1st ever bottle bomb

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commonsense

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Been brewing for many years and never had a bottle explode. Woke up this morning and heard one go off. I'll give the details and hope to get some feedback.

So the beer is a hefeweizen. 5 gallon batch. I used my usual online calculator and was shooting for around 3.0 so I place about 5.9 ounces (by weight) of dextrose in. I have used over 6 ounces before with no troubles.

My bottle conditioning temps are a little higher than usual this time. Between 75 and 80 degrees. I also used a little more yeast than I normally do when I pitched because one of my vials was old so I wanted to compensate. The bottles have only been carbing for 1 week. I placed them in the fridge this morning and will try one when I get home. Also, the fermentation was complete according to my FG reading. I fermented for 18 days.

So, first off if they are not carbed I think I can just warm them up again and swirl the bottles to kick start the yeast again and continue carbing. Is this correct? Other than that, does anyone have any thoughts on the causes of this? I know it could have been a flawed bottle. I also know higher temps can speed up the process but does that cause over carbing? Thanks for the tips in advance......

FV1: Nut Brown Ale
FV2: American Blonde Ale
FV3: Empty (possible elderberry wheat this weekend)
Bottle Carbing: Weizen
Bottle Carbing: English IPA
Bottle Carbing: Session IPA
 
My speculation would be from an over-reused bottle. I know that when I used to use my wing capper that I would frequently hear the neck of the bottles crack (which was often visible). I would think that it wouldn't take much carbonation to then finish shattering the bottle.

The other thing that I didn't see you mention was if you did a gravity reading multiple days in a row before bottling. It sounded as if you just took one reading and because it was within the range of a normal FG that you just bottled it. I would venture to guess you had a little bit more fermentation to complete before moving onto the bottling step.
 
Yeah I confess I never take multiple readings anymore. Don't wanna risk infection. I've developed a good feel for when activity is done and my FG was actually lower than expected. I did not factor in the extra yeast I pitched though.

There is no way this beer is carbed after only 7 days though. If it is then man am I a genius!! haha
 
I would seriously advise AGAINST swirling those bottles. What you want to do is to carefully (safety gloves and glasses) check another one. If that one gushes or pops like a champagne cork you need to dispose of the bottles immediately. I don't know if you've seen the bottle that blew yet, but they dont blow out the top. They expode radially, sending big (and impossibly tiny) shard of glass everywhere. I found pieces in different rooms

It could just be the high temps you are conditioning at and too much pressure built up in the bottle before it could be reabsorbed back into the beer. But if the whole batch is going to go, I would move them to a cool space as carefully as possible, or dump them or something. Keep in mind that if one blew up, just the disturbance from moving another could set it off right in your hands. From there, Id just say you'd be lucky if everything missed your throat and eyes
 
There are several causes of bottle bombs - all of which come from too much carbonation in the bottles - but the real question of course is why is there too much carbonation in the bottles. I think the answers can be narrowed down to 4 possible causes that I'm aware of:

1) Incorrect measuring - you put too much sugar in by accident by either reading a table incorrectly, reading your measuring device incorrectly, or incorrectly measuring your total volume of beer. Do not trust the factory volume measurements printed on the sides of fermenting and bottling buckets - they are notoriously inaccurate. Kitchen scales should be read carefuly, and often I'll measure twice as there's no point getting this far only to ruin a batch by over-carbonating it - something that's difficult or impossible to save the batch from once it's done.

2) The sugar didn't mix evenly into the batch - some bottles got more of the sugar than others resulting in some being under-carbed and others getting over-carbed to the point of explosions. Many brewers add their beer on top of the sugar when racking to the bottling bucket to ensure a more even mix. When I used to bottle before moving to kegs I liked to put the sugar on top of the beer instead though because I could more accurately see how much volume of beer I had.

3) Either some of the bottles or the entire batch picked up an infection that is causing the usually non-fermentable sugars to ferment inside some or all of the bottles. This most likely (but not necessarily) would have happened in either the bottling process, or some of your bottles wern't cleaned/sanitized well enough. Go over your process in your own mind and ask yourself if any of your cleaning/sanitation methods got a bit lax for this batch. I used to get lax in thoroughly cleaning the bottles. Instead I'd try to give them a good rinse immediately after pouring and then used the bottle-washing-sink-attachment to blast hot water inside them and then sanitizer on bottling day. Sometimes that's not good enough and you really need to put in some elbow grease with a bottle brush. Alternatively you may have missed something in cleaning sanitizing your equipment - did you take apart the spigot and clean/sanitize the parts? Did you remember to sanitize the outside of the bottling wand (a step I've forgotten a few times until it's too late), etc.

4) You may have bottled too early. While 18 days is usually quite reasonable, it's entirely possible that the beer wasn't yet done. If your ferment temps dropped low at any point or for other inexplicable reasons, you may have gotten a stalled fermentation. A lot of people say to take gravity readings 3 days apart to make sure before you bottle - funnily enough there's another thread on here yesterday about someone's fermentation stalling for 5 days... Personally, I don't take that many readings, but not doing so does increase the risk of accidentally bottling too soon.

Adding the extra yeast and/or conditioning at warmer than usual temperatures is not a problem as far as I'm aware when it comes to carbonation levels.
 
commonsense said:
Yeah I confess I never take multiple readings anymore. Don't wanna risk infection. I've developed a good feel for when activity is done and my FG was actually lower than expected. I did not factor in the extra yeast I pitched though.

There is no way this beer is carbed after only 7 days though. If it is then man am I a genius!! haha
Click to expand...

Sorry but I've had them carb well in 7 days (and less) with those temps and enough priming sugar the warmer you carb the faster it will go IME

Now the beer will be "green" still but they'll soemtimes be carbed unless it's a big beer of course
 
well from kegging I know that warmer temps = less CO2 is capable of dissolving in the beer. Also, warmer temps = more active yeast. Both of these would lead to more headspace pressure. I wouldnt recommend carbing in a room that is too far above regular room temps. Especially since for carbonation to occur, the bottle needs to build enough headspace pressure for the CO2 to be forced back into solution. This happens too quickly at higher temps
 
Thanks for all the ideas guys. Just some notes:

I DEFINITELY sanitized thoroughly..... outside of the bottle wand hangs in starsan bucket then I spray it to double sanitize it right before filling. I am a sanitation obsessed spaz! Bottles were also overly sanitized. Bottle bucket was taken apart, cleaned and sanitized.

Bottom line is I will open one when I get home. They are all in my fridge to prevent more explosions. If it tastes good and seems carbed then I guess Christmas came a week early for me.

Again though, I do need to be sure if it is NOT carbed I can just warm it up again and the yeast will activate? I promise not to swirl them!
 
I have only ever had one bottle go, that was I am sure a flawed bottle, the rest of the batch was fine.
You have it right, no shake, no swirl, just warm a few degs.
 
All this talk reminds me of when I was in college and I bought 5 gallons worth of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice, added so many lbs. of sugar, threw some Lalvin yeast in there, waited 5 days and then corked them in 15 wine bottles. At about 3 AM I awoke to all of the corks shooting out of the bottles and fizzing over all my cables under my loft. Ran immediately into the shower with the rest of the unopened ones and uncorked them all.

Good times.
 
m00ps said:
well from kegging I know that warmer temps = less CO2 is capable of dissolving in the beer. Also, warmer temps = more active yeast. Both of these would lead to more headspace pressure. I wouldnt recommend carbing in a room that is too far above regular room temps. Especially since for carbonation to occur, the bottle needs to build enough headspace pressure for the CO2 to be forced back into solution. This happens too quickly at higher temps
Click to expand...

That's something I've never heard before and is really interesting. There may indeed be truth to it too. Can anyone else confirm this theory or point to any resources that talk about it?
 
andy6026 said:
That's something I've never heard before and is really interesting. There may indeed be truth to it too. Can anyone else confirm this theory or point to any resources that talk about it?
Click to expand...

I've seen this discussed on here too. I've read (from what others have said on HBT) that it is harder for CO2 to get into solution at higher temps. Putting them in the fridge for a week allows the CO2 produced to be absorbed into solution. So it makes sense that one would put them in a room that may be higher than your normal fermenation temp (so like a 70* room), and then after normal bottle conditioning time throw it in the fridge to get the CO2 in the solution.

I've actually seen something similar to this. I've taken beers that had been bottle conditioning for 2.5 weeks and put one into the freezer and one into the fridge. I took the one out of the freezer after it cooled and poured it into a glass. I did the same with the one from the fridge after 5 days and noticed a difference between the carbonation levels.
 
Oh yes, I am aware of there being a difference in carbing time at different temperatures,but could warm conditioning actually create enough pressure in the headspace alone to explode the bottle - whereas you'd have a perfectly carbed beer had it conditioned at room temperature. To me that seems unlikely, but perhaps it's possible.
 
Zippox said:
I've seen this discussed on here too. I've read (from what others have said on HBT) that it is harder for CO2 to get into solution at higher temps. Putting them in the fridge for a week allows the CO2 produced to be absorbed into solution. So it makes sense that one would put them in a room that may be higher than your normal fermenation temp (so like a 70* room), and then after normal bottle conditioning time throw it in the fridge to get the CO2 in the solution.

I've actually seen something similar to this. I've taken beers that had been bottle conditioning for 2.5 weeks and put one into the freezer and one into the fridge. I took the one out of the freezer after it cooled and poured it into a glass. I did the same with the one from the fridge after 5 days and noticed a difference between the carbonation levels.
Click to expand...

It's not that it's harder for CO2 to get into solution at higher temps, it's that less CO2 can be dissolved in a solution that is at a higher temperature than one at a lower temperature given a constant pressure. The CO2 will actually dissolve into solution faster at higher temperatures, but less of it will be able to.

But since the bottle is a closed system it builds up pressure which increases the solubility of CO2. So a fully carbonated bottle at room temperature will have virtually the same amount of CO2 dissolved in the beer as a fully carbonated bottle at fridge temperature. But the bottle at room temp will have a higher internal pressure which makes it possible to have that much CO2 in solution at that temperature.

I believe it's common practice for cider makers to backsweeten by pasteurizing carbonated bottles in very hot water. This would greatly increase the internal pressure well above what it would be by just conditioning in a hot room. I know they are very careful of exploding bottles when doing this, but I haven't heard of too many cases of that happening.

The gas dissolving into solution happens fairly rapidly so I don't think a sudden surge of CO2 production could cause a very high pressure that would burst a bottle. I'm not positive about this part though.
 
peterj said:
It's not that it's harder for CO2 to get into solution at higher temps, it's that less CO2 can be dissolved in a solution that is at a higher temperature than one at a lower temperature given a constant pressure. The CO2 will actually dissolve into solution faster at higher temperatures, but less of it will be able to.

But since the bottle is a closed system it builds up pressure which increases the solubility of CO2. So a fully carbonated bottle at room temperature will have virtually the same amount of CO2 dissolved in the beer as a fully carbonated bottle at fridge temperature. But the bottle at room temp will have a higher internal pressure which makes it possible to have that much CO2 in solution at that temperature.

...
Click to expand...

@peterj has it right.

I did some extrapolation (not totally kosher, but should be close enough for illustration) to higher temperatures based on the standard CO2 volumes as a function of temperature and pressure chart to see what kind of pressures you would have for 3.0 volumes in the 75°- 80°F temp range. The results:
Code: 
°F       psi
--      ----
30	11.8
35	14.8
40	17.9
45	20.8
50	23.8
55	27.5
60	30.8
65	34.3
70	38.0
75	41.7
80	45.6
85	49.6
90	53.7
So, pressures in the 40 - 45 psi range. My guess is a weak bottle.

I always store my bottles in closed plastic tubs. That way if any do explode, the collateral damage, and clean up, are minimal. So far I've been lucky, and haven't had any bumps in the night.

Brew on :mug:
 
doug293cz said:
@peterj has it right.

I did some extrapolation (not totally kosher, but should be close enough for illustration) to higher temperatures based on the standard CO2 volumes as a function of temperature and pressure chart to see what kind of pressures you would have for 3.0 volumes in the 75°- 80°F temp range. The results:
Code: 
°F       psi
--      ----
30	11.8
35	14.8
40	17.9
45	20.8
50	23.8
55	27.5
60	30.8
65	34.3
70	38.0
75	41.7
80	45.6
85	49.6
90	53.7
So, pressures in the 40 - 45 psi range. My guess is a weak bottle.

I always store my bottles in closed plastic tubs. That way if any do explode, the collateral damage, and clean up, are minimal. So far I've been lucky, and haven't had any bumps in the night.

Brew on :mug:
Click to expand...

Wow, nice chart.
 
Just an update for those interested. Got home from work, opened a beer and it seemed to be fully carbed. Longer than usual sound of gas escaping when I opened the bottle. Immediate head forming in bottle neck, would have overflowed if I didn't pour into a glass. Once in the glass the nice thick head lasted throughout the entire 20 minutes I spent drinking it. Bubbles constantly coming up through the beer.

Opened two more and they were both flat. I racked on top of the sugar in the bottling bucket so it should have been evenly distributed.

I took the beers out of the fridge and placed them in a 70 degree environment again to finish carbing.
 
I'd be very careful as some have mentioned. I had around 50 bottles go off over a 20-30 min period like grenades in my brother in law's garage once.

Rewind to about a week after bottling 10 gals of beer (we split the batches), and they were perfectly carbed (borderline over carbed). Of the batch I took to my house, i had one bottle blow up in the closet where I was storing them, and thought it was a fluke. I refrigerated the rest before the 2 week in the bottle mark, and salvaged them, but had gushers by 3 weeks until they were gone.

Now, my bro in law, after I warned him that these were gushers and had advised him to refrigerate immediately, apparently left them in his garage in the Texas heat for nearly 2 months... On our next brew day, we ever so slightly nudged the box they were stored in, and about 2 mins later set off a frightening experience. Shards were stuck in the ceiling, shot clear across the street...it was bad.

We more than likely severely over carbed before we took proper calculations (this was early in our brewing days), rather than an infection. However, if you've had one go off, and gushers for others, I'd be very cautious about continuing to warm them up. I'd refrigerate at the very least, and keep covered in the fridge. I'd rather have some carbed and some not fully carbed beer than a bottle explode in my hand or face.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'm with BrewinBromanite. If you have some bottles that are flat after 1 week of 75-80 degree conditioning, then something has gone wrong. With such variation between bottles of the same batch, the only logical answer I can come up with is that the priming sugar was not well mixed.

If those were my bottles, I'd have them in the fridge. As BrewinBromanite said, it is much better to have a couple of undercarbed beers than potential bottle bombs.
 
After the updated over/under carbed discovery, I would definitely agree its most likely the priming sugar not mixing uniformly. You have no way of knowing which bottles are flat and which are potential bombs so I would either chill or dump them.

Either way, be careful!
 
andy6026 said:
I racked on top of the sugar in the bottling bucket so it should have been evenly distributed.
Click to expand...

I'd recommended sanitizing your long brewing spoon and stirring the beer+priming sugar mixture after you have racked it. I always do this since I don't trust the mixture to be uniform just from racking alone.
 
I had a batch not mix well and ever since then i rack beer on priming sugar and gently stir with a spoon along with letting the siphon whirlpool the beer

Edit: Zippox beat me to it
 
I give mine a gentle stir with the autosiphon after racking. No issues so far.

Perhaps it was related to the higher amount of sugar compared with what a 2.5 vol or less beer would need. The priming solution might have been a little thicker than normal, preventing it from mixing quite as well.
 
Welcome

MIMWBB.jpg
 
3 days after placing back into 70 degree environment I have had no more bombs. I'm chalking this up to a flawed bottle.
 
Zippox said:
I'd recommended sanitizing your long brewing spoon and stirring the beer+priming sugar mixture after you have racked it. I always do this since I don't trust the mixture to be uniform just from racking alone.
Click to expand...

yeah, sometimes I'd give a gentle stir with a sanitized spoon, other times I didn't bother. I never seemed to have a problem with unevenly mixed priming sugar but I'm sure it could happen.

My difficulty with that method was that since I was racking from a primary or secondary that often had trub in the bottom, I never new accurately how much beer I was going to bottle until it was already on top of the priming sugar. This led to too many batches that were either under or over-carbed. Racking the beer first and then meausring the priming sugar and putting it on top solved that problem for me - but definitely required stirring.

Now I keg, and my god is it soooo much better.
 
I've found if you can create a large enough height difference between your fermentor and bottling bucket, you can get a really fast siphon going that mixes every very well due to the whirlpool. I usually stick my fermentor (with the lid just barely cracked) on top of a stand which I put on top of my chest freezer. The bottling bucket is on the floor 4 or 5 feet below it.

@commonsense - that's great you havent had any more go off. I suspect a couple of the random bombs I've had were due to imperfections in the bottle. I've re-used some of my bottles 4 or 5 times probably. I wish there were an easy way to keep track of the number of uses. I just try to inspect each bottle when I grab them to start the process. If I see or feel any weird indentations, I chuck it
 
I've been racking on to my sugar, as well as upping temps at the end of fermentation and replaced every last bit of my bottling equipment other than the bucket itself (spigot, tubing, siphon, filler) and I haven't had any gushers in the last few batches.

I did have a couple of flat bottles of an English mild that probably had 75% as much carbonation as they should have, but they were also a little young (opened on at 1 week and 1 at 10 days). A 3rd bottle was properly carbed at 2 weeks. Might be some uneven mixing, might have just needed the few extra days.

Otherwise my carbonation levels have been much better. Been using a calculator as well and more accurately measuring volume residual in the carboy when calculating priming sugar.

One thing I did find with a few overcarbed batches is that you can go around and jimmy the caps if you have a flat and wide bottle opener (so the caps don't become distorted). Let off a little pressure, wait for the beer to start foaming up the neck of the bottle, release. Wait 10 minutes and repeat. I've managed to turn overcarbed batchs in to acceptable carbonation this way.

Granted I probably spent 2-3 days with 5-6 "jimmy all the caps" rounds each day, but it was better then instant volcanos. I've had exactly one true bottle bomb (the last overcarbed batch), but early on my very first batch I ever brewed had 3 bottles "let go" where all that happened is that the bottom fell off the bottle sitting on the shelf. Probably weak bottles (used bottles from my LHBS). A lot of my winter beer batch was overcarbed, I think from the yeast going dormant in the frementers sitting on my concrete slab at only 60-62F after fermenting.

Using fermentation chambers to hold them (64F in the winter in the chamber with no heat/cooling applied) and using active heating/cooling to maintain primary fermentation temp range I desire and then warming them to 68-70F for 2 days after krausen has dropped off and CO2 bubbling has slowed down and my last half a dozen batches have turned out perfect.

Still unsure how much was unfinished carbonation and how much was an infection (I suspect that the batch with the bomb might have been an infection, most of the other overcarbing I think was unfinished fermentation despite steady gravity readings).
 

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