Picture of my stupidity

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Trokair

Trokair

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I had my first infected batch. Didn't find out until after they were bottled and I started to see the bulged caps. 3 cases of bottles sat in my basement for about 6 months. One by one I brought them upstairs to get rid of them. The last one I brought up on Thursday but got distracted several times. Given the age of the beer and the central air in my house I figured I would be fine. Woke up this morning (Monday) to the attached picture. 23 out of 24 and 2 of 6 all went off at the same time spraying my entire ground floor with shards of glass ranging from giant chunks that flew 30 feet to a shower of the smallest slivers of glass. The couch is ruined. The TV has several spots that now show through white because the damage from the glass hitting it.

This was a really terrible way to learn a very basic lesson. If you suspect it is infected, get rid of it quickly. And don't store beer on your couch. Now I get to go continue to clean this up. Had to take the day from work as well to handle this god awful mess.

IMG_20130722_094251_411.jpg
 
The first one went off and started a chain reaction.

I gotta say. This ranks right up there as one of the stupidest things I've seen on here.

No offense... ;)
 
Just be glad no one got hurt. I had a few bombs a year or so ago and it drenched my fermentation closet. Scary situation.

I used this safety concern to convince my wife, and myself to move to kegging. So, it kinda worked out for me.

Sorry to hear about your situation.
 
Wow. As someone who has come to terms with my own idiocy, I can certainly relate. Still, pretty epic.
 
Luckily there are no children or pets to be harmed. Really lucky that I wasn't sitting on the other end of the couch as there was obviously a lot of force behind the glass flying through the air. I'm going to see if I can get my insurance involved. Been at it all day and glass is still coming up from the carpet so that may need to go with the couch and tv.
 
Xpertskir said:
"picture of my stupidity" as a thread title built a lot of expectations to live up to....and I can definitely say that pic delivered.
Click to expand...

This. You don't know how many times I've clicked on a thread with a similar title, only to be disappointed.

Not so this time! This beats krausen-covered closet carpet Hands Down! :D

I bottled some root beer once and kept wondering how the yeast are going to know when to stop making CO2! I should have been smart enough to realize that they AREN'T!

Nope. Had to throw a blanket over top of the tote of soda bottles in the middle of the night (thankfully I kept the batch in a plastic tote!) and carry to the bathtub to start easing the caps off!

Sorry about your couch and tv. If you get the couch soaking in some cleaning solution right away, and dry it quickly, you might be able to salvage it.
 
The sheer volume of beer in the couch makes it pretty unsalvageable. There is also a large amount of powdered glass in the microfiber as well. And lucky me my insurance will only cover the carpet which will probably be less than my deductible. Still, I didn't get hurt so that is a huge win because that could have been really really bad had I been close to it during detonation.
 
Your situation is about right up there with the time I was charging ladles of molten iron in the Ford foundry when a cublo (furnace) down from me exploded like Vesuvious. Molten iron exploding everywhere @ some 2800F,nothing but A-holes & elbows! I felt sorry for the guys with the overhead ladel trucks on that big rail. They were lined up for refills,& that molten iron was splashing on them big time. Good thing they were enclosed.
And it's a good thing you & your family weren't in the room for virtually the same reasons.
 
Well here is an update from the disaster area. #1- Microfiber cleans really easily. I'm shocked how quick I was able to get everything out of the couch so it might not be toast after all. All I really need to do is figure some way to get the beer out of the one really soaked cushion. I'll be taking to the hose later. #2 - In some strange twist nearly all of the glass somehow shattered in a way that it is mostly blunt. There haven't really been any sharp edges to deal with which is a blessing I suppose. #3 - Still missing some bottle caps, I'm sure I'll find them in the next 5 or so years. #4 - I wonder how many gallons of Febreze it will take to get the beer smell out of my house. Not that I mind it so much but it does smell like the day after a massive party in here and when the pizza guy came to the door he gave me a very odd look. He had to have been able to smell it.
 
You'll def need to replace the carpet padding as well. & clean the floor underneith before laying the new stuff down. That'll help quite a bit. The sofa will be a problem though. Any beer that got down into the padding will be tough to get out from more than an inch or so deep. Not sure what to tell you on that one. You might be able to use that to get the insurance to pay for hidden dammages.
 
For the soaked cushion, perhaps a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment?

If it were me, and that didn't work, I might read the label, see what materials it's made of, and perhaps even give it a go in a large washing machine.

If it's ruined if it doesn't work, there isn't much to lose at that point.

Like everyone else, I am especially glad nobody was hurt!
 
Brother, that is an epic mess! Thank goodness no one was hurt. Thank you for being a big enough person to put it out there for all of us to see and hopefully learn from. It takes big brass cohones to take credit for your errors - hats off to you. This minor disaster may just save someone else on here from a major disaster. I would be happy to pay it forward and donate a couple of bucks to your cleanup cause.
 
Dude... as soon as I get home my cases are going in a plastic tote with a tarp over them! That's way crazy! What a headache. My wife would NOT be happy! Cheers for a better tomorrow
 
Ho lee ****! My wife would kill me! And if she didn't she sure wouldn't have me brewing anymore! Glad nobody got hurt!
 
As long as somebody (besides me) learns from this I'm fine with people pointing and laughing. I shouldn't have put it off or at least put them outside on my deck or something, not in the living room. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement as well. Cleanup is still ongoing and I'm sure I'll be finding little bits of glass forever.

As for totes shawnstr71, I had thought that the heavy cardboard box would have contained any bombs but obviously not. I'd go for a locking top if you are that concerned, not sure a tarp would even survive that.
 
Lololol dr. ! This would be true...however I figure I could atleast slow it down and contain the glass shards. I'm just 1 man! Lol. I have to work with what I have.
 
Lolololol union! This could be true. But I figure between the cardboard and tarp I couls slow down the shards! I'm just 1 man! Lol and I have to work with what I have. Trokair...ty for sharing ur pain so we can all learn somin and like I said cheers for a better tomorrow
 
I was just picturing the moment when it happened. reminded me of flak shot out of large cannons on ther ground when bombers come in in those old WWII films. Combat! the beer version...
 
dstranger99 said:
Did you by chance just overcarb them? How much sugar did you use ?.............
Click to expand...

Nah, not over-carbed. I reused the wrong batch of bottles. You could see the gunk floating in the beer once the caps started bulging. Very few of them made it out and it was actually a really good beer but 98% of them were gunked. I believe I used 4.5 oz of sugar on those but I'm not sure of that number. It was an Austin Homebrew kit.
 
That sucks! I had one bottle bomb just the other night (my first). I store beers in my basement where it is a lot cooler than the rest of the house. I had just one that blew up after being bottled 2 weeks ago. Had to be that bottle because I've drank several of beers from that batch and none taste or look funky. I still have 10 bombers and about a dozen other bottles with the same beer in it and no more bombs just yet.

The clean-up for me was relatively easy. I had some beer on the shelf and on the shelf just below. Glass everywhere, but not very hard to clean-up on a concrete floor. I also have a big, farmer's sink just next to the shelf with the beer on it.
 
Two words for ya...."shop vac"

Apply cleaning solution of choice liberally, and suck it up with the shop vac...repeat this process until clean! A powerful shop vac will can do a lot of work, and clean things that your thought were ruined. Microfiber and carpet is typically synthetic material and cleans pretty well! IME don't be afraid to use the cleaning solution / or water liberally and suck it up with the shop vac.

Some grocery stores also rent carpet cleaner machines for cheap...perhaps that will clean the couch as well...good luck!
 
Their was a thread not long ago about who has used a mop on the ceiling, many people have used mops on their ceiling. At least this didn't turn out as bad as the broken carboy story's "I had to go to the ER". Anyway, I've used PBW to get cat pee out of my couch before with great success. I think it would work for beer, just take the cover off first.
 
Soak that couch in water. Hose it right out, then vaccum what you can and get some really good airflow, maybe set up a fan. At this point you have nothing to use. If you can hose it out before the beer dries, you might be able to keep it from smelling too mad when it's all over. If you can dry it well and right away you might not have any mildew or rust to deal with. It may take several days to dry completely. Hopefully the water doesn't ruin any of the fabric or padding.
 
Well after spending hours on it I caved in and called some professionals. 2 guys from Stanley Steamers came over and saved the carpet and couch. Most of the beer poured off of the couch so that foam wasn't very wet or stained at all. The stuff they put down and the steam cleaner made the carpet come back looking and smelling better than when I bought the place. They showed me the couch foaming and I'm 100% it will be reek free. So that was $300 out but the amount of stress that that took away was well worth it. They also sucked up enough glass to fill their industrial catch can after I had already filled my vacuum twice. The only thing I can't fix is the TV which is not damaged enough to replace, just enough to be slightly annoying. I live with that mistake through versus replacing everything.
 
That's a pretty epic failure! Kudos again for standing tall and letting us learn from your mistake!

I guess it's a little late now, but I bet the Sham-Wow would've cleaned that mess up right quick! :-D
 
Man...that is awesome. I mean, sorry for the mess, but man that's an awesome example of bottle bomb danger. Throw that baby on a sticky for the beginners forum, that should scare them all in to being extra careful.

My wife always asks why I bother to keg my beers, then fill bottles from the keg. Now I have the answer in picture form!! Excellent.:mug:
 

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