Help please with bottle bombs.

[LesTom]

I've just tried opening a bottle of a blackberry wheat beer that I recently brewed.
It was fermented for 14 days down to 1.002 from an original gravity of 1.044, each 500ml bottle was carbed for 14 days at 20°C with a teaspoon of sugar.
I opened one today and it exploded Once I got it calmed down and poured, it tasted excellent but I don't want to open anymore for fear I get another bottle bomb.
Is there anything I can do so that they settle a bit such as leaving for an extended time? Answers welcome folks

 

[Cwrw666]

A whole teaspoon? If so not surprised you got a fountain.

 

[MashBag]

A fountain or a bottle bomb (glass broken)?

Chill them.

And yeah.. "whole teaspoon"

 

[LesTom]

A fountain or a bottle bomb (glass broken)?

Chill them.

And yeah.. "whole teaspoon"

A fountain, thing is I always use a teaspoon of sugar to carb my bottles.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Chill them.
Crack them open a little bit in a sink, where they will ooze slowly over many hours. Reseal them when you are happy their carbonation has reduced to manageable levels.

 

[The Baron]

Very low FG maybe a infection too

 

[ale_crowe_holic]

Have you bottled them all in the same bottles?

I've had mixed results depending on what bottle I've opened.
I've got clear and brown flip tops and the clear ones seemed more lively than the browns. I've also capped old brown bottles which have been fine.

All stored in the same location, batch primed before bottling too.


Great avatar by the way. Brings back memories!

 

[LesTom]

Have you bottled them all in the same bottles?

I've had mixed results depending on what bottle I've opened.
I've got clear and brown flip tops and the clear ones seemed more lively than the browns. I've also capped old brown bottles which have been fine.

All stored in the same location, batch primed before bottling too.


Great avatar by the way. Brings back memories!

Yep they're all bottled in 500ml flip top bottles. Now that you mention it, the one I opened was in a clear bottle, I'll chuck a brown bottle in the fridge tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. Thanks by the way

 

[Clarence]

A fountain, thing is I always use a teaspoon of sugar to carb my bottles.

Me too.
What yeast did you use?

 

[LesTom]

Me too.
What yeast did you use?

It was CML Saison yeast.

 

[Clarence]

Very low FG maybe a infection too

Some of the Belgian wheatbeer yeasts are diastaticus variety. Fermentis WB-06 certainly is!

It was CML Saison yeast.

There we are, then. If you use a diastaticus variety yeast then you've really got to make sure it;s finished- and it might finish below an SG of 1000- before you prime the bottles.

You don't say whether it was Lille saison or Wallonia saison. The latter is definitely diastaticus, I don't know about the other.

Vent and reseal the bottles as mentioned above. It'll be fine. If you can chill them first so much the better. Wear safety glasses just in case and wrap each bottle in a towel while moving it. Better safe than sorry.

 

[samale]

If it's flip tops it's easy sorted. Time consuming but apply pressure to the top and open the clip. Let some pressure out, close the clip. Let the beer settle and repeat the process until you are happy.
Or just poor into a big jug and let the beer settle before pouring into a glass

 

[MashBag]

Some of the Belgian wheatbeer yeasts are diastaticus variety. Fermentis WB-06 certainly is!

It was CML Saison yeast.

There we are, then. If you use a diastaticus variety yeast then you've really got to make sure it;s finished- and it might finish below an SG of 1000- before you prime the bottles.

Thank you Clarence. I didn't know that.

 

[Agentgonzo]

If it's flip tops it's easy sorted. Time consuming but apply pressure to the top and open the clip. Let some pressure out, close the clip. Let the beer settle and repeat the process until you are happy.
Or just poor into a big jug and let the beer settle before pouring into a glass

I've done the same before. It works nicely. Though be aware that it will take a while to do. I would do the above to relieve the pressure every time I walked past the crate of 40 bottles - about 3-4 times day. And it took almost a week to reduce the pressure in the bottles down to manageable levels

 

[pilgrimhudd]

4 of my dubbels have gone off recently, like little hand grenades! I was just outside of the shed once and it was very explosive. One lesson learned, don't use Paulanner bottles with high carbed beer.

 

[Cwrw666]

Ah, saison yeast. I used cml wallonia on a recent brew, half a teaspoon for bottling. After a while the bottles were getting a bit lively. That stuff just keeps chewing through the beer even after it's finished fermenting

 

[samale]

I've done the same before. It works nicely. Though be aware that it will take a while to do. I would do the above to relieve the pressure every time I walked past the crate of 40 bottles - about 3-4 times day. And it took almost a week to reduce the pressure in the bottles down to manageable levels

I have a case of imperial stout brewed using a Saison yeast. Lovely beer that came second in the monthly competition some time ago. Problem is the yeast keeps going, now they are gushers. I probably should of aged the beer longer before bottling

 

[Davvy]

I have also found that CML Saison will keep going, producing more gas in the bottle than the expected priming amount .....

The comments on venting are on the right track.

Refrigerate as low as possible in temperature. (Use a thermometer to check your 'fridge temp.) and if you can achieve 2-4 degrees Celcius, then you are reducing the risk of "gushers" as much as possible.

 

[Jim Brewster]

Interesting point - the priming calculator I use doesn't account for yeast attenuation, however there must be a difference in carbonation between something low attenuating and something like a saison with over 90%, though the difference might be less when dealing with pure sugar.

I've found flip tops to be bad for gushers if you let them pop open, sometimes the cap whacks you on the knuckles too which can hurt a bit of they're ceramic ones.

As already said, best method is to get them as cold as possible and then slowly let the seal leak a bit of the gas until it's lost enough pressure

 

[Agentgonzo]

the priming calculator I use doesn't account for yeast attenuation, however there must be a difference in carbonation between something low attenuating and something like a saison with over 90%, though the difference might be less when dealing with pure sugar.

Yeast will fully consume simple sugars so the attenuation of the yeast doesn't matter when it comes to priming sugar.