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The learning process hurts!

Mashing
#1

Ok I know I’m newish this but it would be nice to get through start to finish without coming up with a new question.

Anyway - I though I was being all smart and made sure I used a liquid cup measure for my priming as I just havent been getting the CO2 I have been expecting. I went with a full cup as the 2/3 cup I had been using was giving anemic carbonation. So this morning I log onto the NB forum and get to reading and reralize just how important it is that I start weighing my priming sugar. I went on to work through the conversions and densities to figure out just how much the 4.9 oz I just calculated off of tastybrew’s web site would infact be volume wise. It calculates to just under a 1/2 cup.

OK that leads to a few questions.
1- How likely is that batch to explode as it seems I added around double the calculated amount?
2- How in the devil could that be nearly enough when I simply am not getting enough carb outta 2/3 of a cup (what I had been using up till now).

Barry

#2

You can mitigate the over carb situation by getting it in the fridge as soon as possible. the cold will put them little yeast-bastards to sleep so they won’t eat the xtra sugar so no xtra CO2…

If it normally takes 10-14 days to fully carb, start checking at the 4-5 day point and every day there after. Once you’ve reached the desired carb level, put ALL the beer in a cold fridge.

cheers and good luck.

#3

When you bottle put one in a plastic soda bottle so you can “feel” how much carbonation you have…

John

#4

Thank goodness it is a cream ale if I need to fridge the whole batch. It should disappear fast, but that is gonna really lock up some fridge space. Oh well at least it is not the RIS I am planning for, drinking that stuff fast would hurt.

Barry

#5

I don’t think 2/3 C. will blow your bottles. If you aren’t getting the carbonation level you want, first be sure that you are adjusting for the volume of the beer and keeping the bottles at around 70 to carbonate. Also be sure that you stir it well into the beer or you will get uneven carbonation. Weighing the sugar is better!

One of the problems with putting beer in the fridge is that it may stay sweet if the priming sugar doesn’t fully ferment. I would suggest cracking the cap and then recapping if you find that you’ve created too much CO2.

#6

He added a whole cup not a half. I wouldn’t put it in your fridge bud, I’d bet the farm on bottle bombs. If you want to try and cool it down to drink, I’d put it in the ice chest, that’ll be much easier to clean than the fridge and will contain the shrapnel.

Live and learn! Actually, set a few with a camera on them, id be curious to see what a slomo video of a bottle bomb looks like.

#7

[quote=“spykeratchet”]He added a whole cup not a half. I wouldn’t put it in your fridge bud, I’d bet the farm on bottle bombs. If you want to try and cool it down to drink, I’d put it in the ice chest, that’ll be much easier to clean than the fridge and will contain the shrapnel.

Live and learn! Actually, set a few with a camera on them, id be curious to see what a slomo video of a bottle bomb looks like.[/quote]

I highly doubt 1 cup = bottle bombs. Also, the idea of putting them in the fridge as was mentioned was to do it after opening and testing them early on in the priming process and catching them when they are just right. If you do that, there is no risk of them exploding in the fridge because the cold temps of the fridge will halt any further CO2 production.

#8

[quote=“Vulkin’”]I went on to work through the conversions and densities to figure out just how much the 4.9 oz I just calculated off of tastybrew’s web site would infact be volume wise. It calculates to just under a 1/2 cup.[/quote]Cane sugar weighs 7 oz per cup, so 4.9 oz dry would be 5.6 oz (almost 3/4 cup) in volume. If you distributed the cup of sugar evenly across all bottles, you probably won’t have any bombs, but if some got a little more sugar than others it could get messy. I would store them all in a cooler or a box until they are carbed so no one gets hurt and leave any that won’t fit in the fridge in the box.

#9

Luckily, I store my batches in old 12 pack boxes. I hadn’t considered the shrapnel aspect (silly cause I work around explosives and should have).

Barry
Holding my fingers in my ears :wink:

#10

1/4 cup improperly distributed can cause bottle bombs let alone 1 full cup. Also, throwing them in the fridge will slow the yeast significantly not halt them completely unless the fridge is set damned near freezing. Just trying to save the guy some cleanup. Go ahead and risk all you like, my bottles stay in rubbermaid totes until at least 3 weeks of conditioning (once you clean up a mess like that, you take precautions).

#11

I second the recommendations by others to put the bottles in a large cooler/ice chest, in case one or more of them DO explode. As for the next batch, you might want to consider using the prepackaged 5 oz packets of corn sugar for priming. May cost a little more over weighing/measuring it out yourself, but for me it saves alot with regards to the hassle/worry factor. Just dissolve it in a couple cups of warm water, boil lightly for 15 minutes, cover with sanitized saucepan lid, let cool,then add to brew in bottling bucket and gently (but thoroughly) stir with sanitized plastic kitchen spoon/plastic mash paddle before bottling. I’ve never had a bottle bomb, and feel safe letting the bottles carb on the floor of a spare closet upstairs (room temp). Generally reaches full carbonation after 3-4 weeks. That’s a long time for some…if you want a quicker turnaround, consider investing in a kegging setup.
Cheers!

#12

I’ve used 1 cup of corn sugar priming sugar in a 1060 beer without any ill effect. no worries especially if you had a nice long ferment or a secondary ferment. You’ll have a nice carbonated cream ale there.

#13

Your standard beer bottles will safely hold close to three volumes of CO2, I wouldn’t worry about your priming level.

Use plain sugar, don’t spend money on dextrose. I think its more consistent and you use a little less.

Check out tastybrew.com to determine sugar additions. Different styles need different priming levels and this is based on the temp of the ferment as well as the carbonation level for the style.

#14

This is the scale that was recommended to me, it works like a champ.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Si ... 343&sr=1-4

I noticed when weighing several “5 oz bags” that I had,
1 was 4.8 oz, 2 were 5.3-5.4 oz, and 1 was 5.75 oz.
Can you see that making someone crazy trying to nail Co2 volumes?

#15

If good mixing is the desiding point on weather I created a few bombs or not then I should be ok. I mixed the stuff rather well but gently (I is a chemist;).

Barry

#16

I was having trouble with consistent carbonation in the bottles. I was figuring volume levels by looking at the fermenters graduated marks and adding the sugar water to the bottling bucket, then siphon beer on top.I did not think about trub and yeast taking up some of the volume. Then I checked the volume marks on the bottling bucket, they were off a 1/4 gal! After remarking the levels on the BB I now siphon the beer into bucket, get a correct volume, then mix up the correct table sugar amount and stir up well. Also I add a half pack of the 7 gram Muntons yeast at bottling for insurance. Cheers, Mike.

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