Glass Bottle C02 Threshold

I've done 3.5 volumes in normal brown bottles with crown caps without any problems. YMMV.
As an aside, I don't think the BJCP guidelines ever specify exact CO2 volumes.

 

Max pressure = N-1

 

The pressure at which the bottle explodes...

 

I've done 3.5 in brown bottles with crown caps and had lots of explosions.

Not all bottles are created equal. Most of the ones you find in the US are meant to be 1 time use and are usually pretty thin and break easily. Bottles meant to be returned/reused are usually thicker, and can hold more pressure. Try to find those, they aren't that hard to find.

The emptys that you can buy at your LHBS are generally the thicker variety.

 

Technically, it won't asplode till it gets slightly higher than that.

I recommend storing your bottles in an open top container right next to your bed. It really makes for experiencing the beer you've brewed to its absolute fullest.

 

I've only ever had one bottle bomb. It was interesting being confused by the muffled explosion and trying to figure out where it came from. Then understanding what had happened and being somewhat amused by the smell of fresh IPA about 60 seconds later. I've lined all my cases with plastic trash bags since then.

 

That's about how it happened to me too. It was at a really odd time, during a giant ice storm that knocked out power in a large part of the city. It was the middle of the night and my room was freezing cold, well, down in the 40's, lol! Ironically, I had internet, because the modem downstairs has a battery, so I was wide awake, trying to keep warm and surfing, you guessed it, beeradvocate.com! Kaboom! ... thud. The bottle exploded, and half a second later, the top half of the bottle hit the carpet. After the initial startle (sounded like a 20 gauge shotgun with bird shot) there was a second or two of curiosity, wondering who on earth would be out causing trouble in an ice storm. Then the smell, ahhhhh ... I knew what happened.

 

It's in between B and M on your keyboard.

But the real answer is...nobody knows. It depends on the style of bottle, variability within the bottles (defects), and even on the temperature at which you store the bottles.

 

To echo what @ssam posted, it would be prudent to use thick walled returnable bottles for 3.5 volumes. I have a batch of Grodziskie carbonating right now; I primed this batch to be 2.9 volumes and I used nothing but thick walled returnable bottles for this batch.

Cheers!

 

In theory, a brand new 12 oz long neck bottle - never used - should be safe to ~3.5 volumes, but a slight manufacturing defect means you're wearing glass shards. If you really want to push the envelope and go higher - the right answer is to go for champagne style bottles. Something with thicker glass and a nice punt at the bottom. But - fair warning - they can still do the shardarific mambo. (To be fair - this was under about 5.5 volumes and we had just placed the neck in a -20F bath of acetone and dry ice)

 

I would not use my regular stock of brown bottles for anything over 3 volumes. On my last hefe, I used my Grolsh swing-top bottles and carbed to 3.5 volumes. They are thicker-walled than my brown bottles and I just felt that they were a safer option... and they were!

 

If you don't get any bombs, then you'll know that the next step is N+1...

 

IIRC...glass beer bottles are 'rated' to 4 vols.
PETS go to 10.

 

Here is what I do, and I cannot recommend this enough:

step 1: buy a lot of Orval
step 2: drink a lot of Orval
step 3: save all Orval empties
step 4: use only Orval empties for any beer that might result in bottle bombs in normal bottles

The great thing about this process is twofold: you never really have to worry about bottle bombs (within reason), and step 2.