Magnum (750 ml) Venting

[grants]

I mixed a pre-measured corn sugar package in water and added to a brown ale kit bottling bucket batch. Most was then bottled into 750 ml magnums with those larger caps purchased from Northern Brewer, using the larger bell on a red capper. Felt like I got a good seal on all of them.

Boil was 11/15, secondary on 11/22, bottled on 12/7.

I dipped some of them into a red crayon/glue gun mix heated in a soup can on 12/23.

Labeled and gave away as presents over next few days.

This morning, one of the leftovers “vented” beer from under the cap, through the wax and on to the wall. I put it in the sink and kind of pushed down on the wax over the cap after it stopped leaking beer.

My questions are:

1. Do magnums build up more pressure than regular sized beer bottles?
2. Would the bottle tipping action or heat of a wax dip weaken the crown seal, or both?
3. Should I worry that my dipped and undipped magnums are all going to blow over the coming days?
4. I’m not likely to be able to drink the bottle that “vented” until February. Would it still be safe?

[bitter]

1. Do magnums build up more pressure than regular sized beer bottles?

No. The amount of pressure would be a function of the amount of priming sugar and a question of was your beer at FG before bottling.

2. Would the bottle tipping action or heat of a wax dip weaken the crown seal, or both?

No.

3. Should I worry that my dipped and undipped magnums are all going to blow over the coming days?

If your beer was not at FG when you bottled and/or you over primed then there is a chance that you will have bottle bombs.

Try using the NB priming sugar calculator to determine how much priming sugar to add:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

4. I’m not likely to be able to drink the bottle that “vented” until February. Would it still be safe?

Safe to drink? Most likely it’s safe, unless it was exposed some non-food safe substances such as hot glue and wax were dissolved in it. You’ll have to determine that for yourself.

[grants]

I think it was at FG. On 11/22 and 12/07 the SG reading was 1.022.

I always just assumed that if a kit had a particular amount of sugar packaged with it, one just dumped it all in. Will check calculator next time.

I’m not worried about the “wax”. Many other have dipped bottles with that combo. I’m thinking that if beer blew out from under the cap, and I simply pushed it back down, that it could still be equalizing with outside atmosphere and turn out flat on February one.

When you use magnums, there are so few of them, it makes every one a precious asset, or so it seems…

[bitter]

What Brown Ale did you brew? A custom recipe or a kit?

1.022 is a fairly high FG for a brown, but it would depend on the recipe.

If you used an English Ale yeast, it was probably a highly flocculent yeast and may not have attenuated the wort as you would expect.