Exploding Bottles!

spoofilyj

Ok just wondering how common this is.

I recently bottled a couple of brews with out problem.

I'm going to try and brew as many variations of beer, ale, stout and cider until I find one that stands out.

Anyway

The latest brew was a larger that was fermented since before Christmas.
I siphoned it into a secondary in Jan and kicked off fermentation again to raise the alcohol content.
On the 23rd of Feb about a week and a half ago I batch primed the brew into another Bucket and just as an experiment and in order to create something similar to Inis and Gunn Oak cask beer I added half a bottle of Bushmills to the Batch as well as a cup and a half of organic sugar cane.

Bottleing done I left the bettles in the kitchen for the initial 2 weeks of carbination, I samples several since bottling and I must say its a lovely beer.

Upon my return to my house having been away since wednesday I noticed lots of glass in the kitchen, floor, embedded in the ceiling and the table.

I use a combination of Grolsch, staroprammen, butvar and London Pride bottles. It was a staroprammen bottle that exploded.

Is this a common occurance? My house mate is very freaked out and worried now about my new found hobby...

I have moved all the beers out to the shed where its cooler and on the Grolsch bottles I have opened each one and released the pressure a bit.
Do I need to open and recap my batch or will they now be fine stored in a cooler place.

Do bottles get fatigued from reuse in multiple batches? I looks like the top of the bottle that exploded cracked at the neck and rocketed into the ceiling and the rest of the bottle scattered all over the kitchen, Should i note the bottles I have used more than twice barring the sturdy Grolsch Bottles and recycle after 2 brews or am I now just being paranoyed? I think I will buy a big hard plastic box with a lid for storing brews in the future...

Any advice or comments welcome/:D

leggit

glass embedded in the ceiling! :eek:

Did you do any measuring when you bottled the brew (OG-FG, batch priming calculation)? It's likely that the brew wasn't finished fermenting originally or else you just put too much sugar in the batch before bottling. I'd go with the latter as my guess?

Not very experienced in bottle bombs so hopefully someone might shed a bit more light on this

BeerNut

If you get your sums right this shouldn't ever happen. Although one possibility is an infection: if a wild yeast got in there it could create lots of unwanted CO2 and cause the explosions.

Khannie

BeerNut wrote: »

if a wild yeast got in there it could create lots of unwanted CO2 and cause the explosions.

How so? it should only have the same amount of sugar to ferment / CO2 to produce as the introduced yeast, no?

mikewest

Did I read you right, you batch primed and then added whiskey and sugar?

Overpriming maybe?

Edit: I use heavy pint bottles (english cider bottles), Starporamen are much lighter and will take less pressure

BeerNut

Khannie wrote: »

it should only have the same amount of sugar to ferment / CO2 to produce as the introduced yeast, no?

Wild yeasts can eat sugars that tame ones can't. Beer yeast has been bred to be inefficient, so you get sugars left behind for flavour and body. But if you have a lambic, for instance, you can taste what happens when a wild yeast tears through everything.

spoofilyj

BeerNut wrote: »

If you get your sums right this shouldn't ever happen. Although one possibility is an infection: if a wild yeast got in there it could create lots of unwanted CO2 and cause the explosions.

Ya I would imagine its down to my calculations or lack their of...

I keep forgetting to take hydrometer readings at the right time so it could be that alright. Also I used slightly more sugar for the batch prime then I usually use.

Oh well its a lesson learned, be more accurate. Must try and pick up some heavier bottles too.

rubadub

spoofilyj wrote: »

I batch primed the brew into another Bucket and just as an experiment and in order to create something similar to Inis and Gunn Oak cask beer I added half a bottle of Bushmills to the Batch as well as a cup and a half of organic sugar cane.

Are you saying you batch primed, and then added even more sugar?

When batch priming you should make sure the sugar is thoroughly dissolved and stirred in. Otherwise towards the end you are likely to have strong sugar solution going into the bottles.

Many beer bottles, like food jars, are designed for single use. The weakest points will be the thinner parts and bits with sharp corners/tight curves -so it makes sense that it broke at the neck. So it is better to pick thick walled smoother looking bottles. You might see bottles which have been reused about, they would usually have scuffed up rings on the sides where they have been in contact with each other. You used to see it on pub 200ml coke bottles. Not sure if you get them for beer in offies these days though -but at least its a sign they are probably more robust.

BeerNut wrote: »

Wild yeasts can eat sugars that tame ones can't. Beer yeast has been bred to be inefficient, so you get sugars left behind for flavour and body.

Interesting, I read the likes of coors add enzymes to make more of their light beers sugars fermentable, and so have lower calories due to lower residual sugar.

spoofilyj

rubadub wrote: »

Are you saying you batch primed, and then added even more sugar?

When batch priming you should make sure the sugar is thoroughly dissolved and stirred in. Otherwise towards the end you are likely to have strong sugar solution going into the bottles.

Many beer bottles, like food jars, are designed for single use. The weakest points will be the thinner parts and bits with sharp corners/tight curves -so it makes sense that it broke at the neck. So it is better to pick thick walled smoother looking bottles. You might see bottles which have been reused about, they would usually have scuffed up rings on the sides where they have been in contact with each other. You used to see it on pub 200ml coke bottles. Not sure if you get them for beer in offies these days though -but at least its a sign they are probably more robust.


Interesting, I read the likes of coors add enzymes to make more of their light beers sugars fermentable, and so have lower calories due to lower residual sugar.

No I only added Sugar once and ensured it was dissolved completely before bottling, I think you are right about the bottles being designed for single use, I'll try and pick up a few more of the Grolsch pop cap style ones as they have thicker glass and can be pressure released if necessary.
Although I think I will be a lot more diligent in my calculations after this and not let it happen again...

Ronan cork

Great to see the effects of bottle bombs. Thanks for the pics. Real eye opener. Beer bottles vary massively in weight between one bottle and the next so I would only use bottles that have been used for bottle conditioning by the brewery itself such as wheat beers etc

sharingan

spoofilyj wrote: »

I keep forgetting to take hydrometer readings at the right time so it could be that alright. Also I used slightly more sugar for the batch prime then I usually use.

The right time = before you decide to bottle. Its one of the most important things to do.

leggit

sharingan wrote: »

The right time = before you decide to bottle. Its one of the most important things to do.

yeah, I only ever take 2 readings, OG and FG, that's it.

If the FG is where I expect it to be than I bottle, actually even without taking the FG I'd bottle after 3 weeks anyway! Just nice to know the %