Worried about bottles carbing

[SHAIV]

So I just finished bottling a pale ale. I I was going to use fizz drops but they were all melted together when I opened it. I could barely get the whole thing to come out the container. I decided to melt the whole thing in water and just use it as priming sugar. Couldn't hurt right? Well I did it and when I got done bottling I looked at the few oz left in the bottling bucket and it was like syrup. So now I'm worried about some bottles not carbing and some exploding or being like syrup. I've only done like 5, 5 gallon batches and I've used priming sugar before. What do you think? I don't want to hear that why you should keg because if I had the money for it I would buy kegging equipment. Thanks

 

[theseeker4]

So I just finished bottling a pale ale. I I was going to use fizz drops but they were all melted together when I opened it. I could barely get the whole thing to come out the container. I decided to melt the whole thing in water and just use it as priming sugar. Couldn't hurt right? Well I did it and when I got done bottling I looked at the few oz left in the bottling bucket and it was like syrup. So now I'm worried about some bottles not carbing and some exploding or being like syrup. I've only done like 5, 5 gallon batches and I've used priming sugar before. What do you think? I don't want to hear that why you should keg because if I had the money for it I would buy kegging equipment. Thanks

At this point the only thing you can do is put the bottles in a place that won't hurt any people or property if they do explode. Or if you are too worried that you don't want to risk that, you can just dump,it all. They might be perfectly fine though....

 

[SHAIV]

I will check out the last bottle I did tonight after work. It was only half full and I put it in the fridge to taste tonight without carbonation. I guess if that one is syrupy I can test the other two last bottles I did. I know because they are grolsch bottles with a flip top

 

[m00ps]

This is known as "batch priming" and prodcues much mroe consistent results than indivual carb drops. Use an online caluclator, and you cna dial in your carb volumes to have appropirate carbonation per style (less for stouts, more for hefes, etc)

I doubt youll run into issues unless you melted a lot mroe carb drops than beers you bottled. But FYI, the grolsch bottles are bigger in volume than 12oz and would require more sugar to get the same carb. But they are also heavier and less prone to bombing...

 

[SHAIV]

Thanks for the replies. Yes another reason I thought it would be good to melt down the drops. I was using different sized bottles for the batch. I racked the beer onto the melted sugar and I guess there were 60 drops in the container that I melted and only 5 gallons of beer so maybe it had enouph sugar in the batch to prime and the syrup was just the excess hopefully

 

[ncbrewer]

When you say you "melted" the drops in water, do you mean they are completely dissolved, or just mixed in with the water? The priming sugar needs to be completely dissolved so it's all liquid.

Edit: Normally, the water is boiled - remove from heat for a minute - add sugar - mix until completely dissolved - boil for 10 minutes - cool (optional).

 

[johngaltsmotor]

If you are worried about bottle bombs you could take a bottle or two and pour it into a cleaned 20oz plastic soda bottle and use it as a pressure reference so you can tell if you're overcarbonated and likely to blow up the glass ones.

 

[SHAIV]

Yes the drops were completely melted so it was completely liquid

 

[SHAIV]

So I checked the last bottle it was only about 7 oz and it wasn't straight syrup so I guess that's a good sign? It was very sweet but not straight sugar like what was in the bucket

 

[SHAIV]

Well I'm hoping the rest of the batch had uniformed sugar in it and the syrup at the bottom was just the excess that wouldn't float or mix in with the beer. Plus the spigot at the bottom might pull in sugar regardless of the uniformity right? I think you guys are right it may be ok but it scared me to have that syrup at the bottom of the bucket. Just sucks that the drops melted. Never again will i order fizz drops in heat of the summer. Lol

 

[ncbrewer]

I think I'm in the minority here, but finding the beer in the bottom being "almost like straight sugar" seems to indicate very poor mixing, probably resulting in bottle bombs.

 

[SHAIV]

Well yes. The instructions on priming sugar say to rack the beer onto the sugar mixture after boiling it. To make it homogenous. So either it doesn't work when you melt fizz drops or the instructions are wrong and you also have to stir it after you rack the beer

 

[ncbrewer]

Bottle bombs can be a real safety hazard. You might consider experimenting before bottling your next batch. You could rack a fermenter of water onto some priming solution in the bottling bucket and check the gravity several times as you drain it out of the bottling bucket. If the gravity varies, it's not mixed well. This is just a thought - not based on experience.

 

[SHAIV]

So after almost a week a few of the last bottles I did in the grolsch bottles seem to have a small amount of krausen in them and a good bit of yeast in the bottom. Is that a sign of a gusher/bomb?

 

[SHAIV]

Ok so now almost 2 weeks. Had 2 bottles explode last night. Scared the crap outta me. I got my bat and went downstairs thinking someone was in the house or vandalizing my house. Happy Halloween right?

 

[JKaranka]

If they are all Grolsch bottles you could open them for a couple of minutes to release some of the pressure and then close again. Also, put now that they must be around fully carbed you can put them in a fridge. That should slightly help. Never had bottle bombs but it does sound scary indeed.

 

[SHAIV]

Yes well I only had 3 grolsch bottles. They were the last 3 bottles that were bottled. Apperently the sugar didn't mix into the batch and the last few bottles had too much sugar. I opened the last grolsch bottle and it overflowed with carbonation