First bottle bomb...pic

Well, I can't think of a better way to justify my new keg setup than this. This was my 7th batch, a dogfish 60 minute partial mash clone. It spent 2 weeks in primary and 3 in the secondary. Its been bottled for at least two months now. I am pretty sure I picked up an infection somewhere along the way because they have always been over carbonated and gush when opened. I figured the chance of bombs was minimal after this much time though. I put this one in the fridge and it exploded literally 1 minute later, scared the crap out of me! I am extremely lucky because right before I put it in the fridge I was holding it up to a light to check clarity....whew. not sure what to do with the rest.


Edit: also lucky that somehow it didn't destroy the latitude 48 deconstruction bottles around it.

Wooh, lucky it didn't end worse.

Do you have any gravity readings?

might be an infection or you used a little too much priming sugar. I would store them in some kind of large tuperware and proceed with caution..

I would put on a pair of goggles and gloves, and open them all up and drink them today. But that's just me

regulark said:

Wooh, lucky it didn't end worse.

Do you have any gravity readings?

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FG was 1.017.

brew2enjoy said:

FG was 1.017.

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Yeah that might explain the gushers and the bomb

That's a bit high for a FG. What temperature did you mash at? What was the OG? How long did you let it sit before bottling? Also, was it a constant 1.017 over the course of a few days or did you only take one reading?

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

Yeah that might explain the gushers and the bomb

That's a bit high for a FG. What temperature did you mash at? What was the OG? How long did you let it sit before bottling? Also, was it a constant 1.017 over the course of a few days or did you only take one reading?

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I mashed at whatever the instructions said. I think it was between 150-155. OG was 1.063. Sat 6 weeks before bottling. I used wlp002 yeast. Only took one reading but after 6 weeks I figured it was done.

My guess is it just wasn't finished for some reason (73% attenuation).

Handle bottles gently, and place in fridge to cool down. It is safer to handle cold bottles; the beer absorbs more of the CO2, lowering the pressure in the bottle.

When cold, crack cap to release pressure, and re-cap. Take one bottle, and pour half of it into an hydrometer jar, let it go flat and check gravity.

If you don't want to move them, take a bucket and gloves, place each bottle in the bucket, hold the neck and crack open. The bucket will protect you if the glass should break, and also catch the beer as it gushes out.

Cosper123 said:

I would put on a pair of goggles and gloves, and open them all up and drink them today. But that's just me

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That would be a sight. Some dude hammered out of his mind passed out on the floor wearing goggles and gloves!

Yeah man. Gloves and full face shield. Glass slivers suck.

bluemoose said:

Glass slivers suck.

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They also don't show up on x-rays

I've pretty much chalked this one up as a loss. I have had a few in the fridge for a few weeks and tried one again after cleaning up the millions of peices of glass. It has a sour slightly acidic (from over carbonation?) bite. I poured it extremely slow into a huge mug and still got 99% foam and couldnt even get the whole bottle in there without waiting for the foam to fall. Unfortunately I think it might be better to play it safe and dump what's left.

The good news is I will be pulling my first pint from my new keg setup today! Can't think of a better way to get over losing a batch!

I had a batch that blew up due to over-carbonation. Each one I opened spewed foam all over the place, I found foam 20 feet away... What I ended up doing was putting on all sorts of homemade PPE; long-sleeve clothing, lab goggles, hat, scarf over face, gloves, etc. Then I filled up the tub and opened all the bottles under water so they didn't spray and coat the bathroom. If you do open them up underwater, be sure to hold on! My beers were such gushers they turned into rockets underwater, rocketing all over the tub and smashing into the tub walls. It was scary stuff! Be careful!

Sounds like pellet gun fun time

It broke while it was in the fridge? Impressive!

brew2enjoy said:

Edit: also lucky that somehow it didn't destroy the latitude 48 deconstruction bottles around it.

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You wouldn't have lost much. The original one is the only one I really cared for.

brew2enjoy said:

It has a sour slightly acidic (from over carbonation?) bite.

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That is a definite sign of infection. Those wild bugs will continue fermenting the hell out of your beer and give you that kind of wild carbonation. Many cause a sour/acidic or vinegar flavor.