Bottle Bombs

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Dutch
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Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:54 pm
Location: Evansville

Bottle Bombs

Post by Dutch » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:12 pm

Strange thing happened with some post-flavored apricot wheat recently done.
I found a wet spot on the garage floor and discovered two exploded bottle bombs in the wall rack.
The wheat beer had been treated with potassium sorbate at the rate of 1 tsp per gallon.
I decided to release the cap pressure on the balance [some are standard caps and some flip caps]. While doing this I discovered that there certainly was a good bit of pressure buildupn virtually all bottles. I releaved the pressure and recapped and refrigerated the standard caps.
Can't think what went wrong. Is there a holding period? For example does the pot sorbate need to sit in the beer for a fully 48 hours? Perhaps I did not mix/dissolve adequately?
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?????????????????
Dutch deHaan • OVHA Board Member


Twenty-four hours in a day, twenty-four beers in a case - COINCIDENCE?

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SkyBrew
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Re: Bottle Bombs

Post by SkyBrew » Fri Jun 14, 2013 6:51 am

Here is an article about Potassium Sorbate and vigorous fermentation:

http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing ... -is-wrong/

The effectiveness of potassium sorbate is dependent on several factors: the pH, the concentration of free SO2, the percent of alcohol in solution, the concentration of sorbate, and the viable yeast concentration. All have to be in the correct amounts to prevent renewed fermentation.

Potassium sorbate does not kill yeast as most brewers and winemakers believe. Potassium sorbate only prevents fermentations from starting again, and its effectiveness is dependent on other factors.

So after reading this article my theory would be you added extra priming sugar to try and get a sweeter beer, however the yeast was not done fermenting, the potassium sorbate doesnt kill yeast, it just prevents yeast from "starting"

But who knows.... :beer7
Sky B.

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