Bottle Bombs... what to do :(

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pkincaid

pkincaid

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I opened the beer closet today to be met with an explosion of glass. Cut my face and hands and even my son got a small scrape...:(
After the shock I quickly and carefully moved the box outside and cleaned up the mess. I managed to get one and open it to find that it was fine. Opened another and it was over carbed. :confused: WTF.... how does this happen? I primed the bucket, not the bottles.

Will putting them in the fridge stop my the yeast? Saving the few that were able to evade the blast radius....I"m bummed... These are from the second version of the choc stout. :(

This has NEVER happened to me... and yes I used a beer calc to get my carbonation units.

Halp me :(

Yours Truly, broken and bleeding,
Porsh
 
the one time i bottled i got inconsistant mixing.

what was the OG? any signs of infection?
 
If you can safely move them into the fridge, that'd be the best way to save them. You'll want to wear thick clothes and face/eye protection, just in case another one decides to blow. Keep them in there until you are ready to drink them. They'll probably still gush, but shouldn't blow up anymore once they are cold.

Good luck - hope that the damage wasn't too bad or painful!
 
Dear Broken & Bleeding- :)p)

There's a few things it could be:

-Fermentation was not fully completed

-Possible infection in bottling bucket or in the bottles themselves (sounds more likely since only a few are over-carbed)

-Over-primed (even though you said you used a calculator to get priming amounts)

Check through your bottling procedure and see if there's anything you might have overlooked. :)
 
OG was 1.057
FG was 1.013 conisistant for a week.

I boiled the priming sugar in water and poured the cooled solution into the bottling bucket, then siphoned over that. Let it sit for 20 min and then bottled.
No signs of infection. Tasted amazing! Nothing, not even a rogue yeast colony floating on top when it was time to bottle.

**Btw.... very painful and just inspected the cut on my cheek. its about 1 inch long, but deep enough to need superglue to hold it shut. :( **
 
what was your process of mixing the priming sugar? how many grams of priming sugar did you use?

next time you bottle add half of the already boiled priming solution at the bottom of the bottling bucket and add the other half at about the 2 1/2 gallon mark or half way if you are brewing bigger batches. considering that you are siphoning the beer in the bucket it should mix fine with the beer slowly spinning from the siphoning. i always get consistent carbonation in every one of my beers doing this.
 
if you have a ice chest,put them in it and add ice. it will chill them and controll any more mess. once they get good and cold put them in fridge. glad the kid (and you) are ok. well the broken heart thing sux too.
 
Damn. Glad you're (relatively) Ok. So was it just earily bad timing, or did you knock/shake/jostle the bottle opening the door?

If you just syphon over the sugar mixture & not stir it in, doesn't that open the door to the possibility of the heavier sugar staying settled on the bottom & not distributing properly?
 
ColonelForbin said:
considering that you are siphoning the beer in the bucket it should mix fine with the wort slowly spinning from the siphoning. i always get consistent carbonation in every one of my beers doing this.
Click to expand...

While that may be, I always sanitize my plastic mash paddle and swirl the beer around a bit to make sure.
 
ColonelForbin said:
would that technically add more oxgen to the beer or would it not? this is something i was always kinda iffy on.
Click to expand...

You can do this very gently with negligible aeration. I've had overcarbonation on some bottles when I did not do this. The priming sugar solution is much denser than the beer, and even siphoning on top of it, the first few bottles can end up with extra sugar. It will tend to stratify at the bottom. You don't have to stir the crap out of it. I just stick the spoon in to the bottom and lift it up to encourage convection from top to bottom.
 
ColonelForbin said:
what was your process of mixing the priming sugar? how many grams of priming sugar did you use?

next time you bottle add half of the already boiled priming solution at the bottom of the bottling bucket and add the other half at about the 2 1/2 gallon mark or half way if you are brewing bigger batches. considering that you are siphoning the beer in the bucket it should mix fine with the beer slowly spinning from the siphoning. i always get consistent carbonation in every one of my beers doing this.
Click to expand...

Thats what I figured...that the siphoning would "stir" the solution in.
 
another thing to consider might be temperature. When you bottle, is your beer already at the temp you plan to keep it at while carbonating? Or is it cooler when bottled and then warmed? If the latter, is it possible that there could be alot of dissolved co2 already in the beer that isn't necessarily accounted for in the priming calcuations (which would come out of solution as the temp was raised)? Just a thought.
 
Well.... I've never had any problems doing it this way with my other brews... maybe just unlucky today. :(

Called the hubby today and forced the need for another keg on him because after today... I think I'm done bottling...
 
tunoffun said:
another thing to consider might be temperature. When you bottle, is your beer already at the temp you plan to keep it at while carbonating? Or is it cooler when bottled and then warmed? If the latter, is it possible that there could be alot of dissolved co2 already in the beer that isn't necessarily accounted for in the priming calcuations (which would come out of solution as the temp was raised)? Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Interesting... and I did not know that!
 
IMO this has 3 possibilities 2 of which were covered...infection and poorly mixed priming sugar both of these are more likely than the last possibility.

The last is something not many people would notice. Massive inconsistency with the thickness in the bottle walls. When you look at a beer bottle you normally look through 2 areas of glass. This will (and does) hide the defective bottles. The bottles may not be "defective" to hold a precarbed beer so the breweries do not care. I assume that bottle conditioning creates more pressure internally than what a precarbed beer would.

I know the next question that is coming..."How do I know this about the bottles?" There is a thread in the DIY section on how to "cut" the top off of a beer bottle, sand it and use it as a drinking glass...I have been trying pretty hard to make some of these and have had some success and some horrid failures. I started to notice that the bottles, especially the ones that do not "break right" have some pretty wild "thin and thick" spots.

I have found the following bottles with pretty bad inconsistencies:
- Guinness Draught 11.5 oz (has the black plastic wrapper and the widget in a shaped bottle. More than 75% were uneven, I had one that was so thin it looked like a clear window in about a 1 inch spot!)

- Stone Ruination (The only Stone I can find are the IPA and the Ruination 22oz. most of the time. Out of them the Ruinations seem more apt to have this defect as I have yet to get 1 to break "right"...bummer I have to drink another one...lol.)

- Rouge 22 oz. bombers (hit or miss)

- Abita 22oz. SOS (same story as the ruination)

I am sure there are a few more but the above are more common in my findings.

DO NOT PANIC! This is simply meant to raise awareness and the possibility that there may be some "bad lots" of bottles coming down the line. It is not meant to have you dump all your bottles, while sounding alarms and screaming the sky is falling!" Odds are that if it held a HB in it at 1 time it will be just fine for the future.

Because I was paranoid, I now mark all the bottoms of my bottles with a grease pen that have had 1 HB in them. I have had no bombs yet. I now look through the bottle opening and spin the bottle slowly to watch for bad color changes...dark=thick and lighter=thin...obviously.

so the "truth" in the 3rd possibility is, poor inspection.
 
I'm usually quite religious with my cleaning, though its hard keeping up with used homebrew bottles with sediment. Could it be possible that you may have cleaned some and didn't get all the sediment out of them? Usually I'll give each bottle the smell test before bottling, if theres hardened sediment at the bottom it'll smell like arse...

The best way I've heard to keep explosions in check was to keep bottles in plastic totes or a cheaper way is a good garbage bag. Not really sure if the garbage bag may work but it can't hurt imo, I've been placing boxes of bottles in garbage bags since the beginning and if it doesn't work against explosions it'll help with keeping light off the bottles.
 
Everyones ideas and thoughts are appreciated... I just really wanted an insight on what I might have done wrong. Its alarming wether you've had bottle bombs before or not at all. After 15+ batches, all bottled I was very surprised that it had finally happened to me. But hey, nobody is perfect.

Totally cleaned the sh*t out of those bottles. Washed, soaked, washed, sanatized inside and out. They were sparkling when I was done. I don't think my sanitation, or cleaning is what did it. ((Though I may never know)) I think maybe the guys are right about poor mixing. :(

Just scared and scarred lol. Found a cut on the back of my sons hand from where he was holding onto the door. Bah...That glass got everywhere.
**Jumping on kegconnection now**
 
If wonder if letting it sit for 20 minutes might have let the thicker solution sink to the bottom of the bucket. When I bottle, I do it exactly as you did, adding the priming sugar (dissolved in water) then racking on it, but I start bottling immediately. If it takes me a while to get done, I'll give it a gentle stir to make sure everything stays mixed up. Never had an issue with inconsistent carb levels.
 
ChshreCat said:
If wonder if letting it sit for 20 minutes might have let the thicker solution sink to the bottom of the bucket. When I bottle, I do it exactly as you did, adding the priming sugar (dissolved in water) then racking on it, but I start bottling immediately. If it takes me a while to get done, I'll give it a gentle stir to make sure everything stays mixed up. Never had an issue with inconsistent carb levels.
Click to expand...

+1 I never let it sit. If it does it gets a gentle stir. 1/2 way it gets another gentle stir.
 
Consider getting yourself a collection of plastic beer bottles. Miller makes them 16 oz I heard Coors does also
 
Zamial said:
IMO this has 3 possibilities 2 of which were covered...infection and poorly mixed priming sugar both of these are more likely than the last possibility.

The last is something not many people would notice. Massive inconsistency with the thickness in the bottle walls. When you look at a beer bottle you normally look through 2 areas of glass. This will (and does) hide the defective bottles. The bottles may not be "defective" to hold a precarbed beer so the breweries do not care. I assume that bottle conditioning creates more pressure internally than what a precarbed beer would.

I know the next question that is coming..."How do I know this about the bottles?" There is a thread in the DIY section on how to "cut" the top off of a beer bottle, sand it and use it as a drinking glass...I have been trying pretty hard to make some of these and have had some success and some horrid failures. I started to notice that the bottles, especially the ones that do not "break right" have some pretty wild "thin and thick" spots.

I have found the following bottles with pretty bad inconsistencies:
- Guinness Draught 11.5 oz (has the black plastic wrapper and the widget in a shaped bottle. More than 75% were uneven, I had one that was so thin it looked like a clear window in about a 1 inch spot!)

- Stone Ruination (The only Stone I can find are the IPA and the Ruination 22oz. most of the time. Out of them the Ruinations seem more apt to have this defect as I have yet to get 1 to break "right"...bummer I have to drink another one...lol.)

- Rouge 22 oz. bombers (hit or miss)

- Abita 22oz. SOS (same story as the ruination)

I am sure there are a few more but the above are more common in my findings.

DO NOT PANIC! This is simply meant to raise awareness and the possibility that there may be some "bad lots" of bottles coming down the line. It is not meant to have you dump all your bottles, while sounding alarms and screaming the sky is falling!" Odds are that if it held a HB in it at 1 time it will be just fine for the future.

Because I was paranoid, I now mark all the bottoms of my bottles with a grease pen that have had 1 HB in them. I have had no bombs yet. I now look through the bottle opening and spin the bottle slowly to watch for bad color changes...dark=thick and lighter=thin...obviously.

so the "truth" in the 3rd possibility is, poor inspection.
Click to expand...



I worked in two different glass factorys and I will say they are very hit and miss. when you work the line you look for cracks, things like this. every once in a while one gets pulled out to test. but its one out of a 100,at best.
 
I know that the sugar solution is heavier than the beer, guess I just thought that with the gentle spiral from siphoning everything would be well suspended.

As I said before... I think this might be the last time I bottle. Glass/plastic or otherwise...time to actually finish the kegerator.
 
pkincaid said:
I know that the sugar solution is heavier than the beer, guess I just thought that with the gentle spiral from siphoning everything would be well suspended.

As I said before... I think this might be the last time I bottle. Glass/plastic or otherwise...time to actually finish the kegerator.
Click to expand...

Whatever it takes to get you to build it, it's good! :mug:

I've got all the parts for a kegging system sitting in a box and I'm getting ready to put 5 more gallons into bottles. :p
 
abracadabra said:
Consider getting yourself a collection of plastic beer bottles. Miller makes them 16 oz I heard Coors does also
Click to expand...

I've noticed you can see/feel the carbonation of the beer as well when using plastic bottles as the pressure increases. Have you noticed this?
 
Geez, sounds like you covered all the bases; can't imagine why this happened. As for kegging, if you brew barleywines, RIS's, etc. do you still plan to bottle them?
 
There are very few actual cases of bottle bombs.

Boiled and syphoned priming sugar being THAT unmixed?

Damned near impossible.
 
tallybrewer said:
Geez, sounds like you covered all the bases; can't imagine why this happened. As for kegging, if you brew barleywines, RIS's, etc. do you still plan to bottle them?
Click to expand...

Barleywines i'll bottle... maybe in plastic, or undershoot the priming sugar by just a smidge.... Who knows... but Barleywines are a little ways down my list, so I've got time to figure it out. As for now... I'm going to bottle a 12 pack of everything I brew, and keg the rest.
 
to OP: refrigerate beers immediately!

abracadabra said:
Consider getting yourself a collection of plastic beer bottles. Miller makes them 16 oz I heard Coors does also
Click to expand...
i would never use plastic for bottling. would you use a bucket for secondary? there's just far too many chances for infection due to difficulty sanitizing plastic. my $.02

cheezydemon3 said:
There are very few actual cases of bottle bombs.
Click to expand...
this is the first incident i've heard of actual bombs too. i wonder if when opening the closet, the sunlight hit it, slightly warmed it, and Kaboom! the timing is unbelievably terrible! mine usually blow out through the bottom or just develop a hairline crack and eventually leak out. the hairline crack is bad since you go to grab it and slice yourself (happened once years ago on cranberry maple xmas beer). blowout happen once every year or so...
 
jessup said:
to OP: refrigerate beers immediately!


i would never use plastic for bottling. would you use a bucket for secondary? there's just far too many chances for infection due to difficulty sanitizing plastic. my $.02
...
Click to expand...

I do....always! I have no glass. Just buckets and 1 BB.

I still wouldn't bottle in 2 liters.

jessup said:
this is the first incident i've heard of actual bombs too. i wonder if when opening the closet, the sunlight hit it, slightly warmed it, and Kaboom! the timing is unbelievably terrible! mine usually blow out through the bottom or just develop a hairline crack and eventually leak out. the hairline crack is bad since you go to grab it and slice yourself (happened once years ago on cranberry maple xmas beer). blowout happen once every year or so...
Click to expand...

I have had gushers, but no cracks or breaks of any kind. Bottle bombs would take a whole lot of fermentation leftover, or tons of over priming.

I am guessing over priming and infection in some bottles.
 
jessup said:
i would never use plastic for bottling. would you use a bucket for secondary? there's just far too many chances for infection due to difficulty sanitizing plastic.
Click to expand...
^that was directed of abracadabra, i know you know better;):D

cheezydemon3 said:
I am guessing over priming and infection in some bottles.
Click to expand...
i've had all kinds of issues. you learn alot in 6 years...
 
No light near that closet...in fact it's in the basement. I have it temp controlled too. I really went all out when I started brewing... even my hubby thinks i've gone crazy. Man can I tell you I thought I covered all my bases! I am super anal about cleanliness, esp for items that I might be eating or drinking from. Maybe I had radioactive yeast? Like superman status... Perhaps I'll put a crystal of kryptonite in the closet next to the temp controls... :ban:

We are healing nicely btw.... and still brewing :) The baby's ok and the basement has been thoroughly cleaned of this incident. Still can't believe the timing and that it happened to me. :( Learn and grow... :)

jessup said:
to OP: refrigerate beers immediately!


i would never use plastic for bottling. would you use a bucket for secondary? there's just far too many chances for infection due to difficulty sanitizing plastic. my $.02


this is the first incident i've heard of actual bombs too. i wonder if when opening the closet, the sunlight hit it, slightly warmed it, and Kaboom! the timing is unbelievably terrible! mine usually blow out through the bottom or just develop a hairline crack and eventually leak out. the hairline crack is bad since you go to grab it and slice yourself (happened once years ago on cranberry maple xmas beer). blowout happen once every year or so...
Click to expand...
 
pkincaid said:
Maybe I had radioactive yeast? Like superman status... Perhaps I'll put a crystal of kryptonite in the closet next to the temp controls... :ban:
Click to expand...

:off:
Umm...if you really have this yeast can I have some? I have always wondered if yeast, of a strong psychic variety, would be like the Midaclorians that were spoke about in the Star Wars movies...and Jedi just meant "A Drunk"...:tank:

also, glad to hear everyone is ok!
 
cheezydemon3 said:
There are very few actual cases of bottle bombs.
Click to expand...

I don't think they are all that rare, but maybe that's because I've had one blow (safely inside my bottle bomb shelter, so no damage done other than the one fallen soldier). Still a bit of mess with lots of tiny little sharp glass fragments. I am almost certain this was caused by sanitizing the bottles in the oven and ramping the heat up too quickly.
 
pkincaid said:
We are healing nicely btw.... and still brewing :)
Still can't believe the timing and that it happened to me. :( Learn and grow... :)
Click to expand...
Great.
Here is a way my fellow German home brewers monitor the carbonation progress.
Your hubby can build you one.:D
For glass bottles
Rosebud_fertich1yn0.jpg


PET bottles
tauroplu_K640_mano.jpg


Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 

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