First bottle bomb!

Thought I'd just forgot to fill one when I picked it up lol!

I assumed bottle bombs shot the cap off? Surprised the glass bottom went out before the cap.

the bottom cracking off is the most common way bottles fail.

And I was worried I wasn't getting a good seal on my caps...

they tend to scare the wife when you're gone and she's home, and hears a BOOM!!!! then she goes into the office where you store the beer, and there's glass shards buried in the lamp shade right by her computer, so for the last 3 years you've only been kegging because of that... or so i hear, anyway. wouldn't know anything about it myself

lumpher said:

they tend to scare the wife when you're gone and she's home, and hears a BOOM!!!! then she goes into the office where you store the beer, and there's glass shards buried in the lamp shade right by her computer, so for the last 3 years you've only been kegging because of that... or so i hear, anyway. wouldn't know anything about it myself

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Unfortunately, since the term "lol" is so friggin overused, I can't say that, so I'll just go all old school and say "that made me chuckle to myself". Cheers.

amandabab said:

the bottom cracking off is the most common way bottles fail.

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I wasnt aware of that. Thanks.

whats the best way to avoid bottle bombs?

jstrong said:

whats the best way to avoid bottle bombs?

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do everything correctly.

Kegging!!!

This is what made me say "kegging might be an option..."

I don't keg but I want to. Once I have a basement I will. A 1 bedroom apartment isn't the best for brewing and the fiancé doesn't like the fermenters in the way so I am limited on what I can do. I co have friends that keg and I think it's the way to go. They have even bottled some beer for me and it's nice because there is no sediment at that point and you can adjust the carbonation for the type of beer. Plus it's just cool to have your own beer on tap!!

jstrong said:

whats the best way to avoid bottle bombs?

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Make sure your beer has reached FG and stayed there several days in a row. Then batch prime and stir/swirl lightly to insure a good distribution of priming solution. I think those are the two most common mistakes outside of poor sanitation.

My first batch of bottles are super carbonated, I can't pop a bottle open without it foaming all over the place. But once it settles, it's actually pretty good. I probably didn't let it finish carbonating and used too much priming sugar. I've never had a bottle explode like that though.

chandlerbang1 said:

Make sure your beer has reached FG and stayed there several days in a row. Then batch prime and stir/swirl lightly to insure a good distribution of priming solution. I think those are the two most common mistakes outside of poor sanitation.

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this + sanitation @ bottling including the actual bottles.

chandlerbang1 said:

Make sure your beer has reached FG and stayed there several days in a row. Then batch prime and stir/swirl lightly to insure a good distribution of priming solution. I think those are the two most common mistakes outside of poor sanitation.

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I would add, make sure your beer has finished at a FG that makes sense for your recipe. Sometimes the yeast stops fermenting before all the sugar in the wort has been converted, but when you bottle prime they wake back up. Then they consume not only the priming sugar but the remaining sugar that they didn't consume during primary fermentation, and the result is that your bottles are over carbonated. This happened to me a few months back. A beer I'd made with some roasted malts finished at 1.016, even though previous batches of a similar recipe had always finished around 1.01. I didn't aerate as well as usual, but I also thought the high FG could have been from using a higher percentage of roasted malts. The beer was in primary for a month and FG was steady for a week, so I bottled. It was SO over carbonated! No bottles broke, but they would pour 100% foam. I had to pour them into half-gallon Mason jars to let them calm down before serving. If I ever have a beer finish high like that again, I'll be very conservative with the priming sugar. On the up side, it made me realize that 22 oz bottles can handle a lot more pressure than 3 volumes, not that I want to push it.

lumpher said:

they tend to scare the wife when you're gone and she's home, and hears a BOOM!!!! then she goes into the office where you store the beer, and there's glass shards buried in the lamp shade right by her computer, so for the last 3 years you've only been kegging because of that... or so i hear, anyway. wouldn't know anything about it myself

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The only bottle I've ever had explode was one that I threw in the freezer before forgetting about it and falling asleep. My neighborhood can be sketchy, so of course when I heard the pop I thought someone had gotten shot outside. Probably one of the few times someone has breathed a sigh of relief that it was only a bottle bomb!