Bottle bombs turned fantastic?

[GuamSAR]

Ok, to start with, I'm not sure if this is the right place for this or if it should go in the scientific section. But, here it goes...

So, about 2 1/2 years ago I was really new to brewing. I brewed a Belgian Ale extract kit, from Northern I think. After following the instructions as best a newb can, and bottling for 2 weeks I had good tasting bottle bombs. Every time I popped the cap of a bottle I had a foam geyser, no matter how slowly I opened one. Looking back, I think I bottled too soon and I may have added too much cane sugar in my bottling bucket. So, I put the bottles in a cardboard case and set them in the garage. I then forgot about them.

Fast forward to this week. I found them and thought, what the heck, I'll set them in the frig and see what I have. They are amazingly good. No more bottle bombs. So, here is the question.

What happened to make them settle down?

I figure the aging made them taste so good, but did the aging also make them settle down?

 

[TAK]

Could be. If the seal on the caps was good, but not great, they could slowly leak CO2. At some point, sounds like now, they could hit that spot where they're not over-carbed, but not yet under-carbed.

 

[RM-MN]

First off, you didn't have bottle bombs, you had gushers. Bottle bombs are when the bottles burst, throwing glass fragments all over. Putting your bottles into a container with some kind of cover is a good idea as it can contain the fragments and make cleanup easier.

Gushers happen for a couple reasons. One is overcarbonation. There is so much CO2 pressure that it comes out of solution so fast that the beer gushes out of the bottle. You can avoid that by carefully measuring the amount of beer, then use a calculator to weigh (not measure) the proper amount of sugar. Sometimes you can recover from overcarbonation by loosening the caps and letting the bottles vent, then recapping.

The other reason you get gushers is from suspended material that form a nucleation point for the CO2. This can be hops or yeast. I think this is what you had. Letting them set gave time for everything to settle out. You can see how this can happen by pouring your beer into a glass, then spilling in a little salt or sugar. It will probably instantly foam over.

 

[TAK]

I didn't think about nucleation. I bet RM-MN is right.

And I should have said the same in my post, he's definitely right about these being gushers, not bottle bombs. I've had gushers once in my early days, but never had the displeasure of bottle bombs. Mine were definitely overcarbonation due to a Brett infection, best I can guess. I still actually have some bottles. It's interesting to see how the Brett is changing over time. It's not on strain I'd co culturing, very phenolic, but keeping them and trying one ever 6 months is an excercise in curiosity.

but now back on topic...

Interesting fact: A bottle cap can be pried off either by applying leverage from above, like with a bottle opener, or from below, like with a lighter or something. Gushers opened with bottom leverage don't have the privilege of force being applied to the top of the cap. When a bottle is near explosively carbed, and the cap finds itself suddenly removed without the privilege of any pressure from above, it is no longer a bottle cap, it is a dangerous projectile. It will leave a bruise on your chest.

 

[GuamSAR]

Ahhhh, ok. Gusher is much more accurate in my case. I pray I never have bottle bombs. Nucleation does seem to make sense. I think I also used too much priming sugar. I did not measure it, I just put the whole pack in. I guess anything learned without loosing a limb or killing myself is a good lesson.

 

[kristiismean]

RM-MN nucleation point. lol. Peanut M&M's do that in beer. good party trick.....