Bottled up and counting the days

Bierman707

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I've bottles my first batch of beer! I tasted a small amount left over and it tasted a little hoppy for me but as long as I can pop open a pint that isn't contaminated, I'll consider it a success.
Here's my question: if I'm going to end up with bottle bombs, how long would that take to happen?
I have them inside of milk crates and the crates are inside of a sturdy tub with a lid, so if they do blow, it shouldn't be a Greek tragedy.
 
If you calculated your sugar, you shouldn't have anything to worry about but if they're going to go off as a result of overcarbonation, you shouldn't have anything to worry about after around two weeks.
 
How much priming sugar did you use and did you check the gravity before you added priming sugar? If you're keeping the bottles at a 75 to 80 degrees, they'll carb up quick.
 
If you calculated your sugar, you shouldn't have anything to worry about but if they're going to go off as a result of overcarbonation, you shouldn't have anything to worry about after around two weeks.
I calculated it out on a website. Northern brewer I think... I used a half cup of table sugar (boiled in a couple cups of water and allowed to cool while covered) I had 3.75 gallons of beer to bottle up (and I bottled almost every last bit). Only a few sips remained in the auto siphon. So, of course I had to taste it. It was room temp and flat as hell, so it's hard to say what it'll be like when it's done, but I think I've got a winner.
Someone mentioned to me in a previous thread (I'm pretty sure it was you) that bottling is where most contamination issues come from, so I was super conscious about everything being clean. I even had a tall glass of starsan for my bottle filler to rest in while I put the caps on the full bottles.
 
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With that amount of sugar in 3.75 gallons you should be ok. There is a good priming calculator on this site under Tools>Calculators>Priming Calculator. It measures priming sugar by weight which is handy because it avoids errors due to improper dry measuring.
 
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A rule of thumb is one ounce dry weight per gallon of beer. Some beers need more carb and some less. I think that converting into ounces you're right around that mark. All will be well. ;)
 
As was said, if they don't blow in 2 weeks you're probably fine. I used PET bottles when I started just to remove the risk of painting my walls with glass.
 

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