Priming sugar

[drhall23]

I have been home brewing for about 2 years and haven't had issues with my batches (knock on wood). I only brew extract at this point and time. However, my last 2 batches...an IPA and a porter.. Have produced many bottle bombs. I have used 5oz of priming sugar in every batch I have made ( per recipes) and never had problems with earlier batches. I have a chocolate porter in the primary and was curious what some suggestions would be for priming sugar. Could I cut in half to 2.5 oz and still get good carbonation in my bottles? I want to avoid bottle bombs. My friends get upset. Lol

 

[sketerbuck]

Have you been taking hydrometer samples.

 

[Cromwell]

Sometimes bottle bombs are the result of an infection, which may not change the taste of the beer enough to immediately know it's infected.

But more likely, you might be bottling before fermentation is complete. Cutting your sugar to 2.5 oz isn't the answer. Make absolutely sure fermentation is completed before you bottle, and then eliminate the possibility of infection.

 

[drhall23]

Have you been taking hydrometer samples.

I just brewed this last Saturday.

 

[drhall23]

Sometimes bottle bombs are the result of an infection, which may not change the taste of the beer enough to immediately know it's infected.

But more likely, you might be bottling before fermentation is complete. Cutting your sugar to 2.5 oz isn't the answer. Make absolutely sure fermentation is completed before you bottle, and then eliminate the possibility of infection.

Thanks. I'm guessing the fermentation is not completed. I see it more in bottles that r older.

 

[Calder]

Did you take hydrometer readings of the two beers that resulted in bombs? The hydrometer is the only way to know if a beer is finished.

 

[Cromwell]

I had that happen in one batch. 2-3 weeks after I bottled a witbier it was fine. Even 4-5 weeks later it was fine. Then after about 2 months, when I opened a bottle it started foaming out of the bottle. Every bottle I opened after that just foamed away until the bottle was half empty, and finally one of the last bottles exploded. I'm convinced it got infected, and it just took 2 months before the infection started generating enough CO2 to notice.