Someone has to know, what is the most priming sugar before bottle bombs?

[Rev2010]

I had a thread running in the past about quoted hefeweizen carb levels being listed at 3.3 - 4.5 volumes. Never really got a resolution in that thread. Now I figured I'd ask a different question... how much priming sugar is generally considered to be breaching the safe range for a 5 gallon batch in typical glass beer bottles?? I have BYO's 250 Clone Brew magazine and noticed, for example, the Paulaner clone is listed as 1.2 cups of priming sugar. At 8oz a cup that means 9.6oz for about 4.45 CO2 volumes!

I don't care about bottling for hefe's or whatnot at this point, I just want to know *what point is getting risky*. Is 6oz ok? How about 7oz? Etc... at what quantity for a 5 gallon batch do bottle bombs become a reality?


Rev.

 

[Golddiggie]

It's not just the amount of sugar you prime with, it's also the temperature the wort was fermenting at, that will get your CO2 volumes.

I wouldn't go with volume measures since sugar and water don't weigh the same. Using water weight to volume for sugar doesn't match up. That's one of the reasons why liquid and dry measuring cups are not the same.

As for what's safe in a bottle, it depends on the cap and the bottle construction. If you're looking to push to the limit of the bottles you have, I would get info from the manufacturer to see what it's safe limit is. Don't exceed that. I do know that Belgian bottles are designed for higher CO2 volumes than normal bottles. I believe that Grolsch bottles can also handle more CO2 volumes than regular bottles.

Use this site to figure out how much priming sugar to use...

Personally, I completely ignore a recipe when it says to prime with X cups sugar. If it doesn't give weight, or a CO2 volumes level, I completely ignore that part. I look it up and run the calculations to see what I'd need to prime with to hit my carbonation goal. I have yet to actually use a full 5oz of sugar to prime with (what's often included with kits)... I even still have the bags of priming sugar from my first two kits, since I didn't use them at all.

 

[Rev2010]

It's not just the amount of sugar you prime with, it's also the temperature the wort was fermenting at, that will get your CO2 volumes.

Yep, I know. One of the first things I noticed after doing my first hefe batch was how much more carbonated it tasted from the hydrometer sample than the other ale's I've done.

I wouldn't go with volume measures since sugar and water don't weigh the same. Using water weight to volume for sugar doesn't match up. That's one of the reasons why liquid and dry measuring cups are not the same.

Also know this and have a single post rant about it here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/coopers-carbonation-drops-teaspoon-conversion-question-222317/#post2607016

I know it depends on bottle construction. But I'm more looking to hear from people who've experienced bottle bombs and gather a *loose* general number. Like hearing, "One time I used 6oz of priming sugar on a 5 gallon batch and had bombs." Or some other number. I'm going to be using Franziskaner bottles now. I've been using PET bottle and Cooper's drops but am switching to bulk priming and just want to be in a safe zone to avoid broken glass and any likely personal harm.

With the PET bottles and the drops I've had decent results, but here are some points:

1. With my 500ml bottles I used one and a half carb drops. Carbonation was definitely good, but I did notice it could use a little more compared to commercial hefe's.

2. With my 740ml bottles I used two carb drops as recommended with my Amber Ale and I personally think it definitely needs more carbonation. It's decent, but it's not enough compared to the commercial ambers I've had.

So I'm in a dilemma here as I really don't want to keep bottling and slightly missing the carb target. There's gotta be some science to it and I know there are calcs and I have looked at them and have Beersmith. I just want to know if I find the carb not enough and up the quantity at which point does it become unsafe? And I don't mean 2 cups = bombs! Of course going crazy would do so. I want to know the general boundary.


Rev.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've been making sure that I don't carbonate so much that I'll get bombs. If I plan to carbonate high, I make sure I use bottles that are more than up to the task...

I seem to recall that the normal 12oz bottles don't have issues with 3 CO2 volumes. Not sure how much higher it's safe to go in those. I've seen people posting about going above 4 CO2 volumes in the Belgians.

I've not used the carbonation tabs at all. I prefer more control over that aspect than I feel you'll get with the tabs...

If you wanted to be a bit creative, you could just bottle a batch in steps. Do one part to X CO2 volumes, another part to Y CO2 volumes, a third part to Z CO2 volumes, etc... Get a few bottles in each and see where the threshold is on the bottles. I would just make sure you put them into plastic bins, that seal fully, so that you don't come home one day to a gallon of brew spewed all over the place.

 

[steakandale]

This may turn into too many individual variables to make any sense.

I have a Hef recipe that is my best so far, I wanted to try 4 vols of CO2
(HATED IT).
That was 8oz table sugar by weight, into 5- 5.5 gals mixed in the bottling bucket gently well stirred, in bottles, stored indoors. No bottle bombs, but way too much carbonation so I dont go near that any more, because it was miserable.

Now, would those explode at over 90 degrees F storage? who knows.

 

[brewista_may]

Did the exact same thing. I'm thinkin of bleeding some co2 out if the caps and recapping. Did u do anything to help change carb level?