The infamous Bottle Bomb

[LaurieGator]

We bottled a batch of cherry stout that had fermented for 14 days in primary and 3 weeks in secondary on the fruit. The FG was 1.014 when we added 5 oz corn sugar in 2 cups of water, siphoned beer onto the mixture and bottled it on 4/19. I just looked in my notes and realized that I did not sanitize the bottling bucket but it was washed out and all of the other equipment was sanitized.

We went out camping for the weekend and turned the AC in the house down to 80F. When we came home on Sunday, one of the bottles had blown. There was a 50 cent piece sized hole (one piece) at the bottom of the bottle neck where the bottle flares out and dried beer on the bathroom floor. We turned down the AC to 73F and I have had no other bottles break.

I was thinking that one week seems a little early for a bottle bomb, especially for a stout. I have 6 other batches in the house that have not exploded yet including another stout. I have put a bottle into the fridge to check to see if I have overcarbonation and the rest of the bottles are still in the case boxes in the bathroom.

From what I have read, it seems like bottle bombs usually affect more than one bottle in a batch and they seem to blow up around the same time.

Could this be a case of a weak bottle? Or should I start getting uber-paranoid about the bottle bomb and re-cap bottles? If the bottle in the fridge ends up being a gusher, I was planning to re-cap...

Thanks... I am hoping this is an isolated case. Or I just have really bad luck with cherry flavored anything...

 

[mbird]

It could be a weak bottle, or there is something else going on. When you add the priming sugar, do you stir it thoroughly into solution with the beer? If there is a concentration of sugar at the bottom of the bottling bucket, the first bottles get overcarbonated while the final bottles filled end up undercarbonated. Let us know what happens when you open the chilled bottle.
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Beer Diary...

 

[ChshreCat]

Could also be one infected bottle, though from what I've read that usually makes them blow later in life.

 

[G_Brew]

i agree with mbird

either bad bottle, or the sugar did not get mixed well in the bottling bucket... I’ve had experiences of overcarbing a few bottles when taking shortcuts and adding sugar to each bottle instead of using a bottling bucket, a few times i've overcarbed to the point where the beer almost empties itself upon opening... i never blew a bottle once...

 

[double_e5]

I would say it is weak bottle. I would put the rest of them in a bomb shelter just to be safe.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I think it's a weak bottle, myself. I'd open one over the sink just to see if it gushes. If they're overcarbonated, they won't slowly fizz out it'll be like a geyser, hence the name 'gusher'.

 

[bull8042]

I vote for the weak bottle too. That just seems way to early to have developed "bottle-bomb" carbonation, even at an elevated temp.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I had a single bottle blow on my first batch. I'm pretty sure it was a bottle I bumped on the counter top. After that any bottles which got bumped I just tossed. That batch definitely wasn't infected.

 

[G_Brew]

HUMMM! FUnny thing.. after i just posted my 2cents on this thread... went back home yesterday to find MY FIRST busted bottle of my brewing life!! one of my cream alese cracked and leaked all over.. 3 days in bottle only!!! i'm also going to assume it's a weak bottle... was one of my 30 year old stuby bottles i bought from an elderly retired brewer

 

[CATFISHER74]

Well did you ever open a bottle?

 

[G_Brew]

ya i've opened a few since, definately not overcarbonated... just a weak bottle! Probably same issue as LaurieGator's