Should I be expecting some bottle bombs?

[agentEhrman]

I had a bottling debacle yesterday and I'm not sure what to expect. While trying to get the beer transferred into the bottling bucket, coriander kept clogging my auto siphon. I got to the point where air kept getting in the lines, as well as the the sediment had been stirred up quite a bit. That's when I decided to give it up and toss the remaining amount to hopefully salvage what had made it into the bottling bucket.

I racked on top of 4.5 ounces of corn sugar with the intention of bottling 4.5 gallons of beer. I ended up with 3.5 gallons of beer, am I going to have explosions going off? Should I dump them all now to avoid the mess and possible risk? Or should I relax and wait to crack one open in a few weeks?

 

[neomantra]

I think the result here is potentially stale beer from the oxygen contact as well as extra sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Bottle bombs are not an issue. No matter how much yeast you add the maximum amount of co2 is determined by the amount of available sugar for the yeast to eat. If you had added way too much priming sugar then bottle bombs might be an issue but I don't think you need to be concerned with that here as long as you measured the gravity a few days apart and verified it had not changed to be sure fermentation was complete prior to bottling.

 

[SilverZero]

Yeah, if you mixed before you dumped, the ratio of sugar to beer will be the same in a pint as it will be in 4.5 gallons.

 

[neomantra]

Actually I'm not sure that's true. In my last response I didn't think about the fact that you added an amount of priming sugar typical for ~5 gallons of beer but only had 3.5g of beer to add it to. This batch probably will end up over carbonated and you'll likely have some foaming going on when you open the bottles.

As a precaution you may want to keep the bottles stored in some kind of plastic container while they carbonate. I still don't think you'll get bottle bombs at these levels but better safe than sorry.

 

[agentEhrman]

I am afraid that I added too much sugar, I just use the general rule of 1oz per gallon. But since I added my sugar based on the expectation of transferring all of the beer, I added too much. Just trying to avoid a huge mess and possible danger. Appreciate the feedback guys

 

[SilverZero]

Actually I'm not sure that's true. In my last response I didn't think about the fact that you added an amount of priming sugar typical for ~5 gallons of beer but only had 3.5g of beer to add it to. This batch probably will end up over carbonated and you'll likely have some foaming going on when you open the bottles.

As a precaution you may want to keep the bottles stored in some kind of plastic container while they carbonate. I still don't think you'll get bottle bombs at these levels but better safe than sorry.

Oh, yeah, I guess I misread that as well. Still, I ran a few numbers through the Brewheads.com calculator and it looks like if you've got 4.5oz of corn sugar in 3.5 gallons of beer, fermenting at 70F, you'll end up with about 3.1 volumes of CO2. Maybe 3.2 or so if you're bottling at a lower temp (65F). Probably nothing explosive, as 2.2-2.8 is the range for ales (I do 2.5), but you may want to open the first one over the sink and watch for a geyser (unlikely), and make sure you chill before opening.

 

[agentEhrman]

Thanks, I will check out that calculator. Sounds like I don't have too much to worry about, I'm going to contain them just in case though. I guess if the air and sediment ruin the beer, I can make more (without the coriander this time).

 

[beerman0001]

Dont worry about the sediment it will settle. The air is the issue if you do not drink them fast enough.

 

[Lucky137]

Open one a week until the carbonation is right, then throw them all into the fridge. This should stop or at least greatly slow the yeast activity. Bottle bombs would likely be a worry at that ratio, but this should solve it. You likely did oxygenate your beer, but this alone won't give you off-flavors. Rather, it's what the yeast does with that Oxygen and how it reacts with your beer that makes it taste like bandaids or cardboard. Cold-crashing them will help slow this process as well.

Just get them to that point, throw a party, drink it all, and bottle your next one!