It's finally happened-- bottle bombs!

[DSorenson]

This post is mostly to grieve and get out the fury from within, but I welcome any experience anyone has to offer.

I'm very careful. Oh so careful. I have 28 brews under my belt, and I have a good idea of what I'm doing. These were both "collaboration brews" with a close and dear friend who also brews occasionally.

Twice now we have had an "imperial stout" go wrong. That's 2/2. The problem is over carbonation. This last time resulted in bottle bombs. Allow me to show you the pains I went through to prevent this awful occurrence.

Time Number One:
Stout of OG 1.070. Two packs of Nottingham Ale yeast (didn't rehydrate). "Finishes" at 1.018. Four weeks within the appropriate ale temperatures. Multiple gravity checks across a week reveal that it hasn't budged. I bottle.

Three weeks later? Burp inducing, over flowing, over carbonated bottles. No Bottle Bombs.

Time Number Two:
Stout of OG 1.080. WYeast Irish Ale yeast, .75 gallon starter, used the slurry. "Finishes" a tad bit high at 1.024 (maybe 1.025, who can tell with Hydrometers sometimes?), expecting a minimum of 1.023. Two weeks in the fermentation chamber at 62* F, three weeks at room ambient (around 75*F). Approximately a week had proven the gravity to be stable. Then I bottled.

Three weeks later? (or today, for perspective...) I come home from a weekend away at a wedding to find 4 bottle bombs had gone off in the past two days. I crack one I had put in the fridge before I left and it is over carbonated. Delicious and way over carbonated.

In short, I have never (not once) had this problem before. I am super careful and I check my priming sugar additions via the tastybrew calculator. I am careful to use the highest temperature the beer achieved during fermentation.

I am at an absolute loss. A month should be more than enough time for the beer to do it's thing, but I even check to make sure it's done.

I feel like a beginner again, even though I do a crap ton of reading and research. The killer is that the beer tasted pretty awesome- my brother who doesn't like stouts even commented on it's great flavor... aside from the carbonation issue.

Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. Furious.

I've stashed the bottles (after rinsing them off and cleaning up the basement) in Styrofoam coolers, just in case more decide to go. I can't bring myself to dump 8 weeks worth of beer.

What a POS.

This is right on the heals of the great "adding calcium carbonate instead of calcium chloride" fiasco... So I'm a little discouraged.

 

[Schecter]

My condolences.

I once had bottle bombs, but they were my last two ciders that finally overcarbed...we drank the other 98.

Having a steady gravity for a week should be a big green light to bottle, I know not your problem.

I've had a few. But. My mind says. Maybe the denser, still sugar filled beer is beneath where you are sampling, thus preventing you from ascertaining an accurate gravity reading.

I'm sure I'm wrong but my beer made me input!

Best of luck friend

 

[KangerBrew6]

How did you bottle. Bulk prime? High gravity beers can be tricky. Some yeasts bang on in the bottle basically because many English ale yeasts are for cask conditioned ales and you need to keep your carbing sugar levels in the style. Notto and irish are typical frothy %*cks.

 

[Hello]

If you bottled once and felt the need to burp the bottles then it suggests maybe you knew you over carbonated? I don't know that this is a fermentation issue totally. Sounds like there is fault in the priming sugar solution. How are you adding sugar?

With the second batch, how much priming sugar did you use?

 

[DSorenson]

Thanks for the input and condolences. I'll answer a few of your questions:

Good thought, Schecter, but the nature of the turbulent fermentation insures that the beer is well mixed.

I bulk prime and I make sure to mix it in my gently stirring the primed beer after racking onto the primer in the bottling bucket.

Both times I ended up with 616 oz, or 4 and 13/16 gallons.
The first time I used 5 oz of priming sugar (which might have been a tad much).
The second time I used 4.5 oz of priming sugar.

I am not sure that it's a characteristic of these yeasts to keep knocking away at a beer for months on end. I've done high gravity beers with Nottingham before without this problem.

I didn't burp any bottles, these were two distinct batches.
The first one brewed on June 12th, 2013
The second brewed on June 12th, 2014

Maybe June 12th is just not a good day to brew?

 

[Remmy]

I never carb my stouts with that much priming sugar. FG looks about right, so that can't be the problem. I've done about 3 ounces of priming sugar for 5-gal. batches.

Something doesn't make sense here, though. Because I carb the **** out of my saisons and have not once had a bottle bomb or gusher on one of those beers. I bottle in de-labeled 12-ounce bottles that previously had commercial/craft beer as well as home brew.

Or maybe stouts just don't like you.

 

[Hello]

You say you measure with a hydrometer? Have you tested to ensure the hydrometer is accurate?

 

[IslandLizard]

It would be painful to flush them down the drain.

You can open the bottles, or burb them, then recap. Best is to cool them a bit to reduce foaming. Be careful though, wear full protective gear.

While at it, take a hydro reading of one or a few of the gushers. They may have started up after priming.

 

[DSorenson]

Remmy: It's entirely possible that the bottles that have blown so far have been in weakened bottles. I reuse my bottles and some of them have been in use for a while. Interesting question: why do you use 3 oz of sugar for stouts? Just to carbonate to style?

Hello: I've used the same hydrometer for all of my beer and even if it wasn't "zeroed" with water, relatively speaking I would know when the gravity is changing. Good thought though.

IslandLizard: Your thought about taking a hydro reading is a solid one. I thought about doing it yesterday but in my hour of need I finished the beer. I will do that and see what I get.

 

[Remmy]

Remmy: It's entirely possible that the bottles that have blown so far have been in weakened bottles. I reuse my bottles and some of them have been in use for a while. Interesting question: why do you use 3 oz of sugar for stouts? Just to carbonate to style?

I don't particularly carb to style. I carb the style of beer to the carb level I really enjoy said style of beer. Saisons-high, Stouts-low, IPAs-middle, etc.

 

[DSorenson]

I tell you what...

I'm glad I didn't dump the beer, because it turned out wonderfully.
... that is except for the foam that fills my glass instead of actual beer.

I suppose all is not lost.

 

[grittanomyces]

I gotta ask, why did you settle on 4.5 ounces of priming sugar?

Assuming its a 5 gallon batch, then that's in the category of beers that are meant to be more carbonated. A stout should not be heavily carbonated, that only takes away fronm what it is. Around 2.0 co2 volume is what you should be shooting for.

 

[DSorenson]

I was shooting for 2.5 volumes of CO2. It had sat (post ferm) at room temperature for 3 weeks, which was probably 75*F, if not higher.

I used the tastybrew calculator.

Even then, 2.5 volumes of CO2 should not cause this problem.

 

[grittanomyces]

I was shooting for 2.5 volumes of CO2. It had sat (post ferm) at room temperature for 3 weeks, which was probably 75*F, if not higher.

I used the tastybrew calculator.

Even then, 2.5 volumes of CO2 should not cause this problem.

Gotcha, definitely shouldn't. I see now you also said you don't carb to style. Didn't mean to second guess ya, just trying to help.

 

[fixitoscar]

Could it be a scale problem?

 

[cernst151]

I feel your pain. I was in the same situation last year. I'd brewed a couple dozen batches with no problems then I did a mocha stout that I was very excited about. I had quite a few out of that batch blow and I guessed that it was due to unfermented sugars from my addition of chocolate during secondary. I thought I'd left it for plenty of time and had confirmed the gravity wasn't changing but still lost a lot of beer to the floor...and walls...and ceiling.

In the end I put on my gardening gloves, paintball mask and a hoodie turned backwards and took them to the yard where one at a time I opened them and poured what could be saved into growlers and had some friends over to finish it off. I was able to save about 2 gallons and it was delicious.

Since then I've reduced the amount of DME I prime with in all of my batches with no ill effects. Even at that I, and my main brewing buddy, have each had one batch where just a few bottles exploded. In both cases I think we kept the bottles at too high a temp but once we brought the temp down the problem went away.

For my current chocolate peanut butter stout and imperial stout (both in secondary now) I added a little sugar and a little yeast nutrient into secondary to kick the yeast into gear to finish off any sugars left in there. Also I figure it will put a layer of CO2 on the imperial which will be in the carboy for a while.

 

[DSorenson]

Could it be a scale problem?

You know, that's not entirely out of the question.

It's a cheapo digital cuisen art.

 

[Spinout]

i use brewers friend for calculations. their priming calc says a stout should be 1.7-2.3 co2. given it's a 4.9 gallon batch at 75 degrees, 4oz is the high end of corn sugar to use.
i'm new to this, but i just went through the same calculations last friday on my first non-kit, all grain brew. at bottling time i had that "oh crap" moment when i was getting everything ready. i have no mess yet, but it hasn't even been a week yet.
i don't know if the extra 1/2 oz would make that much of a difference...just making it too carbed and the 2 that blew were bad/weak bottles, just thought i'd throw it out there incase an extra 1/2oz does make a difference.

 

[RagimundVonWallat]

i had exploding bottle of christmas high gravity dates and spice wine one time =) ...the ceilling was covered! sticky...sticky everywhere!....what i discovered(in my case) is that when its something with alot of fermentable once its start to stall i give it a solid swirling...its seem the oxygen that in revive the yeast and it finish fermenting completly!

so in my case when i bottled it caused alot of stir so it revived it and boom!maybe you have the same issue

 

[WayFrae]

You know, that's not entirely out of the question.

It's a cheapo digital cuisen art.

This is a good thought. I recently had a scale that decided to start weighing 2 grams as one. I was using it to measure hops from a one pound bag and about half way through the boil I noticed the bag was getting light. I ended up using almost double the hops I had planned on. Luckily it was a double IPA anyways so it is expected to be bitter.

 

[aboantopick]

Ok I will join in on the exploding bottle chat since I had to clean my entire fermenter freezer today because of an exploding 22 oz Saison. It is only 8 days in the bottle and fully carbonated, great beer! I primed with 4.5 oz corn sugar to 5.5 gal. I has this on in the door of the fermenter laying on its side. Could that have any thing to do with it?
The beer also had a high FG 1.023 for well over a week.
If I have another go off I guess I will burp and recap.

 

[DSorenson]

Ok I will join in on the exploding bottle chat since I had to clean my entire fermenter freezer today because of an exploding 22 oz Saison. It is only 8 days in the bottle and fully carbonated, great beer! I primed with 4.5 oz corn sugar to 5.5 gal. I has this on in the door of the fermenter laying on its side. Could that have any thing to do with it?
The beer also had a high FG 1.023 for well over a week.
If I have another go off I guess I will burp and recap.

Did you, by chance, use the WYeast Belgian Saison strain?!

That sucker is known for getting stuck around 1.020. Once it unsticks, it proceeds to break down even some of the more complex sugars and knocks the FG way under 1.010.

If I had to guess I would say that will not be the only one that goes off...

 

[MindenMan]

I recently brewed a Strong Scotch Ale, and lost almost a case to bottle bombs, and the carpet and the wife aren't happy about it. It has been in the bottle since 04/10/2014. I took the bottles out into the garage in a poly container, and lost more in the warmer garage, 7 or 8 more. I then put the covered container out to the side yard, and lost a few more. I just looked in the poly container in the garage, and I am down to 11 bottles. I believe we drank two so far. The first one was a monster gusher, the second one stayed in the fridge for over a week, and when I opened it, I let it set for a few minutes, re capped it, a waited a few more days before pouring it. The carbonation level was nowhere near a gusher at that point. I will wait a couple of months, and then drink/check another, only after a week at least in the fridge. Because this was a high gravity ale, long aging should not be a problem. I will check again at Thanksgiving to see where it is flavor wise

 

[Yooper]

i use brewers friend for calculations. their priming calc says a stout should be 1.7-2.3 co2. given it's a 4.9 gallon batch at 75 degrees, 4oz is the high end of corn sugar to use.
i'm new to this, but i just went through the same calculations last friday on my first non-kit, all grain brew. at bottling time i had that "oh crap" moment when i was getting everything ready. i have no mess yet, but it hasn't even been a week yet.
i don't know if the extra 1/2 oz would make that much of a difference...just making it too carbed and the 2 that blew were bad/weak bottles, just thought i'd throw it out there incase an extra 1/2oz does make a difference.

Maybe a stout "should be" 1.7-2.3 volumes of co2, but most people who drink bottled beer (not cask ales) are accustomed to the higher end of that. 1.7 volumes is pretty flat. While I don't want a stout that is spritzy, I definitley want it carbed up. Of course, I HATE priming calculators anyway, and won't use one. Sometimes they give advice to have flat beer, and other times bottle bombs (4.5 volumes for a weizen? BOOM).


I'm not sure what's going on here, unless the fermentation was stuck and adding the priming sugar got it going again (both times?). Otherwise, I can't figure it out at all. It could be a gusher infection, but that would not explain why only these two beers, a year apart, are affected.

 

[aboantopick]

Did you, by chance, use the WYeast Belgian Saison strain?!

That sucker is known for getting stuck around 1.020. Once it unsticks, it proceeds to break down even some of the more complex sugars and knocks the FG way under 1.010.

If I had to guess I would say that will not be the only one that goes off...

No I used Lallamand Belgian Saison yeast. Two packs because the first one was stored in a closet inadvertently. I tried to figure the damage to the yeast and determined it was substantial. This is a great beer, I think I will sanitize some new caps and burp them all,recap and leave room for the complex sugars to ferment.

 

[DSorenson]

Maybe a stout "should be" 1.7-2.3 volumes of co2, but most people who drink bottled beer (not cask ales) are accustomed to the higher end of that. 1.7 volumes is pretty flat. While I don't want a stout that is spritzy, I definitley want it carbed up. Of course, I HATE priming calculators anyway, and won't use one. Sometimes they give advice to have flat beer, and other times bottle bombs (4.5 volumes for a weizen? BOOM).


I'm not sure what's going on here, unless the fermentation was stuck and adding the priming sugar got it going again (both times?). Otherwise, I can't figure it out at all. It could be a gusher infection, but that would not explain why only these two beers, a year apart, are affected.

I appreciate your consideration of this issue, Yooper!

The fermentation could have been stuck and got a second wind... but two times both in the same style of beer seems too coincidental.

I wonder if there is something going on with the chemistry here:
1st time- used softened water with very little calcium content (if any)
2nd time- water softener out of softener salt (so who knows what I got?)

I also believe that there must be something unique about beers that contain a lot of roasted malts... but I cannot say what. Perhaps it causes the fermentation to slow down to a near crawl if paired with bad water chemistry?