Bottle Bombs!

[arogers]

Well I'm guessing they are under that much pressure that saving the beer isn't an option.

Saving the bottles would be preferable though. I guess it's the best thng to do, just go in with a heap of protection and see if I can open them up without breaking too many more.

 

[Fents]

yep gardening gloves, big jacket, jeans, boots, sunny's or welding mask. Open each one carefull and tip them, its the only way.

 

[gerald]

ok,

so i've done a batch of gingerbeer. it was originaly 20L. i guess i lost a fair bit during racking it from primary to secondary and then again to bottle it. anyway i used 190grams of dex in what was a 17.5L batch in the end.

works out to around 10.5grams of dextrose per Litre.

bottled them mostly in grolsch bottles (20) with a few in PET (only 7) and ended up having to use 2 good homebrew bottles. i left a fair bit of room in the grolsch bottles (the entire neck) hoping that if they were over primed it would give the gas a place to go and maybe avoid any bombs.

the final gravity of the ginger beer was 1000 (or 1001) there abouts anyway. so yeah


can anyone tell me if ive got a batch of bombs or will i be ok??


thanks
gerald

 

[Stuster]

That's certainly way too much carbonation. You'll end up with something near to 3.5-4vols CO2 pressure in there. Those bottles might be ok, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't all make it so I'd keep a close eye on them. Drinking them quickly is probably a good idea. Open one every few days and see how they go. If they get too carbonated, pop them all in the fridge and have a party. :lol:

 

[Tony]

gerald...... a bit of room in the bottle neck wont help if they are going to blow.

in carbonate beer you need 2 to 3 volumes of gas in the bottle, and it all goes into solution because it has nowhere else to go, seeing as a liquic cannot be compressed.

so therefor, for every schooner of beer, you have 3 schooners of gas (by uncompressed volume) in the beer as well

hope this helps a bit.

cheers

 

[Lobsta]

jeez guys, this thread has me worried now. i just bottled my first brew on friday and they are sitting out in my back cupboard and now im **** scared that they are gonna explode (a result my parents would not be at all happy with considering the other stuff in said cupboard). i cant move them to the garage or shed coz this is queensland, and our days are reaching around 30-35, so there is probably more chance of them going bang there... though, i did use the brewcraft carb drops, so i guess that is a little safer than bulk priming (whoops, i used kg instead of pounds sort of scenario) or spooning sugar (whoops, tablespoon instead of teaspoon scenario)...
damn u all, u have me scared now...

Lobsta

 

[petesbrew]

jeez guys, this thread has me worried now. i just bottled my first brew on friday and they are sitting out in my back cupboard and now im **** scared that they are gonna explode (a result my parents would not be at all happy with considering the other stuff in said cupboard). i cant move them to the garage or shed coz this is queensland, and our days are reaching around 30-35, so there is probably more chance of them going bang there... though, i did use the brewcraft carb drops, so i guess that is a little safer than bulk priming (whoops, i used kg instead of pounds sort of scenario) or spooning sugar (whoops, tablespoon instead of teaspoon scenario)...
damn u all, u have me scared now...

Lobsta

You should be right, Lobsta, and I've done those mistakes before...

I've always put my freshly bottled brews in cardboard boxes, and taped the lids closed. But really I don't know if they'd do much in containing a bottle bomb explosion.
I had my first bottle bomb last year from an infected batch. The casualty was a stubby, one of the last bottled, so it had plenty of dregs in it.
They were stored in a milk crate, and lucklily the glass didn't travel much through the holes in the crate. I've still got the rest of that infected case, and no more have gone, but they're still well covered.

 

[arogers]

I kicked the milk crate last night a few times, no explosions.

Dammit, I have to move house in a few weeks, I don't really want to have to pick up this deadly crate of bottles.. Haha!

 

[beernography]

I keep my beer in milk crates lined with newspaper 2-3 sheets thick, with another sheet on top then all stacked together in the hallway. I've had 2 bottle bombs in 'the beer tower' and they haven't penetrated the newspaper and I could easily contain the shattered glass.

Every few days I do what I call 'rattling the chain' and grab the tower and shake it violently. I figure if any bottles are going to explode, they will do it then and not in my face when I open one. My brother took a couple of longnecks fishing and one exploded rattling round in the esky. Penance for taking them without asking :super:

 

[gerald]

thanks for the replys guys. i went and burped all my bottles today. 2 days after bottling and they've been sitting at 20*C not much gas had built up yet, just a very little 'poof' from each bottle. might do it again in a couple of days and hopefully it will be right after that?


whatcha recon???


thanks
gerald

 

[samhighley]

... grab the tower and shake it violently. I figure if any bottles are going to explode, they will do it then and not in my face when I open one.

ROFL, yeah, they won't explode in your face when you open one, but they might explode in your face when you're rattling a great big tower of beer!

 

[pjd99]

thanks for the replys guys. i went and burped all my bottles today. 2 days after bottling and they've been sitting at 20*C not much gas had built up yet, just a very little 'poof' from each bottle. might do it again in a couple of days and hopefully it will be right after that?


whatcha recon???


thanks
gerald

Personally I wouldn't have bothered. I thought ginger beers were supposed to be fairly fizzy. If fermentation had finished when you bottled them you should be fine. I'm planning to bulk prime my current 22L batch of wheat beer with 250g dextrose after raising the temp when fermentation finishes at 17C. Will be bottling them with the old style returnable bottles as they're extremely thick, though I wouldn't be surprised if the Coopers long necks could withstand higher pressures.

You could always refrigerate the batch once the desired pressure is reached, if you have the space...

-Phil

 

[beernography]

ROFL, yeah, they won't explode in your face when you open one, but they might explode in your face when you're rattling a great big tower of beer!

Lol...but it's safely contained behind newspaper and a milkcrate!

Same logic as japanese safety boots, I guess

 

[arogers]

So yeah maybe I'm looking for easy ways to set these things off now, I've tried kicking the crate... I reckon a slug gun would be the go, sure as **** dont want to risk picking the crate up.

I was however toying with the idea of making up an ice bath to put them in, I have some big eskys I could use and let them chill out for a few hours then attempt to open them.

Do you guys reckon this will increase the safety margin a little?

 

[Stuster]

Definitely should help, regulator. The colder the liquid is, the more gas is absorbed in it. If you can do that, you might even by able to let the gas out and recap them, but at least you should be able to defuse the bombs.

 

[beernography]

1. Wait a couple of days till Friday/Saturday. Put them down by the train tracks, lying down so they don't appear to be full.

2. Wait for juvenile delinquents to slink out of the woodwork and discover a kind benefactor has left many longnecks by the tracks to hurl at people/trains

3. Laugh uproariously when bottles explode in their hands as they pick them up to throw

4. Be secure in the knowledge your overcarbed beer has done good, not evil

 

[clay]

well I just spent the last couple of hours cleaning up beer and broken glass from the garage. An old batch of oatmeal stout was to blame. Think it might be time to get some kegs

 

[petesbrew]

1. Wait a couple of days till Friday/Saturday. Put them down by the train tracks, lying down so they don't appear to be full.

2. Wait for juvenile delinquents to slink out of the woodwork and discover a kind benefactor has left many longnecks by the tracks to hurl at people/trains

3. Laugh uproariously when bottles explode in their hands as they pick them up to throw

4. Be secure in the knowledge your overcarbed beer has done good, not evil

Reminds me of the old one on youtube with the dumb teens
"now they're mixing the chlorine with the alcohol... now shake it up... FRIGGIN-KABOOOOOM!!!!!!"

 

[arogers]

If you can do that, you might even by able to let the gas out and recap them, but at least you should be able to defuse the bombs.

Nah, I don't think so. The last one I opened (this was weeks ago BTW) fizzed up a good extra bottle length from the bottle. When it finally fizzed out I was left with about 2cm of beer and yeast turds in the bottom of the bottle.

I'm pretty sure all I can save now is the bottles themselves!!