# Bottle Bombs



## hazz20 (2/12/08)

Hey all, had a bottle explode the other day after brewing out to about 1004 from 1040, k and k lager, saflager s-23. Thing is it had been conditioning for about 2 months, then in the fridge for 3 months before I took it out as we were moving the fridge. Within a few hours it had exploded all over the place. I can only assume it was because it went from a cold fridge to a warm garage. Any ideas? I've put them back in the fridge so I'm hoping no more go off.


Hazz


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## flattop (2/12/08)

Glass has a natural shelf life as well as the brewing influences, you could have been unlucky and the temp differences would have made it worse..


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## raven19 (2/12/08)

A rise in temperature would result in some of the CO2 in solution being pushed into the air gap in your bottle. If it was highly carbed before the temp increase, the increase could've been enough to push it over the edge to blow up.
I would hope placing back in fridge will calm them down.
It may have just been a dud bottle too.... or a bit of gunk in that bottle caused the issue...
Have you tried opening one bottle when cold and one when warm to see the difference in gas build up?
My 2c.


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## Fermented (2/12/08)

I would hazard a guess at a dud bottle; either manufacturing defect or other non-visible stress in the glass or a thin spot.

If all of the bottles were treated the same and only one went pop, then it's reasonable to assume there was an anomaly only in one.

Cheers - Fermented.


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## EK (2/12/08)

Fermented said:


> If all of the bottles were treated the same and only one went pop, then it's reasonable to assume there was an anomaly only in one.



Or possibly that one bottle was overcarbonated?

hazz: How did you carbonate? Sugar, dex or some other powdered/granulated means? Did you use carbonation drops?

:icon_cheers: 
EK


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## hazz20 (2/12/08)

raven19 said:


> Have you tried opening one bottle when cold and one when warm to see the difference in gas build up?
> My 2c.



Haven't tried but shall do.

Used coopers carbo drops, actually had another one pop 12 hours later too, but that's only two out of almost 60.

Hazz


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## EK (2/12/08)

hazz20 said:


> Haven't tried but shall do.
> 
> Used coopers carbo drops, actually had another one pop 12 hours later too, but that's only two out of almost 60.
> 
> Hazz



Unless you added more than one drop per 330/375ml or two per 700ml then that shouldn't be the source of the problem.

At 1004 that shouldn't be the problem either.

The only thing that I could think of as possible some sort of bacterial infection-like thing.

:icon_cheers: 
EK


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## flattop (2/12/08)

Unless your hydrometer is dodgy.... it should have fermented out.
No chance the yeast cake got swirled up and a couple of bottles copped too much sludge?
2 bottles blown rules out glass defect and points to too much carb or yeast or infection i suppose.


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## Jase71 (2/12/08)

So as a rule, if a bottle bomb is going to be witnessed, how long after bottling can it be considered safe, and unlikely to any longer be a threat ? I ask this because my laundry is rapidly filling up with crates, and I would like to move some of the batches after perhaps 2 months from bottling - into a carpeted spare bedroom. I would be very f**ing pissed off if even a single bottle spewed forth its beery goodness in there, that's for sure.


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## Fermented (3/12/08)

Jase71: Maybe you could just put some pallet wrap / glad wrap around them until it's drinking time? It would hold in the spills _if_ it happens.

The way I got around it was to get those giant plastic storage boxes with lids and wheels. First full glass bottling made me mega-paranoid as it was the time of the thread with all the shards of glass in the wall, ceiling, etc. Each box holds about 35 x 330 ml (Squire style bottles), will keep the mess in if I get a bomb and the rather thick polypropylene they're made from has reasonable ballistic resistance so increases the safety factor a little. There are bigger ones for longies, but I'm short on space. Just my $0.02.

Cheers - Fermented.


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## petesbrew (23/11/09)

Just witnessed a bottle bomb going off. 
I was in the garage, cleaning up, and thought, I'll sort out my beer cupboard. Rearranged everything and grouped them all together per batch.
An hour later, I've just finished adding a new temperature gauge to my mash tun, and thought, I'll throw one of my dubbels in the fridge. Pulled one out of the cupboard, then went about rearranging my stacked bar fridge to fit it in.

30 seconds later.... BOOM!!!
I swear for one bottle. it sounded horrible - like a full crate of beer falling off a shelf and the sound of a wave of belgian dubbel washing all over the shelf, settling into foam.
30 seconds earlier, I would've copped that blast in my face. Thankyou, God.
Spent the next hour transferring the remainder of the batch into the esky and sealing the top

Will open the remainder carefully.

Here's some piccies of the carnage (from the bottom shelf).


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## komodo (23/11/09)

Ouch. Thats a little close for comfort. Its threads like these that reminde me why I dont bottle


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## rackemup (24/11/09)

Faaark, thats heavy doc...
good to hear you were not injured


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## petesbrew (24/11/09)

Thought I'd bump this post again for the morning crew of last night's explosion.
Two thoughts of why it blew up.
1. Had a couple of gushers - most likely cause. I'll blame my lazy bottle washing method.
2. Old bottles don't like being moved around and rearranged? Maybe putting them down a bit hard.


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## Jonez (24/11/09)

I had two bombs on the weekend. Found the two broken bottles among the others. Bottom came off in one of them. The other broke the body of the bottle. I have never witnessed any but all the explosions I have had ( 3 in total in over a year) seem to be mild. Not a lot of glass scattered, not chain reaction. I even think I was home when it happened (judging by the freshness of the beer spilt) but did not hear the explosion.


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## barneyb (24/11/09)

Eep, this thread is a worry seeing as I'm bulk priming for the first time this weekend - hope I do it right!

Doubly concerning seeing as I store my beer bottles in the garage, looks like Ill have to put some shielding in those milk crates.


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## petesbrew (24/11/09)

barneyb said:


> Eep, this thread is a worry seeing as I'm bulk priming for the first time this weekend - hope I do it right!
> 
> Doubly concerning seeing as I store my beer bottles in the garage, looks like Ill have to put some shielding in those milk crates.


I usually put an old drop sheet on top. Anything to save a blast.


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## Rod (24/11/09)

barneyb said:


> Eep, this thread is a worry seeing as I'm bulk priming for the first time this weekend - hope I do it right!
> 
> Doubly concerning seeing as I store my beer bottles in the garage, looks like Ill have to put some shielding in those milk crates.




Bulk priming is the way to go 

minimizes the chance of bottle bombs due to varying priming sugar additions


Remember to be careful how much sugar you add

recommended additions

Final SG

1006-1008 180 grams sugar
1008-1010 160 grams sugar
1010-1014 140 grams sugar
1014-1018 120 grams sugar
1019-1025 100 grams sugar

Sometimes you may get bottle bombs with freshly bottled brew when the 
temperatures are like they were this week around 40C in the garage.
They can carbonate quicker


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## bum (24/11/09)

Jeez. Tread carefully with the rest, Pete. Good luck.


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## HoppingMad (24/11/09)

Had one go boom 3 weeks ago. 

Coincided with a sudden rise in temperature in Melbourne on a really hot day so will agree with Raven's early assessment on post 3. Would agree that this happened with me and that sudden heat was a cause.

Another factor with my explosion was that the bottle was a VB twist top long neck that had seen some reuse. 
Don't seem to have these issues with the heavier glass like Coopers Tallies. I guess bottles that come from bottle conditioned beers - like coopers, belgians and the like tend to be packed in thicker glass and able to cope with a bit more pressure. I guess CUB and the like put the words 'Not for refill' on the side for a reason. Not that that's going to stop me!

Something to consider.

Hopper.


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## petesbrew (24/11/09)

bum said:


> Jeez. Tread carefully with the rest, Pete. Good luck.


Cheers Bum, I'll open them with PPE. B) 
It all paves the way towards kegging too.


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## DanFranko (24/11/09)

I had a similar scary experience a couple of months back - lager with dry enzyme (never again) and was the last batch where i primed each bottle rather than bulk priming...

Was messing around in the fridge when a half dozen bottles fell off a shelf - got a bit shaken up but all looked ok. Put them back in and went to watch tv. About an hour later there was a loud explosion and when i opened the fridge there was the 'typical' mess of a bottle bomb.

Took the others out of the fridge and put them on the floor - shut the door and went to get a bottle opener - just as i opened the door another burst! Thankfully only my ankles copped some shrapnel, but it could have been so much worse. The next 30 mins was dedicated to making a 'blast shield' so i could open the other bottles somewhat safely.

Valuable lesson at the end of the day and due to my own stupidity + non-swingtop Grolsch bottles are thin + likely overprimed...i also suspect i bottled too early as the dry enzyme was still doing its job.

Dan

:icon_cheers:


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## Beer Magician (24/11/09)

I'm petrified of bottle bombs, especially because I have a house full of young children. I only use Coopers longnecks for bottling, so far so good. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever had problems with Coopers bottles? Some of the other brands seem to use thin bottles in comparison.


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## murrayr (24/11/09)

cooper's bottles are awesome, i've had a few of the other styles of longneck explode on my but never a coopers bottle. that is in my meagre year and a half of brewing experience though


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## Yob (24/11/09)

HoppingMad said:


> Had one go boom 3 weeks ago.
> 
> Coincided with a sudden rise in temperature in Melbourne on a really hot day so will agree with Raven's early assessment on post 3. Would agree that this happened with me and that sudden heat was a cause.
> 
> ...


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## petesbrew (25/11/09)

I'm pretty sure the one that blew the other night was one of those generic german 500ml bottles.
A couple of years ago I found a twist top stubby with no arse, but the blow up I had last Jan/Feb took out 4 bottles so can't recall what went (I'll say they were twist top tallies)


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## alboot (25/11/09)

It is interesting to hear about all the bottle bombs as I have lost at least 10 of my Golden Harvest brew in the past week. I emptied the rest out this morning and they were hard to hold when undoing the top, they would have gone in the next day or two. I did everything I have done for the past five years and this is the first "explosive" batch I've had. I am conscious of cleanliness and I checked the 1006 reading before bottling, so I am guessing it was just a bad brew.
Next job is to clear the shed so I can clean up all the glass before the grandkids get in there.
They certainly go off with a bang and send glass everywhere. I will be covering the next lot with a tapr.


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## HoppingMad (25/11/09)

I remember seeing a bottle bomb thread last year where someone took a photo of the result. They had a closeup photo of a chunk of glass buried about a centimetre into a plasterboard ceiling. Now that's scary. You'd want to hide when those bad boys start going off h34r: 

Hopper.


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## sirotilc (14/12/09)

I think I'm about to get some bottle bomb problems myself. Bulk-primed a 21 L batch of cherry witbier with 150 grams of white sugar last night, checked one of the PETs half an hour ago and it was rock solid already. I'm not sure whether I should have left it in the secondary with the fruit for a longer (was in there a week, but SG was stable at 1010 for 4 days), or whether the PET just primed quickly because of the heat and yeast (T-58). I've double-boxed all the glass and put them into the bath-tub and covered the bath-tub with a thick blanket - hopefully they just carbonated quickly!


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## Jonez (15/12/09)

I over-primed one of my batches and had two bombs(which I never witnessed) that didnt leave any evidence of being violent explosions. I have now drank most of that batch and only have about 4 or 5 long necks left(old bottles- thick and strong) 



Now this is weird: When I opened one of these to degas before refrigerating for drinking, a bit a gas scaped but nothing serious. After refrigerated opened again and got the usual burst. Drank half of it put the cap back with my hand and back to the fridge. Next day tried to open it again and the cap took off almost hitting my forehead. (Smoking gun kind of thing)

What I find unusual is that this didnt happen at room temp (warmer than fridge for sure- specially this week) and with full bottle. I expected that, by having emptied half the bottle, there would be more space for the gas and therefore less pressure build up. I also expected that by having it refrigerated the liquid would absorb more CO2 and therefore less pressure as well. I was wrong.... I repeated the experiment with a secong long neck and got the same result.

I believe I know the explanation for this, but would like to know of similar experiences.


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## petesbrew (13/1/10)

You haven't lived until one goes off right next to you.
That just happened. I was labelling the batch too!

I was just sticking on the 2nd last label, when an almighty bang went off on the floor next to me. I've got SWMBO's old yoga mat wrapped around the crate just in case. This directed the blast upwards and I felt stuff (air, glass, Belgian Blonde vapour) rush past my face. ****, I shouted "argh!" in shock. It was some scary shit... obviously scarier than November's Chernobyl in the cupboard.

Went out to tell SWMBO what happened, came back in and saw 10 labelled bottles sitting on the counter. Jeez, that was like seeing 10 live grenades. Grabbed the nearest dropsheet and quickly lowered them into "Ground Zero". I'm not cleaning up properly until I get my full facemask from work.

Currently chilling out typing this with a Thai whisky on ice (honestly it's quite crap but totally hitting the spot)
Reckon I could just about write a thesis on bottle bombs now.
Latest theory is they don't like heat. Or Belgian's don't like summer?

Now... where else to store my warheads...


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## Fermented (13/1/10)

Scary stuff, but glad to hear you weren't hit.

It's kinda one of the top ten reasons I take a break from brewing for most of January. That, and catching up on drinking what I made while I'm on holidays.  

Cheers - Fermented.


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## petesbrew (13/1/10)

Fermented said:


> Scary stuff, but glad to hear you weren't hit.
> 
> It's kinda one of the top ten reasons I take a break from brewing for most of January. That, and catching up on drinking what I made while I'm on holidays.
> 
> Cheers - Fermented.


One last and very important theory, both November's and tonights explosions were with the same yeast - WLP550 Belgian Ale. I'll blame my yeast management, not the yeast strain.
And I think I'll retire it from service.


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## fraser_john (14/1/10)

My brother in law works for the recycling part of Geelong City Council, he reckons that there is a major difference between bottle glass and the kind of glass used for vases, glasses etc. When people put broken glasses etc in their recycle bin, it ends up causing weaknesses in the bottles made from this recycled glass.

Anyway, I don't know squat about that, but it would not surprise me.

When I bottle I use champagne bottles, extra tough and free at your local garbage dump or nearby restaurant dumpster.


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## petesbrew (14/1/10)

fraser_john said:


> My brother in law works for the recycling part of Geelong City Council, he reckons that there is a major difference between bottle glass and the kind of glass used for vases, glasses etc. When people put broken glasses etc in their recycle bin, it ends up causing weaknesses in the bottles made from this recycled glass.
> 
> Anyway, I don't know squat about that, but it would not surprise me.
> 
> When I bottle I use champagne bottles, extra tough and free at your local garbage dump or nearby restaurant dumpster.


Yep, I've heard that too. The one that went was a stubby, not sure what type it was, but some of them are very thin these days.
Thankfully half the batch has been bottled in champagne bottles.

I've got my old full face asbestos mask in my bag ready for tonight's cleanup. h34r: 
I can still hear the bang. :blink:


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## Fish13 (26/8/11)

i have had a few blow the bottoms out but nothing serious.Lucky they were in a foam box like the ones chemists get for holding Dry ice in.

Although after i bottle i won't leave them on the kitchen table to carbonate.........

I got them at the moment in my 70L esky holds 35 longnecks and have already had 6. they have been bottled for 8 days now. SHould be better by wednesday but i think i got some of them infected..


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## going down a hill (27/8/11)

You should look into when to bottle your beer by using your hydrometer, how much sugar to carbonate your beer with, your sanitisation and try to slow down with drinking you beer super new beer. All will help with how your beer tastes down the road.


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## yum beer (27/8/11)

fish13 said:


> i have had a few blow the bottoms out but nothing serious.Lucky they were in a foam box like the ones chemists get for holding Dry ice in.
> 
> Although after i bottle i won't leave them on the kitchen table to carbonate.........
> 
> I got them at the moment in my 70L esky holds 35 longnecks and have already had 6. they have been bottled for 8 days now. SHould be better by wednesday but i think i got some of them infected..




Its this sort of behaviour that gives home brew a bad name.
Put your beer away somewhere for a couple of weeks to age, and possibly all to explode.

If your having multiple blow outs then you've fucked something up.

Take a little time, read through the forums, ask questions and learn what your doing before you do it, you may well hurt yourself or worse, someone else, and maybe badly.


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## Charst (27/8/11)

agree with the above posts, exploding glass aint to be taken lightly, but you'd never have joined AHB if you didn't give a sh*t about your beer so id suggest reading a good book like howtobrew and you'll quickly pick up where you are going wrong. 

but regardless of what level your at if your not clean, really clean, your beer will end up shit.


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