War Zone - Operation Bottle Bomb

[daanmuller]

So last night, I came home after a night out and I just head to bed and I hear the distinct sound of a bottle exploding. So I went and checked. The one bottle in the middle took out 5 other bottles. As I was cleaning up that bottle and the glass. 4 more bottles started exploding one after another. With in 5 mins 3 more had gone off. I started to open the bottles to relieve the pressure in the bottles to prevent more exploding. All but one bottle was highly carbonated. I have never seen such a release of carbonation and foam. Kinda like the volcanoes you would make in year 5 and 6.

I do not remember over priming the bottles. As I used slightly less than a teaspoon in a 375ml bottle. The beer tasted very nice. (Newcastle style brown ale)

A. What would cause such a pressure that wasn't related to over priming?
B. What can I do to prevent D Day from happening again?
C. At least now I have room to store more bottled brew.


I have started reducing the priming of the bottles to 1/2 a teaspoon of caster sugar

 

[mikelinz]

What was your OG - FG. If you haven't over primed then it is likely that it was bottled too soon and hadn't finished fermenting.

 

[samhighley]

Another good reason for plastic bottles.

I've only had one bottle bomb so far, and it was the cap exploding.

Amazingly there was no beer expelled from the bottle, so I just threw out the cap and the beer, and recycled the bottle.

Sam

 

[Wrenny]

Maybe bottling too soon.

Sometimes the yeast can stall with still a fair bit of fermentable sugar in there. All activity stops for a couple of days and you think it's finished. Then when you bottle, add some more sugar and stir up the yeast, they get back into it.

I definately wouldn't reduce your priming sugar, otherwise the beers that have finished will be undercarbonated.

A couple of steps that would help:

1) take final gravity reading. On a normal beer this will be around 1.010 (a bit higher or lower depending on style etc etc).

2) give the fermenter a bit of a shake after it has stopped, then leave a couple more days.



I have found that it's better to leave for a couple of days longer than the minimum recomendation.


Cheers,
Wrenny

 

[glennheinzel]

The others have highlighted the likely cause that primary fermentation may not have finished before you bottled.

Over priming the bottles and storing the bottles at warmer temps are also going to increase carbonation levels.

 

[boingk]

I'm thinking it was your priming dose. Just under a teaspoon sounds suspiciously close to a full teaspoon, which is what is recommended for 750ml bottles. So yeah, the glass probably just got a bit stressed. If you've got a Big W or a local brew shop, go and get a priming measurer - its got a 3g measure [stubbie] on one end and a 6g measure [longneck] on the other so you can just dunk it in the sugar and then into the bottle without fear of overcarbonating.

I swear by mine.

Cheers - boingk

EDIT: I messed up...

 

[staggalee]

You`ve primed with double what you should have.

stagga.

 

[captian black beer]

Another good reason for plastic bottles.

I've only had one bottle bomb so far, and it was the cap exploding.

Amazingly there was no beer expelled from the bottle, so I just threw out the cap and the beer, and recycled the bottle.

Sam

You've never seen a PET bottle explode then? They can be real dangerous, but real fun as this video demonstrates.



Not quite safe when pushed to their limits...

 

[Muggus]

You've never seen a PET bottle explode then? They can be real dangerous, but real fun as this video demonstrates.



Not quite safe when pushed to their limits...

Haha thats awesome. I tried to overcarb a PET bottle once, didn't work though. :icon_offtopic:

Anyway, back on topic. Sounds like your beer is well and truely over carbed Dean. If you are planning on storing any bottles for drinking, i'd recommend keeping them away from each other firstly, and anything breakable secondly. They have potential to cause alot of damage!

 

[daanmuller]

You`ve primed with double what you should have.

stagga.

What would be the correct priming size then? I did 1 teaspoon per 375ml

 

[KGB]

As stated, 1 teaspoon per Longneck (750mL). You're using double the ammount!

EDIT: cool video, LOL

 

[hanzie]

Hi

Ok its of the topic I know but...

I conected a 2lt Coke bottle to a foot pump once. Think I was making a water/air rocket. Anyway I wanted to see how much presure it could take. I got it up to 6 bar before it exploded. Thats like 3 times you standard car tire presure...

The cap would go long before that I had to put a hose clamp around the cap.

Hannes

 

[hotboost]

U sure one teaspoon for 750ml? doesnt sound rite. i always do 2 . and the beer does get to gasy

 

[hotboost]

HAD a quick look at the coopers brewer book . If you using the carbonation drops 1 for 375ml and 2 for 750ml.
I presumed they were equivalent to sugar teaspoons.

 

[microbe]

+1 on the pre-measured scoop comment from boingk

I've never used anything else[\s] Apart from one bulk-priming effort, I've not used anything else to prime and in seven years only had one bottle go off (which I don't think I can fully attribute to over-carbed/bottling early)

Cheers,

microbe

 

[staggalee]

HAD a quick look at the coopers brewer book . If you using the carbonation drops 1 for 375ml and 2 for 750ml.
I presumed they were equivalent to sugar teaspoons.

yeah well they`re not.
they weigh about 3 grams each if that tells you anything
if you go priming 750 ml. bottles with 2 teaspoons of sugar{about 10-12 grams} you`re asking for it.

stagga.

 

[Mattywalnuts]

I've had the bottom blow out of one of those coopers PET bottles (actually 3 bottles blew). a mix of under-fermented ginger beer, to much priming sugar, and conditioning in a 40C shed (ok, i was young and stupid). On the other hand, the ones that didn't blow turned out to be pretty potent stuff...

but yeah, you definitely sound like you over primed it for the stubbie bottles.

 

[Adamt]

Just a hint matty... the last post to this thread was in February.

 

[THIRSTCRUSHER]

Just a hint matty... the last post to this thread was in February.

I would estimate that i've done app. 30 to 35 brews,and i have had one solitary bottle explode-i have only ever used glass.
I have never,ever used the hydrometer,and have done brews with up 5 1/2 kilos of fermentables.
The bottle that exploded had one next to it that was as flat as a tack-double dosed one,missed the other.
The best thing i have going for me is my garage appears to be perfect for maturing my brews-the beer seems to stay at a nice,even termperature all year round.
This has,i believe,allowed me to try 5 beers this week that are avoer 5 years old,and each one has been brilliant.
What is my point-not really sure,but i am amazed at how many people do have this issue..
Scott.

 

[Muggus]

I've had the bottom blow out of one of those coopers PET bottles (actually 3 bottles blew). a mix of under-fermented ginger beer, to much priming sugar, and conditioning in a 40C shed (ok, i was young and stupid). On the other hand, the ones that didn't blow turned out to be pretty potent stuff...

but yeah, you definitely sound like you over primed it for the stubbie bottles.

You blew the bottom out of a PET bottle?
That's insane! :huh:
I purposely carbonated a PET bottle to 3 times priming sugar back in the day...carefully keeping it aside...just to see what happened. No exploded bottles or anything, just a bottle of crap beer that turned out to be nothing but foam.