Safely defusing bottle bombs

OK, so this was a batch of quick cider that I fermented down only to about 1.030, bottled and then bottle pasteurized several hours later, to have a sparkling sweet cider. I must not have hit the right temperature or held it long enough, because I just had a really major bottle bomb.

I noticed that the bottle was missing some of its contents (it was a couple inches low), so I pulled it out and put it on a counter, planning to dump it. I guess the contents got disturbed by being moved, and released gas, because a couple minutes later, while I was in the next room, I heard a deafening explosion.

It smashed a mason jar a few feet away, and a double-glazed window about 10 feet away. Glass was embedded in all four walls of the room, including hardboard cabinet faces. If anyone had been in the room, let alone holding the bottle, it would have been an ER visit, at least.

So... my question is, what's the best way to move the remaining bottles outside and at least open them and recap? I'd be fine dumping the batch, actually, since I'm not in love with it anyway. I'm afraid if any of the other bottles are close to blowing, the disturbance of picking up the bottles might be enough to set them off.

Any ideas? Safety goggles and long gloves, obviously, but this was a pretty major bomb... I really want to minimize the chances of another one, especially while I'm holding the bottle.

Cold, very cold. Are you below freezing at night? The colder the solution the more CO2 will dissolve into it and stay there.

Here ya go: I think you can rent this at Home Depot.

Get a floor mat or something flexible that you can use as a shield.

Grab an opener with your shield and open them under there.

Or

Put a tiny hole in your shield and use something super sharp to puncture the cap, then you can take it off safely.

I haven't brewed up a cider yet, but doesn't it take a long time for cider to ferment? My guess would be you didn't kill the yeast and they continued to ferment in the bottle? I could see how that would cause a very dangerous bottle bomb.

evolcoms said:

I haven't brewed up a cider yet, but doesn't it take a long time for cider to ferment? My guess would be you didn't kill the yeast and they continued to ferment in the bottle? I could see how that would cause a very dangerous bottle bomb.

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One kind of needs to have a deep understanding of what you are making under the conditions you are exposing it to. Not one shoe fits all. When I was younger and hitting the bars I'd use 'pantyhose' instead of 'shoe' but now I've mellowed as has this Maniacal Mystic Screech I'm enjoying.

I grew up making soda, root beer actually, where 5 gal of water, 5 # of cane sugar with a packet or two, or a cake of yeast was tossed in and then bottled. Seldom was there a problem other than over carbonated root beer upon opening which with chilling was minimized. I still do a very similar application only with plastic now. I have root beer and cream soda all ready to go from this summer. Yes, it is fizzy but nothing blown up.

I use a technique of old for my cider, sort of an old world master's thing, at least maybe a 1920's woodshed art, and I've never had a blow out. Well, maybe once but it could have been a freeze too, not sure. Most likely a freeze, everything considered, not that I'd go freezing cider, no way. Only a gallon was lost at the time and that was destined for cooking not drinking anyway. Seriously. BBQ sauce. OK don't believe it.

evolcoms said:

I haven't brewed up a cider yet, but doesn't it take a long time for cider to ferment? My guess would be you didn't kill the yeast and they continued to ferment in the bottle? I could see how that would cause a very dangerous bottle bomb.

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Yeah, the idea with bottle pasteurizing a sweet sparkling cider is that you immerse the bottles in nearly boiling water for about 10 minutes to get the internal temp in the bottle up to 140, killing the yeast. I've done it successfully with several batches, but apparently on this one I screwed something up. Maybe adding too many bottles to the water bath at once, so I lowered the temp too much.

The really odd thing is that I've had several other bottles from the same batch, and they weren't even excessively carbonated -- no gushers. Somehow this one had super yeast.

Thanks for posting. I recently bought 5 gallons of

and it's not from concentrate. I'm going to research ciders a little bit more. I would really hate to have a bottle bomb.

ong said:

The really odd thing is that I've had several other bottles from the same batch, and they weren't even excessively carbonated -- no gushers. Somehow this one had super yeast.

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Maybe this was a bottle that was bottled towards the end of your bottling that ended up with some extra yeast in it. Bottling at that SG is risky depending on the yeast and storage temp. I'm all about bottle conditioning though but normally do it under 1.02 with some durable bottles and cool temps.

I would gt them cold, very cold. Then with your safety stuff on, in the sink open them. As soon as the cap is opened, the risk of explosion should be gone. Gushers maybe, but the bottle shouldn't pop. One thought too since all your bottles didn't do it, is maybe the bottle itself had a micro crack in it and your setting on the counter might have weakened it enough to lead to the pop!

+1 to cold. Contracted gasses = less pressure. open slowly as well. the faster the gas is released the faster gas can escape from the liquid.