Bottle Exploded

[Sone]

Had a bottle of coopers european lager (brewed in April) break, not sure when it was but has to have been within the last two weeks. Luckily I keep all my bottles in boxes at the moment but considering it was bottled after 2-3 weeks in the fv and batch primed with 132g sugar any ideas why it may have suddenly exploded? It was a grolsch swing top bottle and the bottom of the bottle just came clean off.

FG was 1.009 and it was coming up to 12 weeks in the bottle, should I be worried about other bottles?

 

[Kinleycat]

Where were you storing it and at what temp!
I've had a bottle of pear cider pop in the shed, mind you it was 32c in there!!!!

 

[Algernon]

What volume of beer did you put that sugar into? It certainly doesn't sound like an over-prime. Maybe there was a patch of sugar not fully mixed in, so you got a bottle or two with more sugar than you expected in it?

 

[ohbeary]

As the bottom came clean away it sounds like an impact damaged bottle, the rest should be fine but if you are worried you could ease the pressure in the remaining bottles.

 

[Sone]

Those bottles are in the garage on the floor, temp has increased recently to about 25-30 degrees to be fair! I will keep more of an eye on it over the next few days though. Forgot to mention it was brewed to 21 litres :thumb:

I suppose it could have happened when moving the boxes around recently, just glad I had that bottle in a box!

Cheers :

 

[Ken L]

The bigger the air gap at the top the more explosive they are when they go. I only leave a 1cm gap and use minimal priming not only because it gives me a full pint even when I leave the lees behind but because it's much safer.

 

[Norbert]

Hi,

unfortunately I have experienced the same with my Hefeweizen (my first brew). Three bottles exploded after having located them in a normally cool room but with sun in the afternoon :shock: . Nothing happend - I had only to clean up the mess. First I didn' t put exactly exactly the same amount of beer in the bottles - means they were filled differently. Furthermore there are calculators available in the web to get the right amount of unfermented mash which need to be added to each bottles in order to produce the necessary CO2. Alternativly one can take also a defined (calculated) amount of ordinary sugar to do the same job.

These are my experiences which I don't want to repeat .

Cheers,
Norbert

 

[calumscott]

Where did you get the bottles from?

 

[Ken L]

Well, despite my sage words, I've just had one go. Only a crack and drain rather than an explosion but i guess I misjudged the end of the ferment. a tester bottle was foamy as hell, despite being chilled.
I guess I'm going to have to open them, let them stand for a minute or two and re-cap - all while wearing gloves and goggles.

 

[ohbeary]

There is a lot to be said for not priming! there is usually enough sugar left to carbonate a beer when you bottle, it just takes longer to condition which is not a bad thing.....

 

[the-erl]

There is a lot to be said for not priming! there is usually enough sugar left to carbonate a beer when you bottle, it just takes longer to condition which is not a bad thing.....

Do you do this? I'd be interested to hear fom anyone who doesn't prime their bottles to see how the beer finishes :wha:
Could be an interesting experiment :hmm:
Erl :drink:

 

[pjc]

Do you do this? I'd be interested to hear fom anyone who doesn't prime their bottles to see how the beer finishes

I very rarely prime my bottles. It will usually take 4-6 weeks in the bottle before it's conditioned but I've never had a problem by not priming. On the other hand I made a strong Belgian Ale a while back and followed the recipe to the letter including the required amount of priming sugar. After 6 months in the bottle it would erupt when opened and deposit 50% of the bottle on to the table/lap. It was fun to watch other people opening them.

 

[critch]

i put just over 1kg into the 640l bottling tank, admittedly theres normally a point or two till fg though