Bottle bomb stories anyone?

[domonsura]

I have only had one bottle bomb in my whole life.

I bought about 80 grolsch bottles from someone off this forum, I was lucky enough to get about 8 of them full of beer.

I was doing my first brew day and had them all sitting out on the table. Rustyc was helping me out doing the brew as it was my first AG...I'm outside bout ready to do a hop addition when my girlfriend, another mate and Rustyc tell me that there was an explosion in the kitchen. I see beer all over the walls and floor and one broken grolsch bottle. My immediate thoughts were that one fell off the table...but the bottle wasn't shattered just cracked and it was still on the bench with all the other glass...and no-one was actually in the kitchen to drop it or something on it...funny thing was all of the beer in the bottles were well over a year old...maybe the beer got a bit warm being in the kitchen and kick started one of them...

hmmm...only got 79 bottle now

Geez.... good you weren't standing next to that when it went........also glad it didn't go off in the shop after they got dropped off here for you to collect.....I will give the old owner the appropriate amount of stick for it, don't worry about that... <_< ...and tell him he owes you a bottle .

 

[Fermented]

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If I hadn't seen the pics, I would have scarce believed it.

It hasn't happened to me (touch wood), but I've been studiously storing bottles for the transition from PET. After reading all this, my comfort level just dropped a few notches and I will do some more reading before I make the switch. And then cross my fingers.

It happened to my grandfather. It would have been in the late 1930s. Hot, quiet summer night in Strathfield, new car in the garage. They all went off. He had the smarts to just tell Grandma to leave it alone and he would deal with it in the morning. He told me years later that it sounded like machine gun fire.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[daanmuller]

I have had a war zone in my bathroom.

It was 2:30am and I was absolutely hammered. Had a end of financial year dinner with the company and the bar was open. So after closing the bar with a few mates at 2am we headed home. I had just stumbled into bed. Seriously only 10 seconds went by and I hear a boom in the bathroom. I remember thinking to myself, ahh I will clean it up in the morning. 30 seconds later another one, followed by another one 10 seconds after.

At this point even as I was drunk as anything, I knew that this entire batch was going to explode through out the night. I was not happy as it was a damn good clone of Nukie Brown. So I put my safety glasses and apron and started to release pressure on the bottles. As I am slightly opening the bottle to release pressure the caps would shoot out of my hand and nail the ceiling. As I am doing this, more bottles are exploding shooting glass everywhere. I finally took the entire batch outside and chucked it in the bin. The rest of the night bottles were exploding, waking me and the missus up not to mention a few unhappy neighbours. What a night. I felt like I was involved in a great battle the next day.

Moral of this story... (KEGS) and no more acidential over priming. Oh and don't bottle to early.

Haven't had a bottle bomb since

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

I have only had one bottle bomb in my whole life.

I bought about 80 grolsch bottles from someone off this forum, I was lucky enough to get about 8 of them full of beer.

I was doing my first brew day and had them all sitting out on the table. Rustyc was helping me out doing the brew as it was my first AG...I'm outside bout ready to do a hop addition when my girlfriend, another mate and Rustyc tell me that there was an explosion in the kitchen. I see beer all over the walls and floor and one broken grolsch bottle. My immediate thoughts were that one fell off the table...but the bottle wasn't shattered just cracked and it was still on the bench with all the other glass...and no-one was actually in the kitchen to drop it or something on it...funny thing was all of the beer in the bottles were well over a year old...maybe the beer got a bit warm being in the kitchen and kick started one of them...

hmmm...only got 79 bottle now

BYB

 

[Gavo]

Black Rock Apple Cider. Apparently apple cider takes a lot longer to ferment than beer. Anyway 40 degree C days sorted these out. Put the rest in the fridge wearing a leather jacket, jeans, welding helmet and gloves. That was years ago and stopped me brewing for some time along with no time because I was building my house.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Geez.... good you weren't standing next to that when it went........also glad it didn't go off in the shop after they got dropped off here for you to collect.....I will give the old owner the appropriate amount of stick for it, don't worry about that... <_< ...and tell him he owes you a bottle .

Must have been those old K&K beer that I have given away making. Will have to drop off a couple MT's at a later date.. Yes everyone it was meeeeee.....

BYB

 

[domonsura]

:lol: :lol: .......wish you were as keen to own up to one of your farts...... <_<

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

:lol: :lol: .......wish you were as keen to own up to one of your farts...... <_<

That is charming...absolutely charming <_<

BYB

 

[Effect]

I wished the explosion was as violent as Wayne's ones....Then I could post a pic of glass shrapnel embedded in the roof...

All I got was a cracked bottle and beer all over the floor

All you lucky people with their big bottle bombs

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

I wished the explosion was as violent as Wayne's ones....Then I could post a pic of glass shrapnel embedded in the roof...

All I got was a cracked bottle and beer all over the floor

All you lucky people with their big bottle bombs

And that beer was supposed to be drinkable :lol: A statement that I never made.

BYB

 

[Offline]

hahaha i've had a great one!
...
as i opened the bottle i had nooooo idea, that cap could have taken out my eye, omfg! BANG; cut a strip across my cheek as it flew toward the ceiling, through the fluro light & its' cover, shattering & raining all over me & the floor, woah! :blink:
...

I had a similar experience with a friends beer, it was a screw top. You know how when you unscrew a screw top they hiss releasing their pressure before fully unscrewing - well not this one it jumped the thread before releasing its pressure BOOM! It almost hit my face before striking the ceiling, the mark is still there.

 

[Doogiechap]

Off topic but has some relevance. I had an old stovetop espresso maker which was bubbling away one morning then.........
BANG !!!!
I was sprayed with hot water and ground coffee as the unit separated and sent the top half into the ceiling (and stayed there). Thankfully the water had cooled down a bit as the droplets flew across the room. The kitchen got a new paintjob shortly thereafter .

My only bottlebomb was a bottle which split perfectly in half from top to bottom and I'm guessing I may have scored the glass during some overzealous label removal creating a weakness..........
Dom your piccy's are a good warning.
Cheers
Doug

 

[newguy]

I had a similar experience with a friends beer, it was a screw top. You know how when you unscrew a screw top they hiss releasing their pressure before fully unscrewing - well not this one it jumped the thread before releasing its pressure BOOM! It almost hit my face before striking the ceiling, the mark is still there.

A friend used to do a trick with twist offs. He's a strong sumbitch - very strong. Before he opened the beer, he'd grab the bottlecap and he'd actually bend it very slightly just with his hand. Imagine taking the bottlecap alone and squishing it - like that, but without removing it from the bottle. It wouldn't bend very much, but it would bend just a bit. Then he would stand the bottle on the table upright. He'd clench both hands around the bottle like he was holding onto a plane's flight control stick. Using his thumbs, he'd press really hard on the cap in a slight counterclockwise direction to unscrew it. It would go off like a shot every time.