Just posting to make people aware, back in Jan I brewed my first ever homebrew batch. I've never done extract or biab, this was AG. I followed the Brooklyn brewshop recipe for a porter but added some hot choc powder mix hoping to add my own kick. It turned out like shit, but everyone says hold on to it for a few months just to see. I am not blaming anyone but myself, I thought I added the right amount of priming sugar and everything was good, I even opened one a month ago to see and even though it wasn't great it didn't explode like this one. Well this time it literally shot out of my hands and flew across a 10 foot kitchen, hit the wall and kept going until it hit the front door and stopped, you can't even imagine the dark syrupy mess. On paper this is hilarious but I had my 8 and 1 year old daughters in the house with me and it scared the shit out of me. I don't know what went wrong with the carb but this is just a warning to the new brewer, its a ton of fun but always take caution.
I'm glad no one was injured. Your tale of personal experience should go a long way toward causing even the experienced brewers here to be cautious. Thanks for posting.
The common name for this is a bottle bomb and it happens to all homebrewers at some point. Make sure your beer is completely fermented and watch how much priming sugar you add. Glad everyone is safe
Just another reason I'm totally head over heals for my kegs. And always use protection. http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?16958862#tag
I'm glad that ended with just a scare for you. I bottled my first home brew too early and decided to open and recap all my bottles. It sucked. For my second home brew, I tried Jamil's Harold-Is-Weizen recipe and primed for 2.7 volumes of CO2 as he recommends 2.5 - 3.0 volumes. But the Brewer's Friend site recommends 3.3 - 4.5 volumes. What do you guys use to guide you on how much to prime?
Why is this noteworthy? Is it b/c in this day and age of twist-off caps...pointing the top of a capped carbonated beverage toward someone or something least it become a projectile is no longer common sense?
The bottle was never pointed at anyone, I shared the information because I've seen how much home brewing has grown just since I've been on BA and wanted to give any of the newer guys a heads up. I've had these bottles sitting in a box for the past 6 months in my office, who knows what would have happened if they went untouched for a few more months? I was lucky I opened them and made a mess, instead of them exploding and really hurting someone. I'm not sure why you felt the need to chime in like you did, jivex5k is correct you are an asshole.
I don't think it's happened to all home brewers.. Probably the ones that didn't read and learn before jumping into things, or slow down and take notes of the process. Not saying I'm better, but I've never had a bottle bomb.. I also have only ever bottled 4 batches.
My personal experience has shown that switching between yeasts can be a pretty easy cause of something like this. I try to keep my battle carbing beers in a stable environment, opening them periodically after the one or two 2 week mark just to be safe and putting them in the fridge as soon as I see they are ready. A quick warm day here in Texas can hurry up the process pretty easily. I haven't had a bottle shoot around on me but I have had some gushers because I bottled thinking the yeast was done and it wasn't. Usually that happens when Ive brewed with one yeast for a while and switch to something else. My brewing partner did have some bottles pop on him from the same batch because his place is pretty warm.
When I bottled, I never had a bottle bomb. However, I was acutely aware of the possibility and never aimed for higher than 3 volumes. Like most homebrewers, I reused commercial bottles that were not designed for re-use, so even though some beer styles call for >3 volumes, I opted to err towards safety. I'll add, that if I am enjoying a beer carbed to three volumes, I am unlikely to conclude that the beer would be better if it had greater carbonation.
Peter (@pweis909) brought up the topic of 3 volumes of CO2. A few months ago I brewed a Grodziskie beer and that style calls for elevated carbonation (e.g., 3.5 volumes). For that batch I made two decisions: · I only bottled in reusable bottles (since they are sturdier) · I used a priming calculator to target 2.9 volumes I generally do not like beers that are highly carbonated. For example, it is common for Belgian Trappist/Abby Ales to be highly carbonated. Those highly carbonated beers have a carbonic acid bite that is unappealing to me. When I pour a Trappist/Abby Ale I use a BIG Tulip glass and I pour vigorously to dissipate the CO2 plus I let the glass ‘sit’ for 5 minute to de-carbonate. Then I drink; yum! Now, back to my Grodziskie; with hindsight being 20/20 I wish this particular beer was a bit more highly carbonated to assist in the perception of mouthfeel for this type of beer. Next time I will: · Only bottle in reusable bottles (since they are sturdier) · Target something like 3.3 volumes of CO2 I would not recommend that any homebrewer carbonate greater than 3 volumes with today’s commercial bottles; they seem too thin & flimsy for higher carbonation levels to me. Cheers!
If you homebrew and bottle, odds are it will happen. I made a batch and it got infected. Didn't know it and was aging it. So, after a few months I had 2 break. The rest were geisers and had to dump. At the time, I had been brewing for about 13 or 14 years. Guess I did a crappy job sanitizing on that batch
One more point to add about using standard commercial bottles: gradually, I would remove them from circulation, figuring that they must accumulate stress over time. Now, I never had bottle bombs with home brew, so I can't say how many times they can be reused. I just got to a point where I didn't feel like I needed more bottles, so if I brought a six pack home and I wasn't feeling too lazy, I might remove the labels and replace six of the old, empty bottles in the cellar.
Bottle bombs happen because almost all beginners will prime to 5 gallons and almost no beginners end up with 5 gallons in the bottling bucket. Given the timeframe in yours, OP, I would say its more likely an infection.
My one and only bottle bomb came when I added port in the bottling bucket to a vanilla coffee porter. It was perfect for a couple of months and tasted awesome but I had a couple of bottles sit around for over 6 months. Ended up being shards of glass and beer all over my basement next to my daughters surplus Barbie dolls. Don't add a 20-year tawny post boil to bottle conditioned beer.
The guy shared an experience that was a little scary, and sparked some discussion. What's your problem with that?
I've been brewing since 1998, I have made a few gushers but I have yet to make a bomb. I have always heard of people having exploding bottles, I knew a guy that had one explode. I have always been super vigilant/Paranoid when it comes to clean and sanitized bottles. But I have to ask: It being your first brew why not something more middle ground to learn with? Why jump into it so hard core? It takes some time to learn the ins and outs, be patient and brew something less complicated and learn the process, then experiment.
Homebrews are not the only types of beers that have sent the cap flying through the air with the greatest of speed. This has happened to me with commercial beers too. It's probably more likely to occur with homebrew because carbonation in bottles is not a particularly exact science. I admit, I eyeball the volume and make an educated guess as to how much sugar to use. And, perhaps most frighteningly, I personally prefer the higher end of carbonation, and will use corn sugar at a rate of 5 oz (140g) per five gallons (so 28g/gallon). Back in the day there were glass quart bottles of COKE. I recall my younger brother dropping one on his foot when he was about 6 or 7. We were in the garage when he dropped it, and he was wearing flip-flops. The bottle not only broke one of his toes, but it exploded like a friggin' carbonated hand grenade. Only glass carboys have maimed and/or killed more living creatures than those old returnable glass coke bottles. The carnage (not to mention the mess) was horrendous. We had to call in the marines, as they were the only ones who could possibly enter such a scene of carnage and still be able to properly fire their guns. Properly clean bottles prevent infections, which are the most likely source of exploding bottles or projectile caps (not to mention the beer will probably taste like shit). Rinsed several times with hot water, completely dried upside down, then covered with a square of foil till bottling day. And if you're a noob, don't assume you have 5 gallons and just dump in whatever sugar the kit came with. You could easily have 4.5 or even 4 gallons of beer. It takes a bit of practice to eyeball it within a reasonable tolerance. If there are no markings on your bucket or carboy (or if they are wrong), your estimates will be considerably less accurate. Even if you think you're golden, you might not be. I had a bottle bomb spontaneously explode during an ice storm, when the power was out, and it was 47 degrees in my room. Sounded like a shotgun was fired*. The carbonation level was not unreasonable, and the rest of the batch wasn't especially over-carbonated. I say again, bottle conditioning of beers for homebrews is less than an exact science. Or at least it's not going to be an exact science for me, because that would be one step towards turning my hobby into work. So expect the best, but plan for the worst. Stock your doomsday bomb-shelter with lots of beer, but each individual beer should be contained in its own personal steel ammo can. Of course since we all have ridiculously huge amounts of ammo** hoarded in our personal doomsday shelters, obtaining these many ammunition cans / beer protectors is no problem. *oddly, the power was out all night, but the internet thingie has a battery on it, so I had cable all night. I happened to be awake at about 3am when the asplosion occurred. While it was a bit of a shock, I quickly deduced what it had to be, because if there was ever a night when there would NOT be anyone out causing trouble, this would be the night. Heck even the dog barely flinched. **ammo which of course is to be used for deer hunting, as per the constitution. We all know how wiley those white-tails can be. That's why George Washington put in the constitution that we can have all the guns we want, including 50 cals, AK-47s, fully automatic crew-served machine guns... deer hunting! Viva America!
When did you add the hot chocolate mix? If you added it after fermentation, no wonder you got bombs. If you added it prior, I bet that when you racked to bottles, a lot of solids passed with it, giving more nucleation points for CO2 to form and thus, bottle rockets. Moral of the story is to follow the goddamn recipe until you really know what you're doing or you'll murder your children.
