My first explosion!

I had my first bottle explode on me last night. I guess I bottled a little too early . . .

I was in bed when, at about 12:00, I was awoken by a loud crash downstairs. After waking up, I was pretty sure I knew what it was before I even got there.

I always figured that a bottle wouldn't violently explode, but would just kind of crack open. Man, was I wrong! The bottle had to be in at least a hundred pieces, which I found all over the room (it was a 22oz bottle, and I didn't have a box big enough to keep it in.) The beer also seemed to travel pretty far.

The remaining bottles are now being kept cold, while I drink them as quick as I can. It's like a bunch of ticking time bombs in my fridge!

Anyone else have any funny bottle explosion stories to share?

Not explosions. But I've been keeping my peach cream ale in the cupboard in my downstairs bathroom while its been carbonating. I was in there one morning feeding the cats and I heard this loud "pissssst" that seemed to come from every corner of the room. Scared the hell out of me until I figured out what it was.

Oh man, that sucks. At least it was only one.

I just bottled a batch yesterday, and I'm hoping my no bottle catastrophe record will hold.

Crazy. I've heard of bottle bombs but, thankfully, I've never experienced one.

If/when I bottle, I keep them in the spare bathtub for a week just in case I made a big enough mistake to warrant an explosion.

When I was younger, ~19yo, I started my hands at brewing. I did a stout and bottled it too soon and added waay too much priming sugar and gave these to a few of my freinds. One of my freinds hid these where he hid everything elce he wasnt supposed to have (under the floor in his attic). Needless to say that when they blew his dad went looking for the source of the dripping beer from the ceiling and found his entire stash . I didnt see him again for a while...

I usually bottle in 1 qrt PETs. I made a cider earlier this year that result in puffed out bottles. The neck of the bottle pushed out enough to nearly straighten a 90 degree radius!!!

I over carbonated. - With glass, this would have been bottle bombs.

The cider is super carbonated. Almost like champaigne.

The "trick" is use your hydrometer to make sure it's done fermenting before bottling.

Once bottled you need to monitor the brew for carb levels. Once you are satisfied with the carb level then you need to place them in the fridge to make the yeast go dormant.

After that you have no problems.

I have beers that are over 1 year old that have never been in the fridge because the fermentation was very low and dry.

The last (and only) bottle grenades I had were with Root Beer.

Bottled in glass for the first time today. Used 3/4 cup of priming sugar and my gravity was 1.013. I'm thinking I'm safe from bombs, but would an explosion be contained within a cardboard box or would the glass split the side and fly out? I have the bottles in the original box the bottles came in, seperated by cardboard splitters...

Just curious as these are on the basement, bedroom floor. I don't want to be shredded by glass one evening if one DOES decide to explode when I sleep down there one evening.

SilkkyBrew said:

Bottled in glass for the first time today. Used 3/4 cup of priming sugar and my gravity was 1.013. I'm thinking I'm safe from bombs, but would an explosion be contained within a cardboard box or would the glass split the side and fly out? I have the bottles in the original box the bottles came in, seperated by cardboard splitters...

Just curious as these are on the basement, bedroom floor. I don't want to be shredded by glass one evening if one DOES decide to explode when I sleep down there one evening.

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I had bottle bombs go off in the same kind of box you are talking about. They went off over a long weekend while I was away from home. The good news was that the box contained them. All the glass stayed in the box. The bad news was that the few that likely went off broke a ton of the others. The worse news is that carboard doesn't hold the liquid, meaning I had English Bitter all over the closet floor and out into the foyer, making a big sticky mess. Yuck.

What pissed me was this: according to all by SG tests, this was done fermenting before I bottled. I guess that when I primed it kick-started the yeast a little more than anticipated and BOOM.