Is my friend brewing bottle bombs?

[Qeelin]

I have a friend who is just getting into brewing and instead of waiting for me to show him the ropes he jumped in with both feet. He has another friend who went out and spent tons of money on canned kits and equipment he doesn't need yet. I tried to help them and give them advice but did they listen? NO.

Here is how their first batch is going. First they are using a Coopers canned, no-boil kit. I have no problem with that for a first batch. Easy, no stress, just through it in the fermenter, top it off, pitch the yeast and wait. They did just that, well sort of. They topped off the carboy all the way to the neck, pitched the yeast, then stood back and said, "hmmm, I don't think that is enough head room". So they racked out about a gallon and then thought they should compensate for the lost sugar and yeast by dumping dextrose and more dry yeast directly into the carboy. Ok ok, I can chalk that up to being a noob. It's no big deal. They shouldn't have any trouble with that as long as the dextrose dissolves completely so the yeasties can get to it. I made sure and told them to check the gravity before bottling and make sure fermentation was complete. I didn't want them to have bottle bombs on the first batch. Did they listen? NO.

They brewed a week ago and bottled tonight with NO gravity readings at all! When I asked them if they checked the gravity they said, "The bubbles were taking about 90 seconds between them". I told them to say a prayer and knock on a lot of wood because they could have bombs a brewing.

We shall see...

Has anyone heard of someone bottling 7 days after pitching yeast and having success? I'd love to hear about it.

Prosit!

 

[zepolmot]

Hopefully they listened to you telling them to keep the bottles in trash bags while they age...

 

[superjunior]

or in a large tuperware or something to contain the glass...

 

[TTB-J]

Boom goes the dynamite.

 

[Zamial]

This is sounds like a tragedy in the making to me...

The only saving grace they may have coming is if they did not use priming sugar and can get them chilled at the right time. Question stands, did they add priming sugar? because it sounds bad, also what was the exact recipe?

 

[a10t2]

Has anyone heard of someone bottling 7 days after pitching yeast and having success? I'd love to hear about it.

I keg, generally, but if you pitch enough yeast a week should be plenty of time for fermentation to finish up - more than enough, really.

Of course, it sounds like they added extra sugar, and being newbies probably under-pitched. So they might not be so lucky.

 

[Qeelin]

This is sounds like a tragedy in the making to me...

The only saving grace they may have coming is if they did not use priming sugar and can get them chilled at the right time. Question stands, did they add priming sugar? because it sounds bad, also what was the exact recipe?

I thought the same thing but they used the bottling sugar that came with the Coopers kit. I'm not sure which one they used but it was a dark ale.

 

[Zamial]

PSA #1: Shrapnel is no joke...

PSA #2: Glass splinters under stress or force AND as it moves through solid materials...

PSA #3: Glass does not show up on X-rays...

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Oh I have to subscribe to this so I can see something to this extent in a few days:

"UPDATE: Grenades."

It's going to happen.... I'd say 99% chance of shrapnel in their future.

 

[Fantastical]

Uh oh...

 

[moti_mo]

Your friend didn't jump in with both feet. He jumped off the high dive drunk in the pitch black of night without looking down to make sure there was water in the pool.

Definitely at least make sure he stores those bottles in a VERY safe place, they could really hurt someone. We make jokes here, but high speed glass shrapnel can lead to really bad consequences.

 

[kicknbrew]

Rut Roh Raggy....

 

[dantheman13]

Is a hefty black trash bag enough to contain the devastation?

 

[bovineblitz]

Is a hefty black trash bag enough to contain the devastation?

Probably not, I'd put it in something more solid. Preferably a rubbermaid container or bucket... at least a cardboard box. A bag inside or around the container is a good idea but I wouldn't trust a bag on its own.

 

[beerspitnight]

subscribed!

 

[azscoob]

Can you take pics of the destruction??

 

[FarmerJoe]

Uh oh. Let's see how this goes. I hope they listen to your safety advice at least!

 

[rico567]

Time is my friend....

The hydrometer is also my friend.....

If that fails, conditioning all the bottles in lidded totes will back up those friendships.

Brewing >3 years, no problems so far......

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

A large majority of my fermentations are complete within 7 days. The only real exception is lagers. They'll be fine.

 

[SwampassJ]

A large majority of my fermentations are complete within 7 days. The only real exception is lagers. They'll be fine.

Key word being majority. Still a slim chance if they pitched old yeast that stalled until it was racked and restarted like my 1st beer did in secondary at 14 days.

 

[Qeelin]

It WAS still bubbling when they bottled...just sayin'

 

[doctorRobert]

Bubbling every 90 seconds could very well just be due to temperature changes or other atmospheric pressure changes. Fermentation is probably over.

I bet they wont have bottle bombs if they used a reasonable amount of priming sugar. But they will have green gross beer.

I'm assuming those kits come with an aggressive yeast, that'll ferment out quickly. Like an S-04 or something which can finish in 3 days.

 

[EoinMag]

I've never had a bottle bomb, I can't understand how people get bottle bombs.

 

[doctorRobert]

I've never had a bottle bomb, I can't understand how people get bottle bombs.

Better knock on wood.

 

[dantheman13]

I bet they wont have bottle bombs if they used a reasonable amount of priming sugar. But they will have green gross beer.

No kidding. I have been tasting my first batch of Coopers IPA, and the first week in bottles it was very apple tasting and sweet. Mind you this was after 4 weeks in a secondary (1 week in a primary, which I think was one of my problems). I tasted it again at 2 weeks in bottles, and the apple taste died down a lot, but it is still a bit sweet.

I can't imagine how bad it would taste if bottled at 7 days.

 

[Qeelin]

These guys are so impatient and have had bad beer for so long that they will probably drink it all up in a few days and say it was "Awesome dude!".

They wouldn't know a good beer if it kicked them in the nuts.

 

[onthekeg]

It probably finished just fine. I am sure they fermented hot too. How would they know or consider putting it somewhere in the low 60's. Probably got to 75 deg during fermentation.

 

[Qeelin]

It probably finished just fine. I am sure they fermented hot too. How would they know or consider putting it somewhere in the low 60's. Probably got to 75 deg during fermentation.

Very true. We ARE in Texas too.

 

[Wyrmwood]

I would start sampling early (5 days in even) and move the entire batch to a fridge when they are exhibiting any degree of carbonation. That will prevent them from exploding. Having said that, if he hasn't listened to you yet, why now? School of hard knocks works too

 

[Revvy]

A large majority of my fermentations are complete within 7 days. The only real exception is lagers. They'll be fine.

Except those that seem to take 3 days to get started. You know the one's that 20-30 panicked new brewers post about every day, and we have a sticky about how "fermentation can take up to 72 hours to start." Which means that it is just as probable that there bottled beer that has been fermenting only 4 days.....