CBC-1 yeast and bottle bombs?

[ong]

So, I’ve had a big fruit barleywine in secondary for 8 months. It was fermented with WLP-099, since it was around 1.12 OG. Fruit (10 lbs of blackberries) was added long ago in primary, so it’s been a long time since any fermentables were added.

I bottled two days ago, Monday night. Before bottling I added 6 oz of lactose dissolved in boiling water water, and a packet of CBC-1 yeast, since it’s been so long. The batch went into 48 12 oz bottles, each sanitized with StarSan and dosed with a single Mangrove Jack carbonation drop.

One of my bottles just exploded. I’m pretty sure it’s unrelated to the lactose, and the beer was bone dry before bottling, so I’m not sure what to make of that. This is a beer I’ve been planning on cellaring for years, so I’m a little apprehensive now.

Any thoughts? I suppose it could have been a flawed or cracked bottle.

 

[specharka]

Did you sterilize the blackberries first? Because many Brettanomyces species, such as those found on the skins of fruit, will digest lactose. Otherwise just uncap another one and pray you don’t get a gusher.

 

[Miraculix]

Wrap it in a towel first and wear safety goggles!

And gloves!

You cannot be careful enough with potential bottle bombs!!!

 

[deadwolfbones]

Exploding after two days sounds more like a flawed bottle than anything else.

 

[ong]

Yeah, I am wondering if I have some wild yeast or bugs that digest lactose. (There is a fair bit of sourness, so maybe lactobacillus?) I did open another one, and while it was not a gusher, it seemed pretty carbonated for only two days in the bottle. I’m thinking I may want to bottle pasteurize this whole batch today, which is not my favorite thing in the world. But it’s been awhile since I got any major burns, so it seems about time.