Exploding bottles of beer

[Wick]

So not 10 minutes ago I was playing my guitar when I hear a loud crash. I look over just in time to see beer and glass soaring in the troposphere.

It was my beloved not so bitter IPA that committed seppuku all over the place. It has been bottled for over a month and this is the first one to explode.

My question is:

Could it be bottle contamination?

Sudden influx in temperature? It went from 90 degres here in Boise down to 70 in a couple days.

Over carbonation?


The bottle that exploded was being used as a book stopper on the shelf and after searching my cabinet I use to store my beer there was also another exploded one in there, but from a previous date. My studio isnt the most insulated place. Either too cold or too hot. Any insights?

 

[c.n.budz]

Could be an infection, could be too much or improperly mixed priming sugar. How much priming sugar did you use and how did you add it to the beer? All mixed in the bottling bucket or a little in each individual bottle?

Either way, put on a heavy coat, gloves, and eye protection and move all the bottles into the fridge ASAP.

 

[Makeyermark]

How long did you ferment that IPA?

 

[ifishsum]

Shouldn't have much to do with heat IMO. The most likely causes (as already stated) would be bottling too early, sizable over-priming or infection.

 

[malkore]

OG?
FG at bottling?
Amount of sugar used to carb?

Its more likely that it was bottled prematurely and began to ferment in the bottle. You'd have to double the priming sugar to bust bottles..but bottle 10 points too high and you've got grenades.

I had a batch blow up because I was too impatient to get my stuck fermentation moving forward again. I decided "it must be done"...but it wasn't. Took like 5 weeks before I heard it blasting in my closet. Every bottle i chilled and opened was a foam geyser.

 

[larrybrewer]

Either way, put on a heavy coat, gloves, and eye protection and move all the bottles into the fridge ASAP.

Good thinking on that part!


This is the first I have heard of bottles actually exploding. Don't the caps start to buckle first? As soon as I see that going on, I take care of, but I figured the cap would burst off before the bottle blows. What kind of bottle was it?

 

[Wick]

I used 3/4 cups of corn sugar to bottle 5.5 gallons of beer and it was all in a bottling bucket that i mixed well.
OG was 1.051 fg was 1.010.

I dont think my fermentation was an issue. I had it in my Primary for 9 days and my secondary for 3 weeks.

The more i talk about it to my brew buddies i think it was just an infected bottle since none of my other ones have exploded since then.

 

[malkore]

weird. or could have been a bad bottle. they get stressed over time, especially if using heat santizing methods. corn sugar amount (you should use weight not volume) and FG seem fine.

do any other bottles gush or foam when opened?

 

[david_42]

This is the first I have heard of bottles actually exploding. Don't the caps start to buckle first?

No, the bottles fail first with properly crimped caps. Bottle bombs aren't common, but they do happen.

 

[Wick]

So i havent been the quickest responder to my threads :cross: been busy getting ready for our local organic brew competition.

I think its a combination of a few bad bottled beers and possibly too much priming sugar. Had a few gushers but they tasted fine and a few gushers that were infected.

Think ill be picking up a scale soon.

 

[mrtrav]

Mine was due to bottling before fermentation was done. On top of that it was a spiced ale which provided the yeasties even more sugar to chew on. On top of that we added a wee bit too much sugar at bottling time.

Of the ones that did make it, when opened we would lose about 1/2 the bottle to over foaming.

 

[passedpawn]

Perhaps you accidentally struck the "brown note" on your guitar. That is know to have explosive effects.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Sounds to me like you may have 1/2 ass sanitized a couple of bottles. Happens to the best of us. What is your bottle sani method?

 

[C4PNJ4ZZ]

i had a bottle bomb last week on an IPA. I had 3 bottles left of this IPA which was brewed in February. I went to europe and came home to a sticky floor. I looked around and the bottom of a 22oz had blown straight off. Luckily I keep my aging beers covered with a towel as a precaution. It was very strange that it would have taken 4 months to blow. It was bottled from the wort close to the dregs (I always mark the last few bottles of a batch when I try to squeeze every last drop of beer, IPAs are expensive lol)

the worst part was that it was my favorite brew that I was saving for the beach this summer.