Exploding Growlers

[atbrown]

I awoke to the sound of glass breaking so I loaded my gun and went looking for trouble and all I found was this. I don't know which would've been worse. There used to be three growlers of leftover homebrew I took to a friend's house awhile back and I forgot about them. Notice the bottom of a third growler sitting at the right. This is the culprit that exploded, sending hundreds of pieces of glass throughout my basement, and shattering the top off the growler in the middle. The one at left is foaming because I just let out the pressure in fear of another bottle bomb. I'm assuming this is partially due to the fact that I bottled them cold and the house is a bit warmer than usual now that the heat is on, so it expanded. But I'm sure the main reason is that it continued to ferment in the growler....even though the beer was a few months old at that point. Lesson learned! The biggest piece I've found, with the handle still in tact, weighed 0.46 lbs and was thrown over 15 feet away from the site. I'm glad I wasn't around when this happened. Damn!

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[terrapinj]

did you carbonate in the growlers or fill from a keg?

 

[edmanster]

But I'm sure the main reason is that it continued to ferment in the growler....even though the beer was a few months old at that point. Lesson learned!

Could you have picked up a little infection causing them to ferment further? You bottled them cold but at a few months old... Did you just fill them off a tap or a bottle filler gun/counter pressure filler?

 

[Slipgate]

Growlers are not usually pressure vessels. I would not trust them under pressure.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Consider it a learning experience.

Growlers are not rated for beer carbonation pressures

 

[atbrown]

I wasn't at all using the growlers as a fermenter nor was I relying on them to hold any pressure at all. I just filled up the growlers from the kegs while cold to take to a friend's house and when I returned I forgot to put them in the fridge and they just sat in the basement. I think there was just residual sugar from not hitting my FG (even though I was at the FG I was trying for) and the warmer temperature must've awakened the yeast.

I'm curious as to whether a growler from the local microbrewery could've acted the same way. Although in that case, they are professionals and probably don't leave any extra fermentable sugars in the beer on accident. Oops.