Can't I minimise the chances of bottle bombs by just using less priming sugar? I believe the sugars left in it are unfermentables, my OG was a bit off to start with so kind of makes sense that my FG is off too? Mash temps most likely need to be controlled more next time, I tasted it like @An Ankoù said and it actually doesn't taste bad & not sweet at all.
Fermentation FG problem?
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Can't I minimise the chances of bottle bombs by just using less priming sugar? I believe the sugars left in it are unfermentables, my OG was a bit off to start with so kind of makes sense that my FG is off too? Mash temps most likely need to be controlled more next time, I tasted it like @An Ankoù said and it actually doesn't taste bad & not sweet at all.
JonBrew
Landlord.
I have less knowledge about your process than you but from what you've said I don't think you can be that sure. Your OG was 1058 and you mashed at 65-68. Even at 68 you should expect a FG of 1014 I would have thought unless you had a serious chunk of unfermentables in your grist or your thermometer is faulty and you actually mashed at 72. What was your recipe? Your yeast has attenuated 65-66% for a strain that's supposed to do 71-75%.
I think it's more likely that your yeast have conked out before they finished the job; this can happen if fermentation temps aren't controlled properly; the heat generated from the active fermentation begins to fade so the temp drops. If this happens quickly enough the yeast can go dormant before they've completed fermenting out the longer chain sugars in the wort.
If you bottle and prime now the likelihood is that the yeast will eat the priming sugar (cause it's easy for them to process), carbonate the beer, and leave the the more complex but still fermentable sugars behind. The risk you run with this is that if there is even a trace of contamination in your post boil to packaging process, be it from wild yeast or bacteria, these organisms can grow very slowly in the package and eventually start to eat those sugars that the yeast left behind - this is what would cause a bottle bomb.
Under priming may help reduce your risk of bottle bombs but, if it were me, I'd take the extra precautions in case you do get a bottle exploding.
I think it's more likely that your yeast have conked out before they finished the job; this can happen if fermentation temps aren't controlled properly; the heat generated from the active fermentation begins to fade so the temp drops. If this happens quickly enough the yeast can go dormant before they've completed fermenting out the longer chain sugars in the wort.
If you bottle and prime now the likelihood is that the yeast will eat the priming sugar (cause it's easy for them to process), carbonate the beer, and leave the the more complex but still fermentable sugars behind. The risk you run with this is that if there is even a trace of contamination in your post boil to packaging process, be it from wild yeast or bacteria, these organisms can grow very slowly in the package and eventually start to eat those sugars that the yeast left behind - this is what would cause a bottle bomb.
Under priming may help reduce your risk of bottle bombs but, if it were me, I'd take the extra precautions in case you do get a bottle exploding.
So adding champagne yeast or adding another smack pack seems like the smarter thing to do than too bottle it? This has me second guessing on a lot of things, I'm now starting to wonder if I mashed at a slightly higher temp like the 72 area.. The beer does not seem sweet at all and honestly tastes like its ready to be bottled..
JonBrew
Landlord.
The beer will taste fine because there isn't a lot between 6 gravity points in that sense. Another option would be to buy a crate of plastic Cooper style bottles and package in those.
Apologies for my stupidity but why the plastic bottles?
The plastic bottles are safer if the bottles are overcarbed. Less glass shattering all over the place! You can also loosen the lids to relieve some pressure vs a glass bottle where you can't.
Hoppyland
Senior Member
I'd put some into a couple of PET bottles (e.g. plastic drinks bottles - preferably new ones that had a fizzy drink in. Squeeze the sides in very slightly before sealing to give a visual indication of carbonation. You can then monitor the pressure level by loosening the cap slightly, which should let you know if your glass bottles are over carbonating. I've had beer finishing at a high gravity that kept fermenting at a very slow rate for ages, so watch it carefully!
Ah - looks as though some messages hadn't appeared on my system for some reason before I wrote this - apologies for any duplication
Ah - looks as though some messages hadn't appeared on my system for some reason before I wrote this - apologies for any duplication
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A commercial brewer once told me that the regular glass homebrewing bottles (thicker than the commercial ones) are insanely capable of keeping high pressures (over 5 atm iirc) but there's a deliberate weakness: the edge of the bottom. IF a bottle goes, almost certainly the bottom will blow out, aiming shards and beer downwards, not hand or facewards. And fliptops sometimes work as valves: leaking gas under high pressure.
bobukbrewer
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If you cant squeeze the PET bottle it is too fizzy - if you can move it at all when you squeeze, the beer is fine
Zephyr259
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My 1 burst bottle would agree with that, it was a reused commercial bottle though, must have been knocked/weakened as the batch wasn't overly primed and only the 1 bottle went.
bobukbrewer
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the only glass bottle I have exploded in 50 years of brewing was a St Peters medecine bottle shape...ask me about 2 litre PET bottles flying round the kitchen though..............
A new meaning to the phrase 'bottle rocket' ?
bobukbrewer
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Yes - it was actually a bottle of strongbow cider with about 5 inches of cider left in it - tucked away in a corner for months. As I undid the top over the sink it blasted out of my hands, bounced off the wall and hit my son in the stomach. We still talk about it..............
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