Bottle bomb worries

[sixstingsgareth]

Hey everyone I've had my first brew bottled for 1 day since fermenting for 11 days with no secondary. The og was 10.38 and the fg was 10.12 for 3 days.

It's an Irish red extract kit with steeping grains.

I carbonated with 1.5 coopers carbonation drops in each bottle.

Since bottling I've read a lot about bottle bombs and I'm now terrified of my beer!

Can anyone speak from experience what caused their bottle bombs? Early bottling? Too many drops/too much sugar? Specifics about your method if you can.

I've held a bottle up to a light and I can clearly see that sugary transparent swirl kind of like when you add a spirit to a mixer or in a sugary drink.

I know it's too late to do anything now and I've probably just got first time fears but anything would help whether it be calm down and I'm overreacting or take cover before I get shards of glass in the face!

It's the Irish red ale from geterbrewed.com

Bottle temperature 18-20C

[Gugs44]

You should b ok coz most of the very vigorous fermentation is done by now, for future reference you might b better off batch priming with around 120g of table sugar boiled in 350ml of water and added to your bottling bucket, that's only a rough weight of sugar depending on what kinda co2 volume your looking for

It'll give a more consistent carbonation to each bottle, presume it's 500ml bottles you have?

Hope this is of some help

[sixstingsgareth]

Thanks that helps a lot. Yeah they're 500ml. I had to buy 10 of them which I noticed were slightly thicker than the ones I enjoyed collecting. I'll let you all know at xmas when I'm having the first sip or whenever they explode haha whichever comes first.

[LordEoin]

all sounds safe and sound banjo.
1.5 drops per 500ml is the same rate as coopers recommend (2 per 750ml)
it's a bit much for my tastes and will probably be a little over carbonated
but so long as you used beer bottles (and not wine bottle for example) you should be fine

[Dunkel]

+1 LordEoin. Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax. With a final gravity of 1.012 you will be safe from bottle bombs. As LE says, the Coopers recommendation is a bit on the high side for Irish tastes (the Aussies like their beer cold and fizzy). Just a little tip for the next brew - leave it a bit longer in the fermentation vessel; two or even
three weeks will not do any harm, and leaves the yeasties plenty of time to sort themselves out. Patience is the hardest thing for new brewers  And try your beer after two weeks; but it will be better after a further week, and probably at its best after a further two weeks. Time to get another brew on!   

[LordEoin]

I used to use 1 carb drop per 500ml for a long time. it was pretty good and no more napping the buggers in half with a chizel 

[sixstingsgareth]

I'll definitely not be using drops again. Having to crack some up was just awkward and sticky. I should have used one in each because I don't like overly fizzy beers but I wanted to follow the most common recommendations I read online. Trial and error and I'll have a good idea what I wanna do next after this batch. I'm thinking of getting an APA in the primary now. Gonna try two stage fermentation saying as I have a 23L carboy not being used.

[molc]

I've moved away from the drops now as well, as it's just too tricky to control carbonation levels with them. It wasn't an issue when I started, but now I've started looking for that smoother mouthfeel.

[Will_D]

As a suggestion to new bottlers. Prime up a 500 mL Lucozade bottle at the same time - that way you can see whats happening:

Has all the sugar disolved?
Is the yeast showing signs of life (haze and sediment)?
And also feel the pressure building up

[DoubleG]

My first extract was carbed with Coopers drops. One and a half drops for each 500ml bottle. No bottle bombs but the beer was quite carbonated like a fizzy cider or 7up. You should be safe from bottle bombs, Ive used the batch priming method since then as its easier than cutting up the drops and you can control carbonation a bit better.

[Richie71]

I've only used the Coopers drops twice. First time with 1 per bottle, second time with 2 per bottle. (I tried to halve the drops but gave up after the first attempt  ) I thought 2 per bottle was about right and if I was doing it again, that's what I'd use ... but I do like a fizzy beer.  I don't think you'll get bottle bombs with 1 and a half.  You're FG was low too, so I reckon you're well safe. 

I'd say you're counting down the days 'til you can open your first bottle  . It won't be at it's best on Christmas day but throw a couple in the fridge on the 23rd and treat yourself on the big day.  You know you want to. 

[Bart]

I've only used the Coopers drops twice. First time with 1 per bottle, second time with 2 per bottle. (I tried to halve the drops but gave up after the first attempt  ) I thought 2 per bottle was about right

The 1.5 drops gave gushing beer after ca. 4 months in the shed.
Half of beer escaped before you even managed to fill the pint glass.

2 drops should be fine as long as you drink the whole lot in ca. 2 months.
Not an issue for a freshman Been there, done that.

[Bubbles]

The length of time in storage should have no bearing on the amount of carbonation in the bottle if the beer is fully fermented. If your beer is gushing more the longer you leave it, then it means it wasn't fully fermented in the first place, or some wild yeast or bacteria is still working on the residual sugars in the beer.

[Shanna]

The length of time in storage should have no bearing on the amount of carbonation in the bottle if the beer is fully fermented. If your beer is gushing more the longer you leave it, then it means it wasn't fully fermented in the first place, or some wild yeast or bacteria is still working on the residual sugars in the beer.

Or in the case of a high alcohol beer that the yeast was knackered at the of a completed fermentation it can take a while for the yeast to convert the priming sugar. I recently did a Baltic porter that only started carbinating to a.y meaningful level after 6-8 weeks in the bottle.

Shanna

[sixstingsgareth]

I've only used the Coopers drops twice. First time with 1 per bottle, second time with 2 per bottle. (I tried to halve the drops but gave up after the first attempt  ) I thought 2 per bottle was about right and if I was doing it again, that's what I'd use ... but I do like a fizzy beer.  I don't think you'll get bottle bombs with 1 and a half.  You're FG was low too, so I reckon you're well safe. 

I'd say you're counting down the days 'til you can open your first bottle  . It won't be at it's best on Christmas day but throw a couple in the fridge on the 23rd and treat yourself on the big day.  You know you want to. 

Yeah I'll treat myself and at least this way I can get a good understanding of the effect of leaving for longer. I'll post up here after with the results!