Oh my god exploding bottles took me in my kitchen out!

So I attempted stovetop pasteurization for the first time last night... Saying I was unsuccessful would be a gross understatement.

I knew this was already going to be a little precarious of an experiment because my bottles were very very carbonated... But I figured what the hell (Truth be told I have a friend who is waiting for me to ship him a bottle so pasteurization was very necessary). The problem particularly was that me and my friend had a few homebrews before we started this project and so the bottles were not only over carbonated but I left them in there for longer than 10 minutes.

I had walked out of the room for a moment and I heard the first BOOM!
By the time I got into the kitchen and in front of the pot the second one went off like a glass grenade and sent a 3" piece of glass shrapnel into my stomach...
Not to mention glass all over the kitchen.

By the time my buddy got in there I had him take a lid and hold it up in front of the bottles to shield us. He would've put the top on the pot but the bottles stuck up too high. Then he touched the top of the bottle with the top of the lid and BOOM another one went off.

That piece of glass was still sticking out of my stomach like a cactus needle, Once we were able to stop laughing and pull the shard of glass out of my gut I realize that I need to get a big tall pot that the bottles will fit inside.

This was funny because no one got hurt and they just kept going off one after another, But I'm sure it could have been a lot more serious, so folks, learn from my experience and either get a pot that the bottles will fit in, manage the time accurately and don't do this with over carbed cider.... OH YA and keep your head down!

haha. i enjoyed the story. you have a good attitude. keep laughing/smiling and press-on.

BadgerBrigade said:

So I attempted stovetop pasteurization for the first time last night... Saying I was unsuccessful would be a gross understatement.

I knew this was already going to be a little precarious of an experiment because my bottles were very very carbonated... But I figured what the hell

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This. I have failed to listen to the inner voice many times. Many. I know the feeling.

Edit:
On the reverse, don't put the hot pasteurized bottles into a pot of ice water. They're not tomatoes. No need to blanche them. I did this for some reason when I was pasteurizing ciders even though I thought it was a stupid idea before starting. They exploded. Big shards of glass flew about 50' across the yard. I found them all summer while mowing.

GarageDweller said:

haha. i enjoyed the story. you have a good attitude. keep laughing/smiling and press-on.

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Thanks
The girlfriend was super pissed because I think the bottles going off was very scary for her but as my buddy said as long as no one gets hurt everything is okay, messes can be cleaned and we learned (and real quick too)... Lol
I was very close to videotaping this for YouTube and showing bottle pasteurization and I ended up not but that would've been absolutely fantastic to have gotten that on video

highgravitybacon said:

This. I have failed to listen to the inner voice many times. Many. I know the feeling.

Edit:
On the reverse, don't put the hot pasteurized bottles into a pot of ice water. They're not tomatoes. No need to blanche them. I did this for some reason when I was pasteurizing ciders even though I thought it was a stupid idea before starting. They exploded. Big shards of glass flew about 50' across the yard. I found them all summer while mowing.

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I know I know, you are totally right bro but I have a friend who's really looking forward to trying this and he lives in a few states away so I knew I couldn't just cold crash...
I actually don't really think the problem was that they were to over carbonate, I think I ended up leaving them in there for about 14 minutes and the internal temperature just got too hot...

I haven't completely learned from my mistake yet so I'm going to attempt to do it again tonight but with a taller pot, outside, and I'm going to keep them in for exactly 10 minutes! I will try with four or five of them and if I don't get any bombs then I will do the rest of the batch, if I get even one then I am going to give up and cold crash and the guys will have to try my cider another time...

Has anyone else had any similar experience

You'll put your eye out with that thing!

What wrong wid da beer we got?

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harmenbor said:

You'll put your eye out with that thing!

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No, I'm using my paintball gun mask to try the batch tonight... Lol

Sounds like you still had the burner on, always turn the burner off after you get to temp and before you add bottles.

Spinrathen said:

Sounds like you still had the burner on, always turn the burner off after you get to temp and before you add bottles.

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No Spinrathen, turned it off and waited till the temp got down to 180 then I put the bottles in...

I think I'm just over-carbed.... Also used EC-1118 champagne yeast....

I just tried a 2nd attempt and 3 or 4 minutes in BLAAAAWWW!!!! 4 more! But this time I was ready, had them in the back of the bed of my truck in the pot.

Glad to hear you have not gotten injured but...

bad67z said:

Glad to hear you have not gotten injured but...

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Lol.... Wish I had videoed the explosions... They were really no joke, Like dropping Cherrybombs in a toilet...

When I saw that picture I totally laughed my ass off but I still don't know what you're trying to say.... Lol

EDIT: Wait, what the heck just happened?
You had a picture of Sean Luc Picard on there with this funny look on his face and changed all this other stuff?!

(Not as funny now...

A pot that fits the bottles with a lid won't save you. It will blow off the lid. Or in my case, literally blow a hole through a glass lid. Bullets everywhere! I'm done pasteurizong.

sfrisby said:

A pot that fits the bottles with a lid won't save you. It will blow off the lid. Or in my case, literally blow a hole through a glass lid. Bullets everywhere! I'm done pasteurizong.

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But wait, there's a lot of people doing this with success, what are we doing wrong?

We are either over carbonated or something?
Did you use Lalvin EC-1118 or did you use an ale yeast?

BadgerBrigade said:

But wait, there's a lot of people doing this with success, what are we doing wrong?

We are either over carbonated or something?
Did you use Lalvin EC-1118 Where did you use an ale yeast?

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Not sure. I did it and, other than what I mentioned previously about the cold water, it worked just fine. I don't think you can have supah carbed beverage and have it work. But lots of commercial brewers pasteurize in the bottle, the same bottles we reuse, and they don't have a legion of dead zombie employees from the process gone awry. That I know of.

When I pasteurize cider I either do it in the same plastic bottles the juice came in or in a keg in my boil kettle.

There's a couple good stickys on this forum on pasturizing cider.

Little things like warming your bottles up in another pot at around 110 helps. Making sure you have a dishrag on the bottom of your pot to set the bottles on. You only need to warm water to about 170 if you warm the bottles up. The water temp has to be over 140 for ten minutes. NOT 180 for ten minutes. Never go past a week of conditioning to pasturize. It won't completely stop bottle bombs, but it will cut them down.

BadgerBrigade said:

Lol.... Wish I had videoed the explosions... They were really no joke, Like dropping Cherrybombs in a toilet...

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Braaahahahahah....I've never done that. In my junior year in highschool. And got suspended.

I thought I would be clever last night and I put the pot of hot water in the bed of my truck and did the attempt of pasteurizing outside.... Tons and tons of glass in my driveway....
I must be over carb but when I pop a cap I don't get a gushing bottle but it is pretty spritsy like a champagne..

so what was the FG before you bottle this up? Again, your attitude is in the right place. You tried again to see if you could figure out what is going on here. You will go far! Also, sounds like, outside of cleaning the driveway of glass, that you're enjoying yourself. Thats priority #1!

GarageDweller said:

so what was the FG before you bottle this up? Again, your attitude is in the right place. You tried again to see if you could figure out what is going on here. You will go far! Also, sounds like, outside of cleaning the driveway of glass, that you're enjoying yourself. Thats priority #1!

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Yeah, I try to maximize the safety. And I fermented it dry but then back sweetened so I think I was up to about 1.015ish (But that is a gas and I'm not sure at all)

BadgerBrigade said:

Yeah, I try to maximize the safety

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Says the guy who is heating highly pressurized glass vessels

TyTanium said:

Says the guy who is heating highly pressurized glass vessels

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I normally wouldn't do it until I saw a thread marked stovetop pasteurization and apparently quite a few people having success heating highly pressurized glass vessels....

BadgerBrigade said:

Yeah smarta*s, I normally wouldn't do it until I saw a thread marked stovetop pasteurization and apparently quite a few people having success heating highly pressurized glass vessels....

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Yeah, I'm just busting your chops

TyTanium said:

Yeah, I'm just busting your chops

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Sorry, I think I'm a little oversensitive....
I've been getting heat about this thread from a few folks that I think don't understand I wouldn't do anything if it could hurt someone, I'm just trying to learn..

Could you chill them, open them to relieve pressure, let them warm up and recap them?

I dont know what I would have been more frightened of... the bottles going off or the scathing look of disdane my wife would have given me.

Glad everyone is more or less ok.

CreamyGoodness said:

I dont know what I would have been more frightened of... the bottles going off or the scathing look of disdane my wife would have given me.

Glad everyone is more or less ok.

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Yes, the glass sword sticking out of my side & the kitchen full of glass was nothing compared to the furrowed brow of SHMBO... Lol