Bottle bomb confusion...need help

[storytyme]

I am coming up to the end of my first year home brewing. It has been awesome. I enjoy every part of it. I have brewed 20 batches thus far and most recently I have had some problems with bottles exploding. When they first started blowing up I quickly concluded that storing them in a 95 degree cabinet in my garage will not work (rookie error). So I put them in a chest freezer with a Johnson thermo control set at 70. I use this freezer for them to bottle condition and then stay in there until I transfer them into the fridge for a few days before drinking. I was happy with this set-up until I returned from a family trip to Disneyland for five days and found that 2 of the bottles exploded. They were from the same batch and their 3 week conditioning period was to end June 15th. I have followed exactly the measurements given on beersmith for priming sugar, so what gives? Just a weird coincidence? I must say that cleaning up shattered beer bottles is not a fun part of home brewing and I would not like to repeat it. Help please!!!

 

[Pratzie]

How long after fermentation did u bottle?

Thats commonly the problem with bottle bombs... Bottling before primary fermentation is complete while the yeast are still active. The addition of sugar, even if its the recommended amount of priming sugar, can lead to chaos if the yeasties are still active.

U can also cold crash for a few days before bottling to drop any excess yeast that are in suspension. There will still be enough left to bottle carb but not enough that you would have to worry.

 

[storytyme]

It was in the primary for 20 days. OG was 1.057. FG was 1.006. If I were to cold crash, how do you do it and how long? Not sure if I have the facilities to do so.

 

[Pratzie]

get it to as close to freezing as possible for 1-3 days. I usually get and hold my carboy to 34 or so for two-three days. U'll see it'll clear up a bit as yeasties settle to the bottom. When i take it out (as gently as possible) i put it on top of my fermentation chamber and let it sit for a half hour (just so anything that may have stirred up can settle again). Rack that into my bottling-bucket/keg/secondary and im done.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

How long after fermentation did u bottle?

Thats commonly the problem with bottle bombs... Bottling before primary fermentation is complete while the yeast are still active. The addition of sugar, even if its the recommended amount of priming sugar, can lead to chaos if the yeasties are still active.

U can also cold crash for a few days before bottling to drop any excess yeast that are in suspension. There will still be enough left to bottle carb but not enough that you would have to worry.

Too much sugar causes bottle bombs, not the yeast itself. Bottling before primary is complete leaves more fermentable sugar which in combination with the priming sugar generates too much CO2. In a normal batch of beer, the only consequence of having more yeast in the bottles is more sediment.

Sounds like one of four things has happened. Either the beer was bottled too early, too much priming sugar was added (whether intentional or not), you got an infection during the bottling process, or the priming sugar didn't get mixed well enough into the beer before you bottled it and some of the bottles ended up with more priming sugar than others. Be more careful next time and tighten up on sanitation. In the mean time, you might want to consider venting and recapping the rest of the bottles. Chill them first and be very careful when handling the bottles. Leather gloves and eye protection would be a good idea. Taste one too and make sure you didn't get an infection. If you did, keep the bottles chilled and drink as fast as possible. If it tastes ok, then warm them back up and continue to condition until you're ready to drink them.

 

[mike_in_ak]

What amount of priming sugar are you using? Seems odd. I know you said followed directions, but what amount? And what type?

 

[storytyme]

Too much sugar causes bottle bombs, not the yeast itself. Bottling before primary is complete leaves more fermentable sugar which in combination with the priming sugar generates too much CO2. In a normal batch of beer, the only consequence of having more yeast in the bottles is more sediment.

Sounds like one of four things has happened. Either the beer was bottled too early, too much priming sugar was added (whether intentional or not), you got an infection during the bottling process, or the priming sugar didn't get mixed well enough into the beer before you bottled it and some of the bottles ended up with more priming sugar than others. Be more careful next time and tighten up on sanitation. In the mean time, you might want to consider venting and recapping the rest of the bottles. Chill them first and be very careful when handling the bottles. Leather gloves and eye protection would be a good idea. Taste one too and make sure you didn't get an infection. If you did, keep the bottles chilled and drink as fast as possible. If it tastes ok, then warm them back up and continue to condition until you're ready to drink them.

I used 5 oz of corn sugar. Beersmith said to use 5.02 to be exact for a carb level of 2.3.

What is the best way to make sure it is mixed in well? I usually put the sugar in the bottling bucket after cooling to room temp and then fill the beer
onto it. I do no stirring at all because I have heard too much oxygen at that point in the process can be harmful.

I am for sure going to tighten up the sanitation. Throughout the brewing process I am very sanitized, but I realized that I had just been rinsing my bottles with water and then sanitizing, so the bottles that were given to me by others were probably not as clean as I had thought. I am going to soak the bottles in oxyclean now to clean them up better.

Thank you for all the replies. I appreciate it.

 

[m3n00b]

I always gently stir my bottling bucket with my auto siphon. No splashing and you're good.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

What is the best way to make sure it is mixed in well? I usually put the sugar in the bottling bucket after cooling to room temp and then fill the beer
onto it. I do no stirring at all because I have heard too much oxygen at that point in the process can be harmful.

I am for sure going to tighten up the sanitation. Throughout the brewing process I am very sanitized, but I realized that I had just been rinsing my bottles with water and then sanitizing, so the bottles that were given to me by others were probably not as clean as I had thought. I am going to soak the bottles in oxyclean now to clean them up better.

Thank you for all the replies. I appreciate it.

That's how I've always done it as well. Sugar in bucket and rack on top. Maybe you just had a few bottles that weren't all the way clean and the sanitizer couldn't do it's job. I started baking my bottles towards the end before I swithced to kegging. It actually sterilizes the bottles instead of just sanitizing. And if you screw up and use a bottle with some slime in the bottom that you missed, it will only screw up the flavor, no bottle bombs. What have you been using for sanitizer and how much contact time have you been giving it?

 

[storytyme]

I am using an oz of Star San in a 5 gallon bucket. Submerge the bottles for 30-60 seconds. Dump and let dry on bottle tree (that was also sanitized). I think it was some dirty bottles that I need to pay more attention to cleaning properly.

 

[Pratzie]

Yeah could be cause for infection. That'll lead to good bombs and then gushers to the ones that don't explode.

 

[storytyme]

For now I have concluded that it was some sort of infection in certain bottles because 2 from one batch and one from another blew up. Going to soak my bottles in oxyclean and continue the journey in search of the perfect homebrew.