Sploded Beer

[huge1s]

I had posted in an earlier thread about doing a split batch and straining through a nylon bag into my bottling bucket to filter out any peach junk. I did not stir after siphoning into the bottling bucket and noticed that after bottling... the last little swig in the bottling bucket tasted like pure sugar. Well.... after more than 3 weeks in the bottle, I went to open one of the bottles and it totally exploded. Foam EVERYWHERE! There was maybe a quarter inch of beer left in the bottle after the explosion. I tried another one (more carefully and over the sink) and it opened fine.... but the beer was pretty flat. Anything I can do about this? Only solution I could come up with is to open all the bottles, let the exploders explode and drop some priming sugar in the ones that didn't blow up. How would I go about figuring how much to drop in each bottle?

 

[COLObrewer]

1/2 teaspoon of dextrose per bottle, or carb tablets. Please open them under a towel with gloves on.

 

[Ceetar]

I wonder if you could 'decarbonate'? dump it all back into secondary, shake it a bit every once in a while, and then completely rebottle after it's gone flat?

 

[huge1s]

Thanks for the advise. Now you have me worried that I need to take care of this right away... so nobody gets glass shrapnel from a sploder.... or do they usually just blow the cap?

 

[day_trippr]

Thanks for the advise. Now you have me worried that I need to take care of this right away... so nobody gets glass shrapnel from a sploder.... or do they usually just blow the cap?

The caps almost never blow off before the bottle fails...

Cheers!

 

[Ceetar]

The caps almost never blow off before the bottle fails...

Cheers!

yeah...I had a failed attempt at root beer once. rained glass in the living room. and root beer.

unless you put the caps on badly.

 

[huge1s]

The caps almost never blow off before the bottle fails...

Cheers!

Right now they are sitting in a rubber maid storage bucket with the lid off. I tasted that that last quarter inch from the bottle that exploded and it was pure sugar. Problem is that I have no idea what bottles are in danger of blowing (if any). I better get the lid on that rubbermaid bucket.

 

[Carter1932]

I can usually spot over carbonated bottles by checking the caps themselves.

My bottle capper leaves a circular indention on the center of the cap, if that indention swells outwards then you are guaranteed to have an over carbonated beer.

 

[cricky101]

Were they room temperature? I've had a couple bottles where I opened them warm and they foamed the entire contents out. Once I put them in the fridge a few days to absorb the co2 from the head space they were fine ...

I've never stirred my bottling bucket after racking on top of the priming sugar and haven't had a bomb yet. Not sure if you've got the same thing happening or not ...

 

[huge1s]

Were they room temperature? I've had a couple bottles where I opened them warm and they foamed the entire contents out. Once I put them in the fridge a few days to absorb the co2 from the head space they were fine ...

I've never stirred my bottling bucket after racking on top of the priming sugar and haven't had a bomb yet. Not sure if you've got the same thing happening or not ...

This bottle had been in the fridge for a day (at least) and it was pretty obvious that the priming sugar did not mix well because what was left of that exploded beer tasted like pure sugar. I have never stirred the bottling bucket either and have always had fairly even carbonation across a batch. The thing that I did differently was to put the end of my siphon hose into a nylon bag in hopes that I would catch all the little peach junk left in the secondary that I couldn't scoop out (worked pretty well). I am pretty sure that the nylon bag drastically restricted the flow into the bottling bucket... which prevented the priming solution from mixing well.

 

[huge1s]

If I want to re-prime these bottles... any issue with just dumping the half teaspoon into the bottle? or should i boil a sugar solution and try to figure out how much of the solution goes into each bottle?

 

[COLObrewer]

I wonder if you could 'decarbonate'? dump it all back into secondary, shake it a bit every once in a while, and then completely rebottle after it's gone flat?

This will oxydize the beer and make it taste like cardboard.

If I want to re-prime these bottles... any issue with just dumping the half teaspoon into the bottle? or should i boil a sugar solution and try to figure out how much of the solution goes into each bottle?

Just dump it in the bottle and re-cap, then maybe roll them slowly back and forth a couple of times, place in room temperature for 3 weeks and hope. No guarantees.

 

[huge1s]

Just dump it in the bottle and re-cap, then maybe roll them slowly back and forth a couple of times, place in room temperature for 3 weeks and hope. No guarantees.

I will give this a shot. I am guessing that the bottles will be exploders or flat without a lot of in between.

 

[arg]

I am pretty sure that the nylon bag drastically restricted the flow into the bottling bucket... which prevented the priming solution from mixing well.

Funny that you mention that. I had a similar thing happen to me with a India-style black ale. I was using a nylon bag at the end of the racking cane to catch pieces of hop pellets, it is the only batch I've made with un-even carbonation and gushers.

I think you are right about the cause of the poor mixture.

 

[huge1s]

So I tried fixing these last night. Of my split batch (26 bottles) I had 2 foam themselves empty. 12 or so were pretty flat and the other 12 has some carbonation. Clearly the priming sugar was not mixed up. I ended up putting 1/4 tsp corn sugar in each bottle thinking that each bottle had at least some carbonation and didn't want to create another over carbonation problem. I am fine with having the beer a little on the low side for carbonation. This was not easy by the way. As soon as I would dump the sugar in the bottle...it would start foaming like crazy and I would have to cap them as fast as I could. First couple made a mess until I got a process down. I think this little exercise has convinced me to sanitize a spoon and gently stir the bottling bucket every time. I don't think I risk too much oxydation with a gentle stir and I definately don't want to have to do this again.