Bottle Bombs

You have the gist of it. Handle as if they are bombs even if it was just an isolated incident. I had a bottle break last year. It ended up being just one bottle affected, but I handed every bottle from that batch with extreme care after

 

I did an internet search last year to try to determine if glass fatigue is possible, but I came up with nothing in the way of factual documentation that re-used glass can suffer fatigue. If you had a bottle break/explode, and you don't think it was over-carbed, then it has to be from a flaw in the glass from manufacture or rough handling and unseen damage before you refilled it.

But if the bottle sat since October, I'd say that you had too much sugar for the yeast to eat because of the priming sugar or the primary fermentation was not complete. If your primary fermentation was not complete, you've got a real problem. Or you can hope that it's being caused by the priming sugar, and that maybe you had some inconsistent mixing of the sugar and you won't have issues with any (or few) of your other bottles. Either way, I'd put yourself in charge of opening them (if you use them at all), and you really don't want to give any of them away.

Take precautions for now by putting all of them in a big metal or plastic tub with a cover, and keep them as cool as possible. Use every precaution that you can to open another one to help you evaluate what the problem might be, and then decide from there whether you can use them. If it's a gusher, you can probably assume there are others. Taste it to see if it's sour, which will tell you that an infection is the source of your problem. If you think that they are all gushers, it's not really practical to try to serve this beer because it's going to be nearly all foam anyway, what beer is left (if it's not sour) will have disturbed the sediment from the bottom of the bottle and give you a less that good drinking experience.

Good luck.

 

Probably a defective/'tinked' bottle, if only one has broken and they were cellared at identical temps...but just to be sure, call in the SWAT team with a face shield and towels and open another one carefully as Mothergoose03 suggests.

 

This happened on a pale ale a few years back - forgot to clean a few of the bottles and they blew. Huge pain in the ass to clean up too ... I would do what the others suggested above and proceed with caution. Hopefully it was just one bottle that was overlooked when you were bottling, and forgot to clean it all the way.

 

Glass does suffer from cumulative damage.
http://byo.com/malt/item/416-can-homebrewers-use-twist-off-bottles-for-their-beer

 

I'm surprised that someone asked that question about using twist-off bottles. I thought those things were virtually extinct. I think all threads on the BA site have discouraged their use in the past. And I'm also surprised that the word 'fatigue' was used in the reply because I came up very empty when I did my research on this topic.

But I'm even more surprised that the reply said that you can use a wing capper to put twist-off caps onto twist-off bottles. I don't think I want to agree with that because the small indentations on a twist-off cap are positioned around the cap at an angle that matches the angle of the threads so that they grip into the threads. So I think the only way to install a twist-off cap is to twist it on so that those small creases will follow the threads. Trying to clamp one of these caps onto the glass threads would require that the indentations and the threads be aligned perfectly or else the indentations are likely to land on the crown of a glass thread and cause a break in the thread or the entire threaded area of the bottle. And certainly they would not hold that cap if they aren't clamped into the thread's valleys.

 

I had a bottle neck snap in half on my second batch. I'd assume if this can happen the same bottle won't want to hold pressure and could explode.

 

In order of probability:

1) Bad glass. You reused a bottle with a flaw. Homebrew bottle conditioning usually leads to more pressure than counterpressure fills at a brewery and it popped.

2) Dirty bottle. You missed something in sanitizing or bottling and this bottle (at least) had some bugs in it that added to your pressure.

3) Over carbed. Either you weren't at terminal gravity or you added too much priming sugar and your whole batch is in danger.

4) Infected batch. Also, all in danger.

 

I noticed that when I had a lot of crooked stave bottles on hand, and I was reusing them for homebrewing that they would break during capping at least a third of the time (clean break at the neck below where the capper pulls up against the neck to pull the cap down). A few more would usually snap off at the same point when I went to uncap the bottles to serve later on. Fortunately never had a bomb, though - and I've stopped resusing bottles used by CS. All bottles from different batches/different years from CS so either they have a crappy glass supplier, or their bottling process puts more stress on the bottles than any other commercial brewery I reuse bottles from.

 

How? Are you saying....

1) Brewery filled bottles tend to contain less volumes of CO2 after filling losses than home brewers tend to carbonate to? If so, what makes you think that?

--or--

2) That something inherent in the process of bottle carbonating leads to higher pressures? If so, what would that be?

 

I have had the same experience when re-bottling certain brands. For me it's always been Trillium bottles. They have a slightly larger lip than traditional bottles. I suspect my red capper puts more pressure on the larger lip. I've broken a few of these bottles, and have stopped using them.

 

Are you using the red capper with the metal inserts? If so, do you flip the inserts around to the 29mm side for the larger lipped bottles?

 

Open a bottle and see if its over carbed. If it is re cap all of your beers. Be carful!

 

I have capped twist off bottles by accident and they worked fine. I would not intentionally do it though.

 

I'm saying that most homebrew ales end up above the 1.8-2.2 vols that you find in commercial beers.

 

I think your estimate for the avg commercial beer is low. I'd estimate 90%+ of the beers I've seen specs on are carbonated to 2.5+.

@billandsuz, I reckon you have probably dealt with more commercial beer CO2 volume levels than any of us. What's your experience?

 

I do use that capper. I didn't know you could do that! Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look tonight.

 

In the craft beer world, where brands and flavors tend to rotate fairly quickly it can be overwhelming. And since system resistance is static once it goes in, the only option is minor tweaks of pressure. Basically, if it goes flat, increase psi 1 or 2 points. If it is a Macro, or Guinness then yes, it is dialed in accurately.

Let's see. It can vary, but in order from lowest to highest
Stout/Porter
"Craft" beer
Macro lager
Belgians (though of course that can vary widely)
This is from the Micromatic Draft Manual. There are of course exceptions. Getting it right is important, especially if the keg will linger for more than a few days. There is also some experience involved

I have some data from the google, most from my Micromatic instructor. Keep in mind that this is sometimes second hand and that brewers are free to change it up, so no guarantees. Also mergers and acquisitions man.

All A/B, 2.7
Coors Light (no Z Label): 2.9 - 36deg, 14 PSI
Miller Light: 2.6 - 38deg, 12 PSI. as of 2011 all Miller Coors are reportedly 2.6
Harp: 2.6 - 38deg, 12 PSI
Smithwicks: 2.7 - 38deg, 13 PSI
Dos Equis Lager: 2.7 - 38deg, 13 PSI
killians Irish Red 2.75
Bud Light 2.7
Sierra Nevada (all beers) 2.6 - 2.7 also reportedly 2.5
Bells 2.5
Hop Devil 2.65
Blue Point, Summer and Toasted 2.42
Firestone Walker 2.4
Fat Tire 2.5
Anchor Steam 2.6
Sly Fox 2.5 - 2.55
DF 60 , 2.5-2.6
Dales 2.6, keg and can
Goose Island Urban Wheat 2.6
Boston Lager and most all BBC 2.55
Yards Philadelphia PA 2.6
Strongbow - 3.924 g/l. This is twice v/v so 1.962 (and that's dullllll)
Hazed and Infused 2.46
Bridgeport 2.55
Lagunitas 2.7-2.8
Labatt Bleu 2.6-2.8
Shipyard Pumpkin 2.55
Kentucky and Bourbon Barrel 2.6
Blue Moon 2.75
Switchback 2.45
Long Trail 2.5
Turbo Dog 2.65
Full Sail 2.5
Dead Guy 2.4
Flying Dog 2.65
Weyerbacher 2.7
Sculpin 2.65
Rare Vos 2.65-2.7
Stone Arrogant Bastich 2.5
Shiner Bock 2.65 or 2.75
Allagusher White 2.6-2.7 or 2.45
Harpoon all, 2.5
Magic Hat 2.50-2.60
Nugget Nectar 2.7
Victory Headwater and Dirtwolf 2.50
ST Live 2.65
Woodchuck 1.8-2.0
Prima Pils 2.42-2.52
Brooklyn Summer 2.7-2.75
Sweetwater IPA 2.5
Great Divide Titan and Hercules
Oskar Blues Yella Pils 2.6-2.65
Kona Brewery 2.4+/- .08


It can be difficult to get the carbonation data for many beers. Big brewers do have it, but distributors might not know what vols are, and many times distributors are useless. They sell it, they don't brew it. Hops, abv? The good ones are knowledgeable. Vols? Blank stare.
Very small brewers don't know either sometimes, they just keg their beer with experience.

The best bet is to contact the brewer directly, and be sure to talk to a real brewer. The kid working to get through college at the tasting room is clueless. Don't rely on that kid.

Hope this helps.
Cheers.

 

My experience has been that one or two bottle bombs doesn't mean a whole batch of exploding bottles.