Too Much Primer ...... What now?

[hilbilby]

Hi folks,

I've just bottled my first ever brew (from tin of Coopers Pils) and went a little overboard on priming sugar for some of this batch.

In playing around with with a couple of different bottles sizes and priming sugars ......... I'm concerned about having used too much dextrose / Corn Syup / DME in some of my Grolschies.

I've incorrectly (not sure how i managed it) used 1/2 tbsp (around 1.5 tsp or 6.3gm) for many of my 500ml bottles. I see on some of these forums that many people recommend 1/2 to 1/3 of that ........ whoops!

Hopefully I'm not in bottle bomb territory ....... (however am a little nervy all the same).

I've been reading up a bit (post bottling) once I'd realised what I'd done, and discovered that depending on the desired carbonation for the style of beer and the type sugar/s used (with DME the most forgiving), the beers in question may be okay.

I see (working backwards using charts) here < http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/ and here http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/sirleslie/AlcoholChart/PrimingCalculator.html > that the dextrose / corn syrup beers fermented at 22 deg C @ 6.3 gm / 500ml would be predicted to carbonate to 3.7 - 3.9 volumes of dissolved C02 and the DME 2.6 - 3.0 volumes of dissolved C02.

I don't mind a bit of fizz in my beer, however am keen to keep them (safely) in one piece .......... here is my plan for any comment / advice.

1) store suspect bottles (all labelled) in a box lined with a plastic bin bag tied at top in case of a blow out

2) after 2 weeks refrigerate bottles from 1) and drink first whilst the others (with less sugar) run their natural course

Any thoughts?

 

[pfredop]

seems ok to me, esp the plastic bagging part...lol! grolsch bottles are great and what i use. i have read that they can hokd an upwards of around 7 carb. dont know if this is true, but criss your fingers and know those bottles are hefty. did u use grolsch bottles for all the brew?

 

[sweetcell]

grolsch bottles should be able to handle all that pressure so i think you're safe from bombs.

3.7 - 3.9 vols is really high. unless you made a belgian style, you're going to have over-carb'ed beer. not the end of the world but will really change the character of your beer.

since you used swing-top grolsch bottles, you could experiment with venting the bottles: un-seal the bottle as little as possible until you hear a hiss, wait a second for the pressure to be released, then re-seal. wait 24 hours, then refrigerate, then taste. if it's still too fizzy, repeat.

i had some brett'ed beer that got way too carbonated in the bottle. i had to vent each one 5 or 6 times before they got down to an enjoyable level of carbonation.

 

[hilbilby]

thanks pfredop and sweetcell that is encouraging.

All of the over-primed beers are in Grolsch Swing tops (thankfully)

I like the idea of 'ventilating' ............. is that something i'd consider starting around the 5 day mark? Perhaps repeat a couple more times with a 24 - 48 hr break in between?

If a happy carbonation level is achieved in first week or so, is the residual sugar likely to change the flavour of the beer much? Not too bothered, just curious.

BTW - I call the plastic eski bags (Bomb Shelters)

 

[hilbilby]

FTR I also made it a deliberately light (around 2.6%) beer as with x4 boys i often need to be able to drive at a moments notice, I'm hoping that a higher carb lighter style beer might actually not be too bad