Of bottle bombs and raining beer

Yea, my first bottle bomb! What a wonderful thing to have to clean up. The good thing was, the bottom blew out so I didn't end up with beer all over the ceiling. It was a 1l swing top. Very sad that I lost a full litre of tasty brew. Anyway, I'm showered up (I was in the room when it went off!) and I relieved the pressure in all of my bottles.

Or so I thought.

When I bottled this batch, I filled the large 1l bottles last, and ended up with one about 3/4 full. I capped it and went on my merry way. Fast forward to a shelf full of foaming fallout, and this bottle went straight into the fridge. I opened it a few minutes ago, and the swing top went off like a gunshot! Not your ordinary, satisfying, "I'm all carbed up," pop, but a serious bang! Filled the glass with foam no matter how carefully I poured it. Tastes like is should, though it might be a bit too bubbly. I've had a few others from this batch over the last week or so, and all have been fine.

Did the huge headroom in the bottle cause it to carb up like a fat guy at an all you can eat pasta bar? Or maybe it got an extra dose of yeast, being the last of the barrel? My priming sugar was mixed into the whole batch, evenly.

My other question is: is there a good kind of beer shower? That one was not pleasant. SWMBO was not amused but did arrive just in time with fresh towels.

 

How much priming sugar did you use and how much beer was bottled?

 

5 gallons 190g sugar. It's a kit, brew house pilsner.


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Well there's your problem. Any more than 115 grams is asking for trouble. Unless you know for sure it's attenuated very dry, and it's been at room temperature for some time post fermentation.
If you've been at normal temperature for your pilsner 80 grams might have been sufficient.

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Are the rest of the bottles already in the fridge? Or a rubbermaid container with a cover?

 

A good type of beer shower usually consists of a actually shower and for me hopefully a member of the opposite sex.


In the case of your bottle bombs. I've made some mistakes in the past but never had a bottle pop on me. I could think of a few reasons but the yeast would have little to do with it. The yeast only eats the sugars present so the most likely problem is that there is too much sugar. Maybe not enough time fermenting in the bucket before bottling. Or too much priming sugar or unlikely but maybe the sugar didn't disperse equally.



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Too much sugar to begin with, and maybe the bottom of the batch had the largest concentration.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm a little confused seeing as it was a kit and I followed the instructions to the letter. It came with the dextrose in a bag and said to dissolve it all and add to the bottling bucket before siphoning from the carboy.

Anyway, I guess I'll get as much in the fridge and get the rest in containers. I can lower the temp a bit in my brew room to about 60f.


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190 grams is a lot as WQDL said. Also, you may have ended up with less than 5 gal of beer which would have raised the concentration even more.

I would chill and carefully pop open another and if you get similar results get them as cool as you can without freezing.

 

I'm not 100% that it was 190g. I'm going on memory, it might have said the amount on the package as it does on one other kit I bought from that company. I've opened several others that don't seem over carbed. I did get slightly less than the 5 gal kit predicted by maybe as much as two litres.

Is it possible a sudden change in temperature by as much as 5F - 10F may have been a factor? I moved several bottles to a top shelf right near a heat vent only about an hour before the unwanted shower. They have all been moved well away from the vent, and the vent has been closed.

I also wonder how much climate plays when carbing beer. Calgary is at about 3500ft above sea level and the pressure can swing quite rapidly during a chinook weather system.

 

The temp raise may have had an effect. I've noticed that room temp beers are much more carbonated than chilled.

interesting idea about the altitude effect. I'd like to hear one of our scientists weigh in but it only makes sense that if the external pressure is reduced, the carbonation may seem increased. I know that cooking and baking must take altitude into consideration.