Brew UK Forum | Extract Brewing
Exploding Beer
Evening all,
Yep, had my first victim today, got home from work and found a broken beer bottle in the middle of the kitchen floor.
The recipe I was using was the Spiced honey beer, and now thinking about it, the beer already has 900g of sugar in it in the form of honey even before you have primed the bottles (80g sugar).
Does anyone think I'm right in thinking this and should have maybe held back on the priming sugar a little.
I have been using recycled 500ml bottles, the weather is not too hot, away from direct sunlight and about 1 inch for CO2 space.
Just hope this is not just the beginning of the exploding - I realise there are similar posts to this, I just really wanted to know if the honey was a contributing factor to the extra pressure
any advise would be great,
thanks Dave
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hi Dave
I take it this was a 23/25 ltr batch? Was it AG, Kit or extract? When was the honey added, if it was during the boil, then all fermentables will have... well, fermented in the FV. I can't see the problem was the honey if that is the case.
All else seems fine. 80g isn't too much for a 23 ltr batch, BeerSmith does all my calculations and it usually arrives at a figure around 130g for that size brew (although I often reduce it a little).
It could be a duff bottle (doh). How long have they been conditioning? I would (carefully) open one if I were you and see what the carbonation level is. If it is too high, transfer your bottles (very carefully) to the shed! Just as a matter of interest, how did the bottle make it from storage to the middle of the kitchen floor?
Good luck Dave!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Hi Dave, did you check the beer has completed fermentation before you bottled it?
80g of sugar for 40 pints is not a lot and would definitely not cause exploding bottles unless the beer was still fermenting when you put it in there.
I would take Tony advice and carefully open one.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Tony, Greg, thanks for the quick feedback
It was an extract brew and the honey was added during the boil.
Duff bottle seems to be the likely scenario for now as this happened less than 24 hrs after bottling. The only worrying thing is pressure is of course building for the other bottles as we speak.....!
I could transfer these to the garage but this place can also get pretty warm on a sunny day.
Greg - I must admit i was not totaly sure about initial fermentation, but the airlock had not bubbled for at least 12 hrs
I'll take your advise and try opening one tonight (as long as there are some left) and see what happens
as of 9am this morning, so far no more casualties.
Oh and the top half of the bottle must have shot up, hit the underside of the work surface and ended up in the middle of the kitchen floor
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Remember to wear full protective cricket gear and oven gloves when opening it tonight. Or better still get someone else to do it while you hide round the corner!
I reckon the lads are right, a dodgy bottle seems the best bet. Next time make sure the fermentation is complete with the aid of mr. hydrometer. If it reads the same for 2 days its time to bottle.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Is that your nextdoor neighbour nath... or a fancy new piece of kit?
:O)
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Member
What, dont you measure the relative humidity of your beer Tony?
;-p
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Dunno what you lads are on about.
(thank god for the edit button)
hehehehehe
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Dave out of curiosity, what bottles are they?
Posted 1 year ago by Member
cheers Gents
hmm, basically 500ml bottles from the "real ales" you can get at Tesco etc
should have a warning on the back of them I think.....
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Those bottles should be fine. Maybe it was just a dodgy one. Next time take a hydrometer reading and make sure its constant over a couple of days.
Mr Hydrometer may even be available!
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Some manufacturers are now making thinner bottle to save on glass. I believe Stella Artois actually advertise it! I've had a couple breaking/cracking when bottling in the past, should be fine.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
So, evening update:
So Far no more explosions.
Have tried very carefully prizing up one of the bottle caps, as expected, beer foams up and is slowly released.
Have only loosened the cap slightly but after 10 mins/5 trys its still foaming.
Think my best bet is keep the beer where it is as the garage can get warm when(if) the sun comes out and wait for a couple of weeks and hope??
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Can you not open the bottle then without beer foaming out?
Try sticking one in the fridge as this will help the beer absorb the Co2 and make them less fizzy.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
eventually got the bottle open and beer foamed out for a few minutes, lost a bit of beer to just below the neck.
Thanks Greg, stuck two in the fridge last night, this morning they were visibly less active on the surface. looks like this is working, might do the rest later on just over night to calm them down a bit.
Its all a learning experience.....
Posted 1 year ago by Member
It certainly is a learning experience, Dave. I remember when I used to bottle into 2L PET bottles. On at least 2 occasions merely opening a bottle resulted in almost a litre of beer fomaing out the top and all over the kitchen floor. Really gave you that whole pub experience, with the sticky floor, the smell of stale beer and rounded off by a fight with the missus.
-Barry
Conditioning (Bottles): Sam Adams Boston Lager Clone
Drinking (Bottles): Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
Drinking (King Keg): McMullen's Country Best Bitter
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
A standard night out then Barry!
I've had to ditch a whole batch of Admirals reserve once as every bottle just frothed and fizzed everywhere when opened, making them impossible to drink. Never really got the bottom of it, did some reading and it may have been an infection of some kind although it seemed fine when I put it in the bottles and they were okay to start with.
As Barry says, things sometime go wrong with home brewing but stick on it and learn by your mistakes. In your case I'm pretty sure the beer was still fermenting when you bottled it so next time make sure you take a hydro reading.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
:o) Bazza!
Excellent
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Member
afternoon all,
back again for one reason the second bottle went kkkkaaaaabbbbbbbooooommmmmmmm!
at by the state of the kitchen floor, if anyone was in the room at the time you would have lost your legs...
Anyhow, Spiced honey beer has been bottled for now for nearly two weeks and the temperature went up slightly with the sun coming out, so I'm guessing this is what has caused it.
tried opening another bottle, major spray etc. I am admitting a school boy error of bottling too early.
Only problem is there is no part of the house that is cool enough at this time of year, the garage also. So the whole lot has gone into a small old fridge i have in the garage. hopefully this will reduce the pressure.
Nath - need to get my tool kit out and build a brew fridge!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Nooooooo. Dave thats a crying shame. Exploding bottles are my worst nightmare, thankfully not one I've experienced yet.
Is it a completely stupid idea to suggest opening and recapping, just to let a bit of gas out? Be a shame to write the whole batch off.
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Bummer Dave. You may find they calm down after a few months.
Get the next brew on and learn from the mistake. Next time get the hydrometer out.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
So its been at least a month now since the first exploding bottle incident, there was evidence of an explosion not one had been witnessed..... until now!
Had placed a few 'bought in' bottles from the supermarket (sorry) in the fridge which had displaced a few highly volatile home brews (which have been cooling for the last month) so therefore placed these on the side.
After ten mins walked back into the room and suddenly heard a bang! and saw my life flash before my eyes, and half a bottle of glass. WOW!
Well that has now prompted me to sort this out. I'm thinking of donning the appropriate protective gear and re bottling this lot. Its like having 30 odd unexploded bombs in the garage!
Basically for each bottle, working at the cap to slowly let the gas out and unavoidably loosing some of the brew (prob around one quarter of each 500ml bottle) and decanting into a FV with little bottler attached. Then re-bottling.
Does anyone think its sensible to re-prime with a little sugar or not bother? if so how much?
cheers as always
Dave
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hmmmm, not pleasant dave ... and extremely dangerous. I have a nice scar under my lip now where my ginger beer exploded. I didn't take any chances, I took one bottle at a time (wrapped in a cold and wet tea towel) at 5am in the morning to the centre of the garden and with safety goggles on, uncapped each bottle. Each made a pop louder than any champagne bottle. I allowed the ginger beer to fountain out and then poured the remainder down the drain. About 16 bottles I think. I'm sure I would not have been the same with beer however and would have tried to save it.
How does it taste? How much remains in the bottle once you have opened it? Is there likely to be enough to save once opened?
Sorry to hear it dave!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Sorry to hear that Dave. I think I would tend to agree with Tony that is it really worth all the effort to re bottle?
I think I would be inclined to ditch the lot and move on but If you think its worth a try then open one or two and see what you can save.
BE REALLY CAREFUL THOUGH!
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
cheers guys, yes this could be a risky job.
I've tried a few times opening them but drinking from them is useless as so much sediment is kicked up. Was going to pour it through Muslim once opened to catch this is poss
Just fancied saving some is possible.
Once actually opened and not thinking about the sediment the brew is actually quite nice, about a third of the bottle is lost (of 500ml).
I'm going to try prizing the tops open slowly releasing gas, then eventually the top comes off, and pour.
I'll let you know the results (hopefully)
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