[Phil_M]

Alright, so I fat-fingered the desired volumes of CO2 entry on a bottle carbonation calculator…and my hefeweizen is primed to 4 vols.

Is this in bottle bomb territory? Bottles were a mix of regular 12 oz brown ones, 12 oz Paulaner hefeweizen bottles (not sure if they're any different than "regular" bottles) and some half-liter German hefeweizen bottles. (The tall tapered sort.)

If the answer is yes, I'll likely just crack the caps in a few days and recap. If they aren't likely to explode I'll probably just leave them and chill them really well before consuming.

[reverseapachemaster]

The 500ml bottles will be fine. I wouldn't think twice about those. The 375ml bottles are probably fine too but I would be most concerned about the standard 12oz bottles. They probably won't explode but I would store them somewhere that won't have large temperature swings and if an explosion occurs will not likely harm a person or pet.

[hopfenundmalz]

The range I looked up for a Hefe is 3.6 to 4.5 volumes. As said above, be careful with the 12 oz. bottles, the others are good for that.

[pete b]

When I have been worried about bottle bombs I have stored them in a box in the cellar wrapped in a towel.

[Phil_M]

Almost forgot, some of the bottles are also old 16 oz Natty Boh bombers...old as in early/mid nineties.

[euge]

A regular 12oz brown bottle holds 4+ volumes just fine. The imports are probably quite a bit stronger.

If they are gushers you can chill them and pry one prong of the cap up to let just a little gas to slowly escape in the fridge over the course of a few days or until you are happy. Then tighten the cap back up with the capper

[pete b]

A regular 12oz brown bottle holds 4+ volumes just fine. The imports are probably quite a bit stronger.

If they are gushers you can chill them and pry one prong of the cap up to let just a little gas to slowly escape in the fridge over the course of a few days or until you are happy. Then tighten the cap back up with the capper

Yea this sounds more like gusher territory than bottle bombs. Try to not jostle them around, getting sediment in suspension creates more nucleation points for carbonation.

[Phil_M]

Gushers I can handle lol, just don't want exploding glass to contend with.

[euge]

I don't have any scientific facts to back this up but some un-scientific anecdotal evidence. To me it makes sense that the bottles are engineered to tolerances that would involve failure far above 4 volumes. I've taken them there...

Damage- scratches etc in the glass might be a problem.

Best to drink them up quickly and put this mess behind you. It's how we learn.

[Phil_M]

Hefeweizen never lasts long in my house...split this batch 50/50 with a friend, so 2.5 gallons won't take long to drink at all.

[erockrph]

I think the generally accepted rule of thumb is that regular 12-oz bottles are fine up to at least 3 volumes. If they're decent quality I think most of them should handle 4 volumes without blowing up. But if one bottle goes, then you could have a nasty chain reaction. Frankly, that batch would scare the hell out of me.