Bottle Explosion After 3 months?

[4444244]

Hello,

In late March I brewed a Coopers Canadian Blonde with a jar of honey. I fermented for a good 2 weeks then bottled it and primed with half a teaspoon per bottle.

After a month, all was well and was very enjoyable. As time has gone on, the beer has been quite volatile when I open a bottle. It froths a lots and seems to spill out of the spout.

This evening, I've just gone into the spare room where my remaining bottles are and could smell dried beer. One of the bottles had cracked and emptied over the carpet. There was very little shattering to the bottle - the bottom of it had come pretty much clean off and another shard on the side. The lid was still attached. All other bottles are fine and I'm unsure how long ago this, but it was certainly in the last few days.

Is it possible for bottled beer to explode this long after fermentation? Are my other bottled in danger. Any advice/suggestion would be most welcome here!!

 

[stevej]

What was the fg when you bottled

 

[4444244]

Around the 1010 mark, so seemed safe to do at the time.

 

[stevej]

Around the 1010 mark, so seemed safe to do at the time.

So just 1 bottle has exploded ? and after 3 months, Maybe just one weak bottle never had one explode after that time tbh

 

[McMullan]

I think the yeast, if they were responsible, would have done this sooner. Possible infection? Aided by the hot weather?

 

[4444244]

So I'm guessing just keep an eye on them and get them drunk asap?!

 

[Dads_Ale]

You will probably find the honey is to blame as it ferments very slowly. The residual honey has been fermenting in the bottle increasing the carbonation level over time well beyond the level required, as you have found when opening the bottles over time.
I would suggest handling the bottles carefully, in case another explodes, and transfer to somewhere cold if possible. I would certainly put them in the fridge a few hours before drinking, hopefully this may abate the gushing somewhat.

 

[MyQul]

Store em in a cardboard box or at least on some newspaper. That way if you do get any more explosions the beer can get soaked up.

 

[stevej]

Or give them to me and i will store them in my tummy:rofl:

 

[Twostage]

Talking of which I've got some bottles that I know are over carbonated. I want to release the pressure by opening and then re-capping. Do I do this by chilling first so that they don't foam or leave them warm and open carefully ?

I've already done a chilled opening once and my PET tester bottle hardened back up in two days. So is it another chill-open-cap or open-cap ?

 

[Covrich]

I had a gusher once.. only once. just assumed it was perhaps down to possibly a bottle which wasn't cleaned properly and possibly had a bit of scud in..

 

[terrym]

Maybe just one weak bottle never had one explode after that time tbh

Many years ago I used to bottle into 2 pint former cider bottles (the ones with the pot tops). They were made from really thick glass, and were intended to be returned and re-used. However, a friend who worked in the glass industry told me that they did have a design life (I seem to remember ten return trips). I had one bottle crack spectacularly in use so that may have borne out what he said.
Modern bottles are intended as one trip only, and the glass is as thin as their design allows and repeated re-use will probably weaken them and exploit any inherent flaws, so some may ultimately fail.

 

[Cwrw666]

The warm weather may just be enough so that dissolved C02 in the beer is forced out as warm water can hold much less dissolved gas than cold. This could make the pressure in the bottles rise alarmingly. Just refrigerate them if you can, it'll also stop the gushing as the released gas in the bottle will be reabsorbed.
Bottles might have a limited life expectancy in the industry but should last for ages with careful home use. Most of the bottles I'm using I started with in the 1980s and they're still fine - the few I've had to discard have been because the glass round the top has started to break up from repeated capping and opening.

 

[Slid]

Talking of which I've got some bottles that I know are over carbonated. I want to release the pressure by opening and then re-capping. Do I do this by chilling first so that they don't foam or leave them warm and open carefully ?

I've already done a chilled opening once and my PET tester bottle hardened back up in two days. So is it another chill-open-cap or open-cap ?

This seems to be a problem as the temperatures go up at this time of year. If you have screw top lids, then loosening them to vent off some gas seems to help.

If you don't, then even if you get no explosions, the excess CO2 acidifies the beer and it tastes rather nastily of carbonic acid.

I can't advise on crown capped bottles - maybe it is possible to loosen and recap?

 

[Twostage]

This seems to be a problem as the temperatures go up at this time of year. If you have screw top lids, then loosening them to vent off some gas seems to help.

If you don't, then even if you get no explosions, the excess CO2 acidifies the beer and it tastes rather nastily of carbonic acid.

I can't advise on crown capped bottles - maybe it is possible to loosen and recap?

These are crown caps (first ones I've ever used typically). Tried opening one warm tonight and it was a slow volcano, managed to re-cap. So my plan is to re-chill, open carefully and then let them rest. I'm hoping that as they warm up they will de-gas slowly enough for the beer to stay in the bottle.

 

[Tony1951]

Talking of which I've got some bottles that I know are over carbonated. I want to release the pressure by opening and then re-capping. Do I do this by chilling first so that they don't foam or leave them warm and open carefully ?

I've already done a chilled opening once and my PET tester bottle hardened back up in two days. So is it another chill-open-cap or open-cap ?

I did this opening and release the surplus gas thing a couple of months back with a crate of my Cooper's IPA. The result was erratic and generally quite disappointing. Most of them were very flat after re-sealing and didn't drink that well because of that. The erratic thing was caused by the differing times between release and re-sealing. Some had gassed off more than others. I won't do that again except in a grotesque case of over-carbonation, which is easily avoidable anyway.

My solution for the other two cases that weren't allowed to gas off was to pour the 500ml bottles into a large jug. It froths up ridiculously, but is easily poured and drinks very well.

 

[McMullan]

I'd chill the beer before attempting to degas. I had an over-carbed stout that I was pouring, chilled, into a two litre water water jug, because of excess foaming. It was lovely when it lost its fizz and warmed up a bit. I'll never use WLP004 again, being a superstitious home brewer :lol:

 

[Hopping_Mad]

Many years ago I used to bottle into 2 pint former cider bottles (the ones with the pot tops). They were made from really thick glass, and were intended to be returned and re-used. However, a friend who worked in the glass industry told me that they did have a design life (I seem to remember ten return trips). I had one bottle crack spectacularly in use so that may have borne out what he said.
Modern bottles are intended as one trip only, and the glass is as thin as their design allows and repeated re-use will probably weaken them and exploit any inherent flaws, so some may ultimately fail.

I'm guessing that I have commercial bottles I might have used a dozen times - and I've not bad one go on me yet!

That said, I only do ales and I don't like them massively carbonated so they are probably not under as much pressure as they could be.

 

[DanST]

You will probably find the honey is to blame as it ferments very slowly. The residual honey has been fermenting in the bottle increasing the carbonation level over time well beyond the level required, as you have found when opening the bottles over time.
I would suggest handling the bottles carefully, in case another explodes, and transfer to somewhere cold if possible. I would certainly put them in the fridge a few hours before drinking, hopefully this may abate the gushing somewhat.

You've got me seriously worried now about the under attenuated pilsner I bottled a couple of weeks ago that I brewed with a jar of honey :$

 

[Dads_Ale]

I would open the odd bottle now and then to see if you have a problem.