Had a bottle blow up last night

[z-bob]

I did not hear it even tho' it was in the next room. Glass did not go flying; it's all in a pile in the laundry room where the bottle was. The beer ran across the room and into the floor drain; I still need to pick up the glass and clean the floor which is starting to stink. (I was at church all morning and been busy with Fathers' Day stuff early afternoon) It was a quart bottle, BTW.

There are 2 more quarts that I need to move the the fridge. I'll wear leather gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection when I move them. But I think they are probably fine. When I bottled the beer, I vaguely recall that I overfilled one bottle. It still had some headspace so I thought it would be fine. The beers that I have opened have not been overcarbed at all. I think the beer expanded into the headspace and drove up the pressure and the bottle failed. The temperature in the utility room has warmed up from 60°F to about 70° this week. I didn't hear it because there was not that much energy stored in the compressed gas because it wasn't much compressed gas.

I'm a little wary of these bottles now, but will keep using them; just be careful to leave ample headspace.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

Bummer man! I hate cleaning up, losing beer, and losing a bottle.
I assume you bottled from a fermenter, and not from a pressurized keg. Since you brought up the issue, did you ramp up the temperature at the end of fermentation? Not doing that, not weighing out priming sugar (or using those carbonation drops) are common problems for bottle bombs. Yes, the lack of headspace is a concern but not if it's more than a 1/2".
You may be sure about your encounter but those are some things to think about.

 

[hotbeer]

A quart size glass bottle? Are you certain it was made to withstand much internal pressure? Even back when Coca-Cola came in a quart size bottle, I remember that as a pretty thick piece of glass. Way thicker than a 12 ounce beer bottle.

Maybe I should look to see what's out there for quart bottles to use for beer, but I figure my comment here will illicit appropriate responses if I need such education.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Glass did not go flying; it's all in a pile in the laundry room where the bottle was.

swing/flip top bottles? Where you able to tell/suspect where the bottle failed?

 

[z-bob]

It was a Tecate brown glass bottle with a standard crown cap. (I buy Tecate beer when I can find it just to get the bottles, although the beer is pretty good for a macro lager) I've used them several times before with no problems. I measure the priming sugar into each bottle individually. The only variable I can think of is the headspace, and I kinda remember that one of them only had about 3/4 inch. If I was smart, I would have marked that cap and opened that bottle first.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I've used them several times before with no problems. I measure the priming sugar into each bottle individually. The only variable I can think of is the headspace

Fortunately, you didn't have flying glass.

---

With my 12 oz bottles, as part of getting ready for bottling, I look for new hair line cracks by holding the bottle up to a light source and slowly rotating the bottle. Every couple of months, I recycle a bottle or two.

 

[Drewch]

If you're reusing bottles from commercial brews and the other bottles aren't over-carbed, it might be down to some unnoticed damage or previous strain on that bottle. Not all bottles are designed with reuse in mind and even a very small chip or crack or weakness could lead to a failure.

 

[doug293cz]

The only variable I can think of is the headspace, and I kinda remember that one of them only had about 3/4 inch.

32 fl oz of beer is only going to expand by 0.03 - 0.035 fl oz when warming from 60°F to 70°F. The ID of the opening on a crown cap bottle is about 0.745", so the headspace volume would be a bit more than (due to neck taper):

𝜋 * (0.745" / 2)^2 * 0.75" = 0.327 in^3 => 0.18 fl oz​

​

No way that thermal expansion on heating caused your headspace to disappear and allow hydraulic pressure to build up and break the bottle. Must have been a flaw in the bottle, or that bottle got infected.

Brew on

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Glass sometimes just fails. I had a bottle's neck snap off clean at the flair when capping one time. I don't think it's anything you did, nor do I think it could have been reasonably prevented.

 

[Drag0nfish27]

I

I did not hear it even tho' it was in the next room. Glass did not go flying; it's all in a pile in the laundry room where the bottle was. The beer ran across the room and into the floor drain; I still need to pick up the glass and clean the floor which is starting to stink. (I was at church all morning and been busy with Fathers' Day stuff early afternoon) It was a quart bottle, BTW.

There are 2 more quarts that I need to move the the fridge. I'll wear leather gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection when I move them. But I think they are probably fine. When I bottled the beer, I vaguely recall that I overfilled one bottle. It still had some headspace so I thought it would be fine. The beers that I have opened have not been overcarbed at all. I think the beer expanded into the headspace and drove up the pressure and the bottle failed. The temperature in the utility room has warmed up from 60°F to about 70° this week. I didn't hear it because there was not that much energy stored in the compressed gas because it wasn't much compressed gas.

I'm a little wary of these bottles now, but will keep using them; just be careful to leave ample headspace.

I always put my bottles in a cardboard box just in case that happens.

 

[thetick]

I did not hear it even tho' it was in the next room. Glass did not go flying; it's all in a pile in the laundry room where the bottle was. The beer ran across the room and into the floor drain; I still need to pick up the glass and clean the floor which is starting to stink. (I was at church all morning and been busy with Fathers' Day stuff early afternoon) It was a quart bottle, BTW.

Sucks to lose a beer, but none of the glass ended up in you!

 

[thetick]

swing/flip top bottles? Where you able to tell/suspect where the bottle failed?

So, tacking on to this thread: Has anyone ever had a bottle bomb with a swing top? I always assumed the rubber gasket would fail before the bottle did.

That said, we had some back-sweetened kombucha that ended up bottle carbing for way too long once. It was in swing tops, but after hearing horror stories I was still so paranoid I wore leather gloves, a heavy work shirt, and a face shield to open them. Turns out they were just geysers, though.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

I

I always put my bottles in a cardboard box just in case that happens.

And unfortunate as it sounds, we shouldn't bottle-condition on the bedside table.

 

[mac_1103]

Has anyone ever had a bottle bomb with a swing top? I always assumed the rubber gasket would fail before the bottle did.

I've never had a bottle bomb period, but I'm not sure this is true. I've read that the bottles are good for up to 4 volumes of CO2 and that the gaskets start to fail at about 70 psi. I think 4 volumes at 68F is only around 50 psi.

 

[thetick]

I've never had a bottle bomb period, but I'm not sure this is true. I've read that the bottles are good for up to 4 volumes of CO2 and that the gaskets start to fail at about 70 psi. I think 4 volumes at 68F is only around 50 psi.

I hadn’t heard that about the bottles. Thanks!

 

[mac_1103]

I hadn’t heard that about the bottles. Thanks!

Well, it's just my memory of stuff that I saw on the internet so it certainly could be wrong. It's also possible that the ratings I've seen for the glass are conservative while the ratings for the gaskets are less so, which would make a certain amount of sense given the very different consequences of each type of failure.

 

[WestMichiganSteelheader]

32 fl oz of beer is only going to expand by 0.03 - 0.035 fl oz when warming from 60°F to 70°F. The ID of the opening on a crown cap bottle is about 0.745", so the headspace volume would be a bit more than (due to neck taper):

𝜋 * (0.745" / 2)^2 * 0.75" = 0.327 in^3 => 0.18 fl oz​

​

No way that thermal expansion on heating caused your headspace to disappear and allow hydraulic pressure to build up and break the bottle. Must have been a flaw in the bottle, or that bottle got infected.

Brew on

My thoughts were along the same line. Bad bottle or a bottle that was contaminated; resulting in additional fermentation, and …………