Broken bottles

I am a little confused at the moment. I have had two different batches of beer with this problem. I gave my father in law a few bottles of a CDA and he mentioned that two bottles broke off on the neck about an inch from the cap upon opening. Yesterday, I was tasting my Witbier and the bottle broke on me opening it. What could be causing this issue? I am using a wide variety of used commercial bottles, all pop top, mostly Sam Adams.

The bottles just couldn't handle the pressure of bottle conditioning. Active refermentation in the bottle provides a lot more pressure than filling a bottle with already carbonated beer (which is what most breweries do). That being said, most bottles can hold up to bottle conditioning, but you can always get a weak bottle, overpriming or an infection that will cause it to break.

No infection that I can tell. So what can I do to prevent it from occurring?

Did you ever bake them in the oven to sanitize? That's what caused the only bottle bomb I've ever had. The heating-cooling cycle seems to stress the glass.

No, but I use my dishwasher.

the anchor steam bottles are the worst. the new belgium bottles aren't great either. sam adams are usually pretty solid - which type specifically is breaking on you?

I had a SA break last night. I am pretty sure SA or Michelob bottles were also the culprit with the ones I gave away.

I've reused New Belgium bottles more than 10x and never had a break, even with priming up to 3.25 vol CO2. I sanitize in Starsan (not a hot dishwasher) and cap with a bench capper.

I just put a Tripel in old returnable 12oz bottles carbed to 3.8 vol CO2 and am hoping for no broken bottles.

I had a thought and wanted to put this out there. Instead of putting my bottles in the dishwasher and subjecting them to the heating/cooling cycle and weakening the glass, what would be wrong with dunking them in the star san solution I use in my bottling bucket before bottling?

I would personally avoid the dishwasher for the heat/cool avoidance. Also, make sure you add the correct amount of priming sugar and that your fermentation is complete (always good to check, anyway).

BUCKEYE1303 said:

what would be wrong with dunking them in the star san solution I use in my bottling bucket before bottling?

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I think this is a better solution and a lot of people on here do this. I used to do the dishwasher thing, but I felt that I had to plan my bottling around running the dishwasher and then letting the bottles cool. Also, I wasn't confident it was sanitizing due to the small opening and unknown temps. I then went to a vinator and bottle tree, shooting starsan into the bottles.

Now, I prefer just getting a bucket full of starsan solution, throwing the bottles in and submerging. I throw maybe 8 at a time in there and proceed to dump one out, bottle, cap, and then reach for another.

Is it a clean break? It sounds to me like you are cracking the bottle when capping...the grab rings on a wing capper can do it if you press down too hard, or get it a touch too crooked.

pwkblue said:

Is it a clean break? It sounds to me like you are cracking the bottle when capping...the grab rings on a wing capper can do it if you press down too hard, or get it a touch too crooked.

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I've ran into this problem before. I have had them break when removing the cap and while putting the cap on. I never heat the bottles. It started to happen more frequently once I noticed that the two metal plates on my wing capper started to bend due to 9+ years of use. I haven't had this problem since I bought my bench capper.

I recently used some Corona bottles and they seem much more rugged than SA bottles.
I kind of like the clear glass too. I keep them in complete darkness so light is not a problem for me.

Are the bottles getting pretty baffed?