Too Much Priming

[Imburr]

I have a messed up batch of beer I am working on. I bottled it last night and I forgot that my volume was a little bit low about four gallons. I used the full dose of priming sugar instead of reducing the dose. What are my side effects of over priming? Should I get these bottles into the fridge sooner rather than later?

 

[flars]

Put your numbers into this calculator to see if you may be at risk.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

Usually the pack of priming sugar included with the ingredients is fairly close to 5 ounces. You may be at 3.1 volumes of CO2 rather than 2.6 using the full pack of priming sugar. As a reference a Hefeweizen carbonated to style would be 3.6 volumes of CO2.

 

[dmtaylor]

Kaboom. You've probably made bombs. You need to dump them all into a bucket again, wait another week for the priming sugar to ferment out, then prime and bottle again with a lesser amount. Sorry but that's my advice. I've made the same mistake before. Trust me -- bottle bombs are very dangerous. Imagine shards of glass blown out 20 feet from the source, and beer all over the ceiling. Yes that's right. And even if the bottles don't explode, gushers (geysers?!) are no fun either.

 

[Chiller_ale]

Instructions with kits now days should really recommend that people use and online priming sugar calculator. Most of them ship with 5oz of sugar(Dextrose) with is scary.

I have been using this one with good results:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator

 

[Imburr]

I rushed bottling because of all of the oxygen the beer was exposed to. Dumping out bottles into a bucket would add even more air to it no? What about refridgerating immediately to slow down carb and drinking quickly? I don't mind rebottling, but I think it's going to make the beer taste bad... And this beer tastes amazing right now!

 

[GHBWNY]

I rushed bottling because of all of the oxygen the beer was exposed to. Dumping out bottles into a bucket would add even more air to it no? What about refridgerating immediately to slow down carb and drinking quickly? I don't mind rebottling, but I think it's going to make the beer taste bad... And this beer tastes amazing right now!

If it tastes good and you can have it gone in a relatively short time (this week?), then no problem. If you're going to keep some around for a few weeks, I'd suggest refrigerating it and once a week check a bottle for amount of carbonation. If the 'pfft' sounds really strong and/or you get gushing, you are only a short way away from bottle bombs, in which case I would de-cap the entire batch and then sanitize and re-cap. It won't disturb or add O2 to the beer. But still keep it in fridge and recheck occasionally. To bottle-condition at room temp, I always put my bottles in a large plastic tote with a snap-on lid. If anything blows, liquid and broken glass is safely contained.

And for the future, when doing a 5 gal batch Palmer says to use only 3/4 cup of priming sugar for most ales, and not the entire 5 oz. that comes with the kit.

 

[Imburr]

Ok. Based on the calculator I'm about 1.5 oz heavy on the sugar. I'll put in fridge and check a beer every 3 days. If it seems excessive I'll recap.

 

[flars]

If it tastes good and you can have it gone in a relatively short time (this week?), then no problem. If you're going to keep some around for a few weeks, I'd suggest refrigerating it and once a week check a bottle for amount of carbonation. If the 'pfft' sounds really strong and/or you get gushing, you are only a short way away from bottle bombs, in which case I would de-cap the entire batch and then sanitize and re-cap. It won't disturb or add O2 to the beer. But still keep it in fridge and recheck occasionally. To bottle-condition at room temp, I always put my bottles in a large plastic tote with a snap-on lid. If anything blows, liquid and broken glass is safely contained.

And for the future, when doing a 5 gal batch Palmer says to use only 3/4 cup of priming sugar for most ales, and not the entire 5 oz. that comes with the kit.

Good advice but you don't need to recap. Lay a quarter (coin) across the top of the bottle cap and lift the edge of the cap until you hear a hiss. Immediately reseal the same cap to prevent oxidation. The coin prevents the cap from being creased. You can do this while bottle conditioning at room temperature. Try this a few times until you get just a gentle phttt from the escaping CO2.

 

[Imburr]

Good advice but you don't need to recap. Lay a quarter (coin) across the top of the bottle cap and lift the edge of the cap until you hear a hiss. Immediately reseal the same cap to prevent oxidation. The coin prevents the cap from being creased. You can do this while bottle conditioning at room temperature. Try this a few times until you get just a gentle phttt from the escaping CO2.

Good tip, I will try it. I bottles last night so going to give it a full 2r hrs before I test one.

 

[flars]

Good tip, I will try it. I bottles last night so going to give it a full 2r hrs before I test one.

Wait a couple of days until some CO2 pressure has developed. Opening too quick will risk oxidation.

 

[GHBWNY]

Good advice but you don't need to recap. Lay a quarter (coin) across the top of the bottle cap and lift the edge of the cap until you hear a hiss. Immediately reseal the same cap to prevent oxidation. The coin prevents the cap from being creased. You can do this while bottle conditioning at room temperature. Try this a few times until you get just a gentle phttt from the escaping CO2.

Cool.

 

[Imburr]

So I let sit for eight days now, and they are just starting to carb. The carb is very "fine", not like a normal carb on an IPA. The flavor so far is amazing.