Bottle bombs, myth or not .... RESULTS ARE IN

[Baz Chaz]

The results, well not really surprising ....... :thumb: :whistle: :rofl:

Baited breath...

...are we gonna get pictures???

Just downloading the pics etc won't be long :whistle:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Well now, first and foremost our intrepid barking scientist (and I use the word scientist in it’s loosest form) is alive and well, albeit would’ve been thirsty if there had been no other ale to hand :whistle:

Secondly this was not a scientific experiment in any way shape or form, just barking baz buggering about :geek:

Not very spectacular at all I’m afraid and this was never meant to provide the definitive answer to the bottle bomb question at all.

So, to reiterate, I filled 2 x 500 ml bottles which were primed with sugar, one heaped teaspoon = 8g in one and 2 x heaped teaspoons = 16g in the other. Prior to actually bottling, the beer itself had fermented well and had been steady for a few days so wasn’t still ‘active’.

Here we go ……. 2 bottles 2 glasses, Tommy Cooper could’ve gone on for hours at this point :lol: and plenty of space, not I’m not that barking as to be doing this indoors. The intention was to get as much as possible from both bottles.

First opened the bottle with 16g of sugar, I flipped the top quickly and there was quite a reaction, probably got away without too much spray because I was expecting far worse than I got. A bit ‘gushy’ as it overflowed, tried to pour quietly, but to no avail, too much head even for a good northern lad. As you can see very cloudy, lot of sediment lifted into the beer.

The second bottle with 8g of sugar, similarly, flipped the cap quickly and although not quite as big a reaction it still had a little ‘gush’ and the sediment was well and truly disturbed. Not much of a problem deciding which was which though :!:

As I said, I flipped them quickly, number 1 would certainly have ‘sprayed’ if I hadn’t been quick, but I was surprised that it wasn’t more violent

Both were bottled on 27th June, they had been in the greenhouse for 10 days so had been very warm, then stored for a further 12 days in cooler conditions.

The only conclusion I have come to, is I think the main thing is to make sure that the brew has finished fermenting properly before bottling, if they'd been bottled earlier when the yeast was still lively this could've been very messy indeed :!: I usually batch prime which works out about 2-3g per bottle and don’t get anything anywhere near as lively as these two.

On a slightly more serious note I hope this has sort of helped people understand a bit of what happens with overpriming or bottling too early :thumb:

 

[PD]

How long does it take to open 1 darned bottle !

sat here like a school kid in the picture watching the start of episode 2 of the cowboy series where the coach went over the cliff

 

[PD]

darn he done it....

 

[Baz Chaz]

How long does it take to open 1 darned bottle !

It wasn't opening the bottles that took the time it was downloading the pics and if I ty and trype tu quikerly the speeeling goes 2 shyte :rofl:

 

[calumscott]

Did you taste them Baz?

I'm curious to know if the 16g bottle hit the yeast limiting pressure and stayed sweet?

 

[Baz Chaz]

Did you taste them Baz?

'Course I did :lol:

I'm curious to know if the 16g bottle hit the yeast limiting pressure and stayed sweet?

There was a sweetness in the 16g bottle, the 8g didn't seem as bad .......

but the 'normal' one I opened to actually drink after cutting the lawns was excellent :

 

[calumscott]

Did you taste them Baz?

'Course I did :lol:

I never *really* doubted you...

I'm curious to know if the 16g bottle hit the yeast limiting pressure and stayed sweet?

There was a sweetness in the 16g bottle, the 8g didn't seem as bad .......

but the 'normal' one I opened to actually drink after cutting the lawns was excellent :

So, completely unscientifically, we can probably say with some certainty that those tall 500ml bottles are strong enough for most things (which is excellent 'cos I've got loads of them!) and that the pressure built by <insert Baz's yeast here> may limit fermentation at the kind of pressure built by somewhere between 16 and 32 grams of sugar per litre in a closed environment.

We could, if we were feeling brave, also suggest that this "experiment" demonstrates that bottle bombs are more likely caused by "wrong" (thin) or damaged bottles in conjunction with the ferementation pressure rather than the ferementation pressure alone...?

 

[ScottM]

Did you taste them Baz?

'Course I did :lol:

I never *really* doubted you...

[quote="Baz Chaz":2yhqiy8c]

I'm curious to know if the 16g bottle hit the yeast limiting pressure and stayed sweet?

There was a sweetness in the 16g bottle, the 8g didn't seem as bad .......

but the 'normal' one I opened to actually drink after cutting the lawns was excellent :

So, completely unscientifically, we can probably say with some certainty that those tall 500ml bottles are strong enough for most things (which is excellent 'cos I've got loads of them!) and that the pressure built by <insert Baz's yeast here> may limit fermentation at the kind of pressure built by somewhere between 16 and 32 grams of sugar per litre in a closed environment.

We could, if we were feeling brave, also suggest that this "experiment" demonstrates that bottle bombs are more likely caused by "wrong" (thin) or damaged bottles in conjunction with the ferementation pressure rather than the ferementation pressure alone...?[/quote:2yhqiy8c]


Yup.... as I said in post 4

I think the caps would have a say in it too though.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I agree with calum that bombs are mostlikely due to damaged bottles.

But this little experiment of your Baz has made me reasured that i can bottle some Champange in some beer bottles (i dont have the larger capper bit yet, maybe next year). plus it looks like i can easliy get enough pressure to disgorge them as well.

I think i will go for about 8g/pint initally :thumb:

(sorry for going off topic a bit )

 

[Baz Chaz]

... But this little experiment of your Baz has made me reasured that i can bottle some Champange in some beer bottles (i dont have the larger capper bit yet, maybe next year). plus it looks like i can easliy get enough pressure to disgorge them as well.

I think i will go for about 8g/pint initally :thumb:

Having done it I would say you're reasonably safe with the 8g, it was pretty lively which is what you're after with champagne, BUT it depends if the yeast acts differently :idea:

Back to beer .......

The yeast I used was Safale 05 which normally settles out very well indeed, but this was on a hiding to nothing as regards settling.

As for priming every bottle individually, I would only use barely a half teaspoon, but most importantly don't bottle too soon :thumb:

 

[pittsy]

yeah , bottle bombs don't sit there till you open em etc , they sit there any suddenly explode without warning usually on a hot (warm at least )day , if when you open your bottle Baz and it foams out most of the brew , upsetting the sediment etc then thats a poss bottle bomb if left long enough

 

[Baz Chaz]

... if when you open your bottle Baz and it foams out most of the brew , upsetting the sediment etc then thats a poss bottle bomb if left long enough

Yes that was the point that was being made, trying to show how/why 'bottle bombs' happen :!:

If you look just how much sugar I used to prime one 500ml bottle, 16g = 2 heaped teaspoons to get there, anyone sticking that amount of sugar in a bottle is asking for trouble :nono:
I favour calumscott and scottm's observation that weak/poor bottles are as much a cause of the 'BB', if it had been a 'weak' bottle ie damaged /thin I think it would have gone.

 

[calumscott]

I favour calumscott and scottm's observation that weak/poor bottles are as much a cause of the 'BB', if it had been a 'weak' bottle ie damaged /thin I think it would have gone.

And so the next experiment is born... :lol:

 

[Baz Chaz]

:hmm: have to have a look round for some crap bottles then

and a couple of pet bottles

 

[bobsbeer]

The real question is there a finite maximum pressure achievable regardless of the amount of sugar and yeast? Your experiment suggests that there is, given that the 16g bottle tasted sweet so the yeast gave up before all the sugar was fermented. But I suppose the pressure of undisolved co2 depends on variables such as temperature and stoeage conditions. Low temp conditioning would disolve more co2 but is it total co2 rather than pressure that stops the yeast?

 

[alanywiseman.]

Increasing alcohol and co2 concentrations have a negative effect on yeast health and lifespan so co2 levels could reach a point that the yeast can no longer ferment the sugar. The other posability is that 10 days was not long enough for the yeast to ferment 16g of sugar, possabily due to the reasons mentioned above.

On a side I had a bottle burst due to a chip on the bottom of it and that was with 5g/L.

 

[Baz Chaz]

As I stated earlier, no way am I saying this was the definitive test/answer, I just wanted to see what happens when overprimed by a long way, it was quite interesting, I was surprised that there wasn't actually more pressure :!:

...... The other posability is that 10 days was not long enough for the yeast to ferment 16g of sugar, possabily due to the reasons mentioned above.

It was 22 days in all, the first 10 were in the greenhouse which was to say the least very hot on a few occasions, the remaining 12 was in a cooler temperature :geek:

 

[oldstout]

Great thread Baz :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

:thumb:

 

[Ken L]

The bigger the gap the bigger the bang.
When we were kids, we experimented with bottles filled with just one third sugar solution and yeast to which a crown cap was fitted. The big gap meant lots of space for compressed gas and lots of force when the bottle exploded - trust mew, you wouldn't want to be in the same post code.

The lesson I took away was to fill the bottle to within 1cm of the top and carbonate lightly.

With only 8 or 9mm of gap, even bottles that explode are unlikely to do serious damage unless you're unfortunate enough to be right on top of them.