I've also just experienced my first bottle bomb. I'm new here, hello everybody. So I was experimenting with making a summer shandy that I found the recipe to on this site. It was the one that uses True Lemon. I had a 5 gallon batch that I divided into thirds. Ditto for the priming sugar. So basically i was priming 3 separate batches. 1. One straight up without the True Lemon. 2. With a home-made Lemon extract no True Lemon. And 3. (The one that exploded) With 8 packs of True Lemon added. The package said no sugar but I'm guessing that perhaps that's not true and that's why it exploded? I knew I was doing something risky messing with True Lemon so it was taped up in a box and there was very little mess except for the liquid on my cellar floor. My cellar usually stays below 70 degrees (65 right now) all the time. It's possible it got close to 70 yesterday since it was warm. My hydrometer broke so I never took the gravity tests but it was inactive for 3 days and had been fermenting for 10 days. The other two batches look fine and appear to be carbonated perfectly. (Have been in the cellar for 2 weeks) Not all of the bottles exploded I have about 8 left. What should I do with them. Last night I put them in a cooler with ice, hoping to slow the yeast/sugar down. Should I keep them cool and try to drink them this weekend or is it too dangerous and maybe I should toss them... Comment on whatever you like and thanks!
unionrdr said:That was my recipe. The Trulemon is just crystalized juice with no added sugar. when you split the batch,did you split the size of the priming solution as well? Also,the batch where you had no hydrometer to test for FG no airlock activity for 3 days. Not good,as rapid airlock activity slows or stops when initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG. So the beer was likely not done fermenting yet. This is the most common cause of bottle bombs. Get another hydrometer & be patient next time. Be completely sure it's done fermenting before proceeding to priming & bottling.
dstranger99 said:Read this, One of my experiences:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/sad-scary-moments-letting-go-overcarbed-batch-409415/
Malty_Dog said:Ramon, it may serve you well to carefully and gently pry off the caps of the remaining 8, give it a little time (few minutes?) and then recap with new sanitized caps. This is just a suggestion, not from experience. I'm sure someone else will have solid experience-based advice. It just seems that you would want to relieve that built up pressure. I wonder if carefully wrapping each one up in a thick towel (and wearing eye protection) wouldn't also be a good idea. 8 beers is not worth the potential of God-knows-what kind of horrible injury!
^
4 oz to 3 gal shouldn't be a problem, but 5 to 3 would be terrible !.........
Ramon said:Great idea! Anybody try this? Carefully of course?
Wow you guys are awesome, thanks for the feedback. Yes I divided the priming sugar in thirds as well. I did a double-check on the label of the True Lemon and it says evaporated cane juice. I googled that and found out it was another fancy word for sugar. I carefully open one up just now. Standing behind the cooler and it only gave a little fizz. But when I poured it, it filled the entire cup with foam. The other batch was only mildly carbonated. So I'm suspecting it's the True Lemon. BTW once the foam died down the one with True Lemon was freakin' awesome! Maybe next time I should skip the priming sugar? And yes I need to replace hydrometer as well.
I'm new to homebrewing myself, but based on my understanding of the process thus far, I'd advise against just skipping the priming sugar.
When we add priming sugar we add a measured amount of fermentable sugar to our brew, just enough to create the level of carbonation we desire. We use hydrometers to ensure that we are adding this measured amount of sugar to a fully fermented brew, so there aren't any unfermented sugars we don't know about, or haven't specifically measured, lurking in the brew with the potential to create additional carbonation and bottle bombs.
By skipping the priming sugar, you are still adding the fermentable sugar from the True Lemon in an amount that has not been carefully measured to avoid overcarbonation and that's a risk I wouldn't take.
What I'd do is ferment the True Lemon in primary or secondary fully, as evidenced by hydrometer readings, then add my measured amount of priming sugar and bottle.
Cheers!
Trulemon is not like koolaid or country time. It's in the baking needs isle & is just crystalized juice. That was my recipe & I added it to the priming solution. It won't cause overpriming,& didn't in the batch I made that recipe for.
I'll go get the box. hold on a tick
Ah,yup. Trulemon & trulemonade are def not the same thing. the former is a recipe ingredient,the latter is a drink mix.
I imagine the evaporated cane juice likely contains some amount of sugar, but I don't know how to tell, or if it's a significant enough amount to worry about.
Ok,there can't be 6g of sugar per packet,since each packet is .8g,less than one gram. & up to 50% sugar is reaching quite a bit,since ingredients are listed in order of prominence. The cane juice being tha last ingredient on the list,would have the least percentage of the total ingredients by weight.
NurseJackie said:Yes I have done this. Worked perfect. Just pulled the caps, waited 10 min & recapped with new caps. This is effective if all the bottles are overcarbed (if bottled before FG or too much priming sugar added).
There is another cause for bottle bombs: priming sugar not fully mixed in. This is possibly the case when some bottles are overcarbed or exploding and others are flat (some might even be perfect). I know the conventional process is to put the priming solution in the bottom of your bottling bucket and allow the gentle swirl of the beer as it siphons in to do the mixing, but I've found that's not enough. I use a big sanitized spoon to stir gently and add the priming solution 1/3 at a time as the bucket fills. Haven't had a bomb since
unionrdr said:Ok,I see, Yeah,not enough sugar to worry about. Besides the fact that it's the cold-pressed juice from sugar cane,& not the sugar which is made from the pith. So it might not be as sweet volume-wise as the sugar itself. Demerara sugar,for example,is made from that pith.
unionrdr said:I boiled the 2C of water for the priming solution. I added the Trulemon & priming sugar wjile still boiling hot & stirred till the water cleared again. This would've negated any infection from the Trulemon/priming solution.
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