Bottle Bomb

[3 Dawg Night]

I had my first (and hopefully last) bottle bomb tonight. It was my second batch, a 1 gal AG cream ale. Three weeks in primary and three weeks in the bottle before putting in the fridge. After 48 hours in the fridge, I opened the first last night. It was way overcarbonated; it immediately began to overflow the bottle. I went to get my second after mowing the grass today, and found a broken bottle. Fortunately, my fridge has spill-proof shelves (i.e., bottom and side all one piece), so the mess was contained to a single shelf. I was able to get it cleaned up pretty quickly and easily. After cleanup, I opened another bottle, and it had almost no carbonation.

I suspect uneven mixture of the priming sugar into the beer before bottling. I poured my cooled priming sugar/water into my bottling bucket, and then I racked the beer on top, but I suppose that wasn't sufficient mixing. I will be giving my sugar/beer mixture a gentle stir before bottling from now on.

 

[Stormcrow]

I had my first (and hopefully last) bottle bomb tonight. It was my second batch, a 1 gal AG cream ale. Three weeks in primary and three weeks in the bottle before putting in the fridge. After 48 hours in the fridge, I opened the first last night. It was way overcarbonated; it immediately began to overflow the bottle. I went to get my second after mowing the grass today, and found a broken bottle. Fortunately, my fridge has spill-proof shelves (i.e., bottom and side all one piece), so the mess was contained to a single shelf. I was able to get it cleaned up pretty quickly and easily. After cleanup, I opened another bottle, and it had almost no carbonation.

I suspect uneven mixture of the priming sugar into the beer before bottling. I poured my cooled priming sugar/water into my bottling bucket, and then I racked the beer on top, but I suppose that wasn't sufficient mixing. I will be giving my sugar/beer mixture a gentle stir before bottling from now on.

Yeah, I usually do what you did, but I had a batch where it didn't mix well. I had several flat, a few right on, and several that had been overcarbed. On my swing tops though, they just kinda blew the rubber gasket and went flat. I only had one break, and it just split the glass neatly near the cap. I've also decided to gently stir from now on.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I only had one break, and it just split the glass neatly near the cap.

Yeah, the fracture mechanics were kind of interesting. I don't know if I was expecting a literal bomb with glass shrapnel, but it made a pretty neat break around the bottom of the bottle. Most of the bottle was still intact.

 

[Islandboy85]

I lost 9 bottles. They fragged glass from the spare bed room, down the hallway, and into the living room of our old apartment. There was still bits of glass I found when we moved out. Lucky for me I have bought a wed dry vac that week. I switched to kegs after that. WAAAAAYYYY easier. Want to take a smaller amount of beer to a friends home? Get a growler. Hope you have better luck.

 

[hout17]

I had one blow a few years ago (that's when I learned to gently stir. I try and make sure my bottles are always boxed when carbing. Even though my bottle bomb was mostly contained the bottle exploded and I still had some glass shards around the area of the box.

 

[ncbrewer]

I bottled without stirring the bottling bucket for about a year. Never had any problems, but just for the sake of safety I started stirring - very gently. Since yours were very different carb levels, I wonder if you got the mixing you should from racking onto the priming sugar. You should lay the tube onto the bottom of the bucket, around the perimeter, so the beer enters horizontally on a tangent. From my experience, the stirring from racking should do 98% of the mixing, and stirring the last 2%.