Bottle Bomb Just Exploded While Opening Beer

In retrospect, I'm an idiot. The very last beer that I bottled from my first batch went into a 22oz bottle....I filled less than half the bottle. I just went to open it..and BOOM...the metal cap blew off like like flying shrapnel....hit the ceiling and then the fountain of beer started flowing out of the bottle and all over the kitchen. Thank god I wasn't directly over the beer when I popped the top. I'm guessing the reason why this happened was because there was soooo much room in the bottle for pressure to build up..since it was only about half full. Does that sound right to you guys?

I'm not sure of the reason, but glad you are OK.

Underfilled bottles will always overcarbonate. It's what happens.

Yuri_Rage said:

Underfilled bottles will always overcarbonate. It's what happens.

Click to expand...

I should know this, but I've never underfilled a bottle, I must have known it at one time. Damn, this Trippel is good.

You could have shot your eye out!! Glad your ok...fill those bottles us next time

BearsWickedBrew said:

In retrospect, I'm an idiot. The very last beer that I bottled from my first batch went into a 22oz bottle....I filled less than half the bottle. I just went to open it..and BOOM...the metal cap blew off like like flying shrapnel....hit the ceiling and then the fountain of beer started flowing out of the bottle and all over the kitchen.

Click to expand...

Ever read the side of the bottle and it says, "Warning: Do not point at people while opening"?

Ever think to yourself, "Wow, cocacola is dumb, wtf do they think is going to happen?"

Smile now

fat x nub said:

You could have shot your eye out!! Glad your ok...fill those bottles us next time

Click to expand...

Ya, Seriously..Lesson Learned! Worst part is...the beer was for my SWMBO...she said.."here...open this for me"...thank god she didn't open it. After it went off...boy did I hear it...especially since this was my 1st batch.

Yuri_Rage said:

Underfilled bottles will always overcarbonate. It's what happens.

Click to expand...

The only bottle I've had pop on me (ever) was a half-filled Heineken bottle I capped just to see what would happen. It blew out after a week or two of carbing.

I never underfill.......I always drink the uncarbed leftovers at bottling.

Why do under filled bottles over carbonate? More surface area? It would seem to me it should be the other way because the gas has more room to expand. Weird.

jcarson83 said:

Why do under filled bottles over carbonate? More surface area? It would seem to me it should be the other way because the gas has more room to expand. Weird.

Click to expand...

yeah, surely it is under carbed because the co2 hasn't entered the beer properly. Underfilled bottles act like 1 week old bottles.

I have a few 6 or 8 oz glass soda bottles I got at some point for dealing with that last little bit, without dumping it or drinking it green. Thinking WAY back, I recall Old Vienna (OV) coming in half-sized beer bottles ("splits"?), but I haven't see that in decades (have not really looked, either, so it may still be out there).

If you found a good source of supply, doing a six of those per batch would also be a good way to satisfy your curiosity about what's going on while drinking up less of the batch in "testing", at the cost of a few more caps.

BTW, you really only got the bottle gun by the sound of it. A real bottle bomb is a VERY Bad Thing to be anywhere near when it goes, as it's the bottle shattering from overpressure. Glass shards and beer everywhere.

FWIW, I usually bottle a case of 22's and a case of 12's. I always start with the 22's so I don't have that happen. If I have a half filled 12, I just drink it then. If I had a half filled 22, well that is a completely filled 12

That is some scary ****. I had no idea! I had a half filled begian bottle....the short 11.2 oz kind like Duvel comes in. When I opended it.....it was like a shotgun blast. The cap hit the concrete ceiling which is atleast 5 feet up and left a nice mark. I dont scare easy but I was completly freaked out. If I had been over the top of it I would have been injured in a bad way. Thank god the bottle didnt explode when I was handeling it or what if SWMBO had opened it. I have been brewing for over a year....I had never heard of this. Lesson learned, thankfully with no injuries. No more half or even 3/4 fills EVER.

The other day, I opened a 16 oz bottle that was half-full, and it was over a year old. Nothing out of the ordinary happened when I opened it, just made the distinct "PFFF" sound that all bottles do. The beer was just as carbonated as all the other bottles, and it didn't fizz out at all after opening.

Maybe I just got lucky. I don't understand how more headspace would cause the beer to be over-carbonated, but there seems to be a lot of proof that something like that does happen. I would think that more headspace would give the CO2 more room to collect in, and it wouldn't absorb into the beer as much, leaving it under-carbonated.

Thats what I thought....less carb and faster oxidation but I was not correct. Since yours was older perhaps some of the co2 got absorbed. Mine was only about 4-6 weeks old.

Gotta give last few stray ounces back up to the Beer Gods....

Beer Karma

The more head space, the larger the volume of gas that will escape when opened. the more gas coming out of the bottle, the more force behind the bottle cap. the half a beer is just as carbonated as the full beer, its just got more free co2 in its head to put behind the explosion.

dwoodfield3 said:

The more head space, the larger the volume of gas that will escape when opened. the more gas coming out of the bottle, the more force behind the bottle cap. the half a beer is just as carbonated as the full beer, its just got more free co2 in its head to put behind the explosion.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a reasonable explanation

Yuri_Rage said:

Underfilled bottles will always overcarbonate. It's what happens.

Click to expand...

I've under filled on multiple occasions, and haven't had any issues except for under carbonarion. Im not saying thats its OK to under fill, but I dont think saying it will "always" over carbonate is correct.

On a different note, I met a guy at a beer store with bandages and stitches on one of his hands and wrists one day. Apparently he bought a commercial beer, and it was either over carbonated from the brewery or it got infected and overcarbed as a result, but it ended up exploding in his hands when he went to open it. He was rushed to the hospital and had emergency sugery for a cut artery and several tendons. Bad news can result from overcarbonating.

A half filled bottle will have less liquid for the co2 to dissolve in creating more head pressure. Glad your ok lol