Ticking Bottle Bomb?

Hey all,

Something just occurred to me that is making me a little nervous.

A friend of mine happened to leave a plastic wine bottle (750ml) at the house. I was bottling, ran out of bottles, and had just enough to fill this wine bottle. It's brown -- keeps out the UV -- and I thought why not.

But I just realized that this bottle has never been under pressure before. It held wine! Should I be throwing this thing out, or at least moving it somewhere to explode? It's been about 6 days since I bottled.

WW

I would at least put it in a garbage bag, tie it off tight and put it somewhere that a leak wouldn't bother you. Or just chill it, and drink it, and chalk it up to experience!

Plastic bag, put in fridge, forget about it for a week then drink it.

Got the plastic bag bit but why the fridge? Does that slow the process down or are you saying to do that so as to get it ready to drink?

And, hopefully this doesn't sound terrible, but anything in a previously carbonated bottle (Sprite, Coke, Beer) is fine, right?

WW

I'm curious to know how you capped it. Most wine bottles don't have the right lip for a beer cap. Champagne (or sparkling white wine) bottles on the other hand do. And since those bottles are designed for pressure, you're probably fine.

WriterWriter said:

Got the plastic bag bit but why the fridge? Does that slow the process down or are you saying to do that so as to get it ready to drink?

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Cooling it will drop the yeast out of suspension and hopefully slow their sugar munching way down. It probably won't be properly carbed, but a semi flat beer is better than a bottle bomb!

pfgonzo said:

I'm curious to know how you capped it. Most wine bottles don't have the right lip for a beer cap. Champagne (or sparkling white wine) bottles on the other hand do. And since those bottles are designed for pressure, you're probably fine.

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It was a screw top. Quite a strange bottle really. I've never seen a small plastic wine bottle with a screw top but, there you go. I guess I was more excited with having the novelty than with, ah, using my head!

enderwig said:

Cooling it will drop the yeast out of suspension and hopefully slow their sugar munching way down. It probably won't be properly carbed, but a semi flat beer is better than a bottle bomb!

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I'm going away for a bit. What would happen if I put it in the freezer?

I'm not joking! If that's a stupid question I'm sorry, but I just want to know if it would keep for a while or...would it bust the bottle?

I bet plastic is fine. Anchor sells beer in plastic bottles at Pac Bell Park. It might rupture but not explode like glass would. I only had 1 bottle bomb and it was a kick ass Olive Oil bottle that blew up in the fridge. I'd put it in a garbage bag and then in the fridge.