Priming, gushers, and bottle bombs.

[Tand]

Hello Homebrewers!

I bottled my third brew 9 days ago, a recipe based off of the Darth Vader IPA found in this very forum. I opened one today out of curiosity and... Gusher! The beer itself tasted great, hoppy, sweet, and a nice coffee taste. However I'm pretty concerned about the gushing beer, the cause of which I'm fairly confident is over-carbing.
I opened some other bottles of the batch, and found that two/two 330ml bottles gushed, whereas two/two 450ml bottles didn't. This could be because I forgot to stir the priming sugar in with the beer at bottling, and bottled all 330ml bottles first. I used 4oz of Dextrose, but didn't bottle all of the beer as i forgot to account for trub and bits of hop, and was only able to bottle 4 gallons, and so probably should have used about 3.5 oz dextrose.
My main concern is - are the 330ml bottles at risk of becoming bottle bombs? They're currently sitting in my (warm) university accommodation, around 100 miles away, and so aren't too easy to get to.

The beer fermented for 30 days at 68 degrees.

Before consuming them, in ten or so days, should I chill for a couple of hours?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[jmpreiks]

I'd definitely say lack of stirring was the cause, as I have experienced twice now. So far I haven't had any of the super over-carb'd bottles burst, but I do believe it is a real risk based on what I've seen on this forum.

That said, if they are 100 miles away there is not much you can do now besides cross your fingers. It will probably be good to refrigerate them as soon as you get back there just in case, that will limit the risk of bottle bombs.

 

[beskone]

Are you opening them warm? That's almost a guarantee for a gusher. Make sure you chill down for at least 4-5 hours before popping one open. C02 absorbs into solution better at cold temps, so you'll get a better idea of the actual carb level.

Hello Homebrewers!

I bottled my third brew 9 days ago, a recipe based off of the Darth Vader IPA found in this very forum. I opened one today out of curiosity and... Gusher! The beer itself tasted great, hoppy, sweet, and a nice coffee taste. However I'm pretty concerned about the gushing beer, the cause of which I'm fairly confident is over-carbing.
I opened some other bottles of the batch, and found that two/two 330ml bottles gushed, whereas two/two 450ml bottles didn't. This could be because I forgot to stir the priming sugar in with the beer at bottling, and bottled all 330ml bottles first. I used 4oz of Dextrose, but didn't bottle all of the beer as i forgot to account for trub and bits of hop, and was only able to bottle 4 gallons, and so probably should have used about 3.5 oz dextrose.
My main concern is - are the 330ml bottles at risk of becoming bottle bombs? They're currently sitting in my (warm) university accommodation, around 100 miles away, and so aren't too easy to get to.

The beer fermented for 30 days at 68 degrees.

Before consuming them, in ten or so days, should I chill for a couple of hours?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[beergolf]

Are you opening them warm? That's almost a guarantee for a gusher. Make sure you chill down for at least 4-5 hours before popping one open. C02 absorbs into solution better at cold temps, so you'll get a better idea of the actual carb level.

I agree that opening warm beer will almost always gush. I disagree that 4-5 hours is enou. Give them at least 24 hours in the fridge and they probably will not gush.

The amount of sugar is not high enough to cause bad gushers.

 

[jmpreiks]

I agree that opening warm beer will almost always gush. I disagree that 4-5 hours is enou. Give them at least 24 hours in the fridge and they probably will not gush.

The amount of sugar is not high enough to cause bad gushers.

Yeah I have the best results if I chill them the night before. Worst results if I try to emergency cool some in the freezer.

 

[BalloonGuy]

Also, make sure that you are not leaving too much empty space when filling the bottles. I used the last 5 oz in a 12 oz bottle 1 time. That bottle exploded when I opened it. The rest of the batch had no issues.

 

[NVRsummer369]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812

Check out this sticky. That should cover alot of your questions and shed some light on bottling i know it helped me alot
I would chill those bottles for a few days

 

[Tand]

Are you opening them warm? That's almost a guarantee for a gusher. Make sure you chill down for at least 4-5 hours before popping one open. C02 absorbs into solution better at cold temps, so you'll get a better idea of the actual carb level.

I agree that opening warm beer will almost always gush. I disagree that 4-5 hours is enou. Give them at least 24 hours in the fridge and they probably will not gush.

The amount of sugar is not high enough to cause bad gushers.

The bottles that gushed weren't particularly warm no. In fact they were the same temperature as the larger bottles, which didn't foam out.
How much of a risk is there of bottle bombs at the moment? Bearing in mind the bottles are [now] in a warm environment?

T

 

[Tand]

I'd definitely say lack of stirring was the cause, as I have experienced twice now. So far I haven't had any of the super over-carb'd bottles burst, but I do believe it is a real risk based on what I've seen on this forum.

That said, if they are 100 miles away there is not much you can do now besides cross your fingers. It will probably be good to refrigerate them as soon as you get back there just in case, that will limit the risk of bottle bombs.

I've done some reading, and some people suggest chilling the beer, slightly opening the bottle caps to let some CO2 out, and then recapping. I could do that, although obviously with how far away the beer is, it would have to be an emergency!

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Another possibility. Was there a big dry hop and did you cold crash before bottling? One thing I found with my first couple of big dry hopped IPAs is that they ended up with more hop residue in the bottles than my standard brews. These hop particles create nucleation sites for CO2 bubbles to attach. In other words, they foamed a lot, sometimes to the point of being gushers. Once I started cold crashing, there was less hop residue in the bottles and the gushers stopped.

 

[Tand]

Another possibility. Was there a big dry hop and did you cold crash before bottling? One thing I found with my first couple of big dry hopped IPAs is that they ended up with more hop residue in the bottles than my standard brews. These hop particles create nucleation sites for CO2 bubbles to attach. In other words, they foamed a lot, sometimes to the point of being gushers. Once I started cold crashing, there was less hop residue in the bottles and the gushers stopped.

Yes! Dry hopped with 1oz. I didn't cold crash, no.
Seems to me that the risk of bottle bombs is low, and gushers will be rare as long as I chill the beer hours before drinking...