by pasteurizing in order to leave some sweetness in your beer.

Thanks for the tips.
I didn't really think about it until after bottling, but then I realized that the fermenter had been out in the garage at a steady 52 degrees, though the yeast I used was a lagering yeast meant for 51 to 55. I didn't think about it because the first 4 days the airlock bubbling was crazy-active, then died down and stopped, then the 4-day same gravity.

But, after seeing how fast the soda bottle collapsed, there's a nagging fear that maybe the yeast had gone cold dormant, and now, they're ready to freak out again.

Anyway, if this is normal, cool. But what if it isn't? Is there an early warning sign of bottle blowing? And any way to avoid it?

Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

Seems to me that soda bottle would start to bulge if it gets too much co2. Just crack the lid to release some gas.

 

[Mechphisto]

Seems to me that soda bottle would start to bulge if it gets too much co2. Just crack the lid to release some gas.

Heh, thanks, but it's the 40 capped glass bottles I'm most concerned about.

 

[RM-MN]

I've seen that really fast carbonation in the plastic bottles just like yours and my glass bottles didn't give me any problem at all. In fact I've only had 2 bottle bombs in probably 1500 bottle of beer and I'm pretty sure that was the result of an infection from not getting my bottles cleaned out enough. I always rinse my bottles immediately after emptying them but I handed out samples and got some of them back with yeast remnants in them. I'm betting that I missed those 2 when doing the thorough cleaning.

 

[dlprice45]

A related question: I recently bottled my first batch, an extract IPA kit. My batch came out to about 4.5 gallons, but I used the whole 5 oz. of corn priming sugar and two weeks in I think it's a tad overcarbonated (I used the carbing calculator above and see I should've used just under 4 oz). Most of the batch, however, is bottled in 1-liter swing-top bottles, so could I uncap and then quickly recap them to release some of the CO2? Would that help with the overcarbing, or should I just not sweat it and use less sugar next time?

 

[unionrdr]

I've had some PA/IPA's that were fully carbed in 11 days flat. My second brew would foam out the top just a little bit before fridge time. I give'em 1-2 weeks in the fridge now. Tha gets more co2 into solution so it doesn't use all that gas in the head space as a nucleation point. & turn into beersuvious.

 

[peterj]

A related question: I recently bottled my first batch, an extract IPA kit. My batch came out to about 4.5 gallons, but I used the whole 5 oz. of corn priming sugar and two weeks in I think it's a tad overcarbonated (I used the carbing calculator above and see I should've used just under 4 oz). Most of the batch, however, is bottled in 1-liter swing-top bottles, so could I uncap and then quickly recap them to release some of the CO2? Would that help with the overcarbing, or should I just not sweat it and use less sugar next time?

I would just leave them. They might be a little overcarbonated but they will probably be just fine. It's not really an exact estimate.