Bottle bomb or not bottle bomb

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BREWERS DROOP

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Well upto now I have never had a bottle bomb.
So what do you think to this Picture ?
boxed a few bottles 2 weeks ago been under our stairs to carb up,opened the living room door “I smell beer” yes we have a leak from said box,but never experiencing a bomb no caps have come off just a round hole in the bottom of the bottle.
Am I right in thinking this was a cracked glass prior to bottling,or do bombs blow the lid and completely explode.
I don’t have a crash helmet to even contemplate lifting any out the box.
Any suggestions?
 

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My bottle bombs never blew the lid off, always the base of the bottle - so it could be one. I'd definately put some protective gear on, lift out a bottle carefully and open it: outside!

I always store my beer is plastic crates with a lid now, just in case one goes off.
 
If you are using second hand bottles you have no idea what happened to your bottles before you took them over. The one in question could have been dropped or bashed but stayed intact until it decided to fail. Added to which most 500ml bottles are designed for one trip and after then they are on borrowed time. You might have just been unlucky with your bottle. Years ago I used returnable 2 pint cider bottles and one failed on me. It just looked as if someone had cut it diagonally downwards with a sword into two pieces. And yet there was still beer inside below the lowest point of the fracture. All the others were fine.
Anyway as far as your remaining bottles are concerned I suggest you carefully remove one, wrap it up in an old towel and again in a poly bag and then put it in the fridge to cool it down as low as possible. And when you get to open it to test for overpressure, do it outside with safety goggles and thick gloves.
 
Bottom is deliberately the weakest part of the bottle. By design. Good bottles can withstand 12 atmosphere, but once they reach that they can explode at any point on the bottle. Yes, probably that part with your hand around it. That's why the bottoms are weakest: they go first, with reasonable (but not absurd) power and worst scenario is that it will spill all over your pants.
 
Thanks for the info folks.
Managed to slide the soggy cardboard box into one of them big tough supermarket bags with a concrete flagstone on top,and stuck it down the shed.
 
Bottom is deliberately the weakest part of the bottle. By design. Good bottles can withstand 12 atmosphere, but once they reach that they can explode at any point on the bottle. Yes, probably that part with your hand around it. That's why the bottoms are weakest: they go first, with reasonable (but not absurd) power and worst scenario is that it will spill all over your pants.
Can these blow months after? Or will it be during the first few weeks of carbing?
 
Can these blow months after? Or will it be during the first few weeks of carbing?

At any time the critical point is reached. Temperature helps too. Type of beer too. Some belgian ales require twice as much co2 as a regular ale. Overprime a begian kriek, leave too much head in the bottle, store it where it can pick up high ambient temperatures, have by coincidence a weak or old (possibly slightly damaged) bottle and it could go off. Not fliptops, their rubber ring sometimes works as a valve. But corks or caps? Yup, even after some time.
 
Do they still need conditioning? Put them in a bucket, or one of those plastic storage boxes.
Odds are small that it will happen again. Frankly, first picture of a bottle bomb I ever seen was yours.
Glass fermenters on the other hand... wow, that's a different kind of damage.
 
I cracked a bottle open last night and don’t seem to have a carbonation issue.I have now put them in a taped up plastic box just in case.
 
It happens. Hairline fracture in the glass caused by the using hot water or dropping it into the crate a bit un-gently. I had one like terrym's last year. Diagonal fracture all around the bottle about half way up. Top half of bottle lifted clean off leaving half a bottle of beer below the fracture line. No indication of anything like an explosion. Neverless, I put on my leather workshop apron and lifted the next one out gingerly after throwing a bath towel over the bottle. No problem with any of the others.
Sorry to lose that bottle- when Sainsbury's were doing an own-brand competitor to Magners cider, their pint bottles were the thickest and heaviest I have ever come across. Only 4 dozen minus 1 left!
 
Can these blow months after? Or will it be during the first few weeks of carbing?

If they blow within the first few weeks you've either bottled too soon or over-carbed. If they blow after months it's probably an infection: I've had a few of these over the years and they can take 3-4 month to produce enough CO2 to blow the bottle, they seem to keep fermenting away very slowly.
 
Hairline fracture in the glass caused by the using hot water
Not likely. I've just used boiling water for sanitising bottles for nigh on 45 years - if they crack they go with a bang straight away. In all that time I've only ever bust a handfull and never created a bottle bomb.
Changed now to cooking bottles in the oven as it's less tedious.
Have to say I always hold my breath when pouring boiling water into a demijohn though, but never bust one yet!
 
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