Bottle bombs

[perko8]

Hi guys

I bottled (330-375ml stubbies) an extract pale ale mid sept, and this week I've had 3 blow the bottom out. Two I found on Sunday and one today.

The ambient temp where they are sitting outside is approaching 30c in the daytime, but it is fully shaded and I've got no other options of anywhere to put them.

I've drank about 6 bottles of it now, all were carbonated as I hoped, except one, which gushed a little bit.

It's a two can recipe about 50ibu. 2 packets of S05 yeast as per lhbs recommendation.

Was brewed at 18c in a fridge, got to the desired fg after about a week and was stable for 5 days before I dry hopped and started to cold crash.

I wasn't as successful at keeping the trub out of the bottles as my previous batches, but I labelled the first and last 6 out which were the worst are seemingly fine, for now, no bombs from them. The ones that have popped are in the middle clearer group.

Used 1 coopers carb drop in each stubby.

Thoughts? Other than drink them fast...

 

[Grainer]

Cover them fast in a plastic box carefully... I was in hospital after a friends beer blew up in my shoulder 3 internal stitches 5 external on my shoulder.. Now all other peoples bottles get quarantined at my house !

 

[Diesel80]

Move to kegs....?
If you blow the bottom out of one of them then..... WOW.

Or use the PET bottles in future?

Cheers,
D80

 

[TheWiggman]

If you got to the desired FG and it was steady for 5 days then I'd point my finger at an infection. The only other way you're going to get ongoing fermentation is if the ferment had stalled and got woken up during bottling, but this would affect all bottles and not just a few.

 

[earle]

Gushing and exploding bottles suggests infection to me. Take much care.

 

[user 36151]

What bottles did u use some are a lot thinner than others i used corona bottles once and got cracks longways down a few of them none blew out though.

 

[mongey]

If the gushing gets worse as you open them id say infection. Happened to me 4 or 5 months ago. First few were ok then the gushing got worse and worse with time till you couldn't open one without it all turning to head instantly. Thing was the beer Tasted fine till the gushing got really bad.

Luckily for me they were in pet for that batch.

 

[user 25501]

How did you determine it was steady for 5 days? Does that mean you fermented for a week then took gravity readings every day for 5 days? Seems a bit short for me. What was your FG? I know you can ferment fairly rapidly but im wondering if the ferment stalled?

 

[perko8]

I took gravity readings, yes

Lhbs suggested 2 packets of yeast to get it to ferment fast.
The spreadsheet had 1.012 as do, and that's what it was

Any other signs to look for with an infection?
I've previously had one bottle that had a black bit of gunk in it, but chat see any in these.

 

[user 25501]

Whats your cleaning regime for the bottles and anything that contacts the beer while bottling?

 

[perko8]

Clean everything including my hands in starsan

Could it just be the heat? None blew up today.

 

[yum beer]

Starsan is not a cleaner.
If bottles were not fully cleaned before Starsan.......boom
....boom



.....boom......boom......****


.......boom

 

[perko8]

Sorry, i run them thru a dishwasher too. Starsan to sanitise after that. I guess nothing is going to be 100% sterile though, so i see it's a possibility.
And they're all bottles that I've used before, and rinsed straight after pouring. So relatively clean to start with.

I'm only new at this, but It just seems funny that it's only been a few. I would have thought it would be more than 3 bottles in a batch, given they're all cleaned the same way

 

[technobabble66]

Your entire process sounds fine to me. Esp hitting calculated FG then sitting stable for 5 days. And the cleaning + sanitizing sounds all good. Dishwasher may not be thorough enough if the bottles are quite dirty/moldy beforehand, but otherwise should be ok.

Could you have accidentally put 2 carb drops into a few of the stubbies?
Sounds like a bit of a silly mistake; but it can happen, and could cause/explain what you're experiencing.

Edit: I should probably add it's still possible that it's an infection, just its probably a little less likely given your process seems ok, so maybe something else is the cause.

 

[user 25501]

Not the solution, but I always let mine ferment and settle for 3 weeks. Get your stocks up and there is no hurry.
And still not the solution but I think your local HBS ripped you off telling you pitch two packs of us-05.
How does a dishwasher get hot water all the way to base of the bottle? I used to put glass tomato sauce bottles in the DW on a hot wash and it doesn't totally clean em. I appreciate you've rinsed your bottle after drinking, but just before bottling, I'd also be soaking my bottles in a decent brew cleaner, then rinsing and then starsaning them. (Its no harder than trying to balance them all in the DW)
Possibly dodgy carb drops? Isolate offenders and drink fast.

 

[mongey]

after my infection I got a jar of pink stuff and the day before bottling I make 2 tubs of it and soak the longnecks for a good 8 hours .Then hit em with the brush and rinse and they are spotless inside for pretty much half hour work

before that i was a bit lax in my acutal cleaning. I used to rinse out after drinking and rinse again before a sanitise in idophor

 

[Grott]

Could you have accidentally put 2 carb drops into a few of the stubbies?
Sounds like a bit of a silly mistake; but it can happen, and could cause/explain what you're experiencing.

As you have only a few going off this is a big possibility, easy to do if not paying full attention at the time.
Cheers

 

[boingk]

Yeah my vote would be a double-dose at carbonation time. I've had a longneck blow out just as you've described from that, sure does go off!

I always like a 25'C diacetyl rest for a day or two to get everything out of the system before bottling, too, as at 18'C you sometimes can have a small secondary ferment at higher temps. 30'C is a definite for this and would enourage any small and otherwise manageable, ignorable infection to become a bottle burster.

Basically... store well and drink easy.

- boingk

 

[perko8]

So, a few more days passed and no further explosions. Temp maximums have been about the same for the past fortnight. Here's hoping I did just double dose a few!

 

[Barge]

Probably was a double dose. Any more gushers and it could be an infection though. Not likely by the sounds of it.

FWIW, unless your setup looks like then your bottles aren't getting 100% clean in the dishwasher. I have enough trouble getting my dw to clean all the milk out of the toddlers bottles. With the narrow neck (good name for a brewery, but that's another thread ) of the bottle you are unlikely to be getting any water in there at all.