wondercow
Active Member
Out of the 5 batches of extract beer I have made, 2 have resulted in bottle bombs and a third seems way overcarbonated and is starting to worry me. Obviously, I need to make a change, and I'm looking for ideas. This is a big safety concern to me--I'm scared to give away my beer now! My first thought is that I'm using too much priming sugar, but maybe you have other ideas. Here's my story:
My first bottle bomb was a Midwest Homebrew Supply Simcoe Select IPA kit. It started with great body and carbonation but started having overcarbonation problems after about 2 months post-bottling (even gentle pours would result in 100% head). I gave a few to a friend, who walked into his kitchen one day to watch one bottle take off like a spaceship and its neighbor to explode like a hand grenade. I chalked this up to bad luck.
Then, both homebrews I have on hand right now (variation on Brewer's Best American Micro Style Pale Ale kit and Midwest Homebrew Supply Maple Syrup Ale) started having weird overcarbonation problems at the same time. They had been fine, but one day both batches started fizzing over as soon as I opened the bottle. Today, I opened my beer closet to the smell of day-after-a-party stale beer and glass shards everywhere. A maple syrup ale had exploded, and now I'm scared about the pale ale following in its footsteps.
The pale ale has been in bottles for 3 months, and the maple syrup for 2 months.
In all 3 cases, I used the 5 oz. pack of priming sugar that came with the kit for my 5 gallon batch. Is it possible that this was too much? I have never bothered with gravity measurements both for fear of contaminating my beer and out of laziness, but I really doubt that the problem is bottling unfermented wort. The Simcoe IPA was in the primary fermenter for 2 weeks and the secondary for 3 weeks. The pale ale got 2 weeks in the primary and 2 weeks in the secondary, and the maple syrup ale got 2 weeks in the primary and 5 weeks in the secondary. If this isn't enough time for the yeast to do the trick sufficiently, then maybe I'm not patient enough for homebrewing. I also doubt that the problem is unclean bottles--none of my beers have ever tasted swampy, just overly fizzy. I have always used Brewer's Best caps. Do I need to buy the "oxygen" caps?
What am I doing wrong? I'm terrified to even pick up my bottles now!
My first bottle bomb was a Midwest Homebrew Supply Simcoe Select IPA kit. It started with great body and carbonation but started having overcarbonation problems after about 2 months post-bottling (even gentle pours would result in 100% head). I gave a few to a friend, who walked into his kitchen one day to watch one bottle take off like a spaceship and its neighbor to explode like a hand grenade. I chalked this up to bad luck.
Then, both homebrews I have on hand right now (variation on Brewer's Best American Micro Style Pale Ale kit and Midwest Homebrew Supply Maple Syrup Ale) started having weird overcarbonation problems at the same time. They had been fine, but one day both batches started fizzing over as soon as I opened the bottle. Today, I opened my beer closet to the smell of day-after-a-party stale beer and glass shards everywhere. A maple syrup ale had exploded, and now I'm scared about the pale ale following in its footsteps.
The pale ale has been in bottles for 3 months, and the maple syrup for 2 months.
In all 3 cases, I used the 5 oz. pack of priming sugar that came with the kit for my 5 gallon batch. Is it possible that this was too much? I have never bothered with gravity measurements both for fear of contaminating my beer and out of laziness, but I really doubt that the problem is bottling unfermented wort. The Simcoe IPA was in the primary fermenter for 2 weeks and the secondary for 3 weeks. The pale ale got 2 weeks in the primary and 2 weeks in the secondary, and the maple syrup ale got 2 weeks in the primary and 5 weeks in the secondary. If this isn't enough time for the yeast to do the trick sufficiently, then maybe I'm not patient enough for homebrewing. I also doubt that the problem is unclean bottles--none of my beers have ever tasted swampy, just overly fizzy. I have always used Brewer's Best caps. Do I need to buy the "oxygen" caps?
What am I doing wrong? I'm terrified to even pick up my bottles now!