I tried to find this topic in the search but didn’t find it. Some background details, 3 weeks ago I brewed my first batch, Block Party Amber Ale. The brew and fermentation went great from everything I know. For bottling I used the standard 12oz bottles sold on Northern Brewer. Sanitized everything with IO-Star, including 24 12oz bottles, 5- 1/2 gal jugs, all hoses, caps, bottle filler, etc. Carbonated with corn sugar that came with the kit. 2o- 12oz bottles and 5- 1/2 gallon jugs have been just fine. ONE 12oz bottle burst.
Is this just something that happens, part of the process from time to time? If not, what could I have done wrong?
Thank you in advance
Without more info- like how you racked and primed the beer, Likely your priming sugar didn’t mix evenly. So some bottles might be over carbonated and some under carbonated.
To be safe I would carefully place the bottles into a safe place where exploding glass won’t harm you or anyone/anything else of course it could have been a rare occurrence with just that bottle but better to be safe.
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loopie_beer thank you for your response. Being my first batch, I followed the steps included in the kit to a T.
17. Mix a priming solution (a measured amount of sugar
dissolved in water to carbonate the bottled beer) of 2/3
cup priming sugar in 16 oz water. Bring the solution to a
boil and pour into the bottling bucket.
18. Siphon beer into bottling bucket and mix with priming
solution. Stir gently to mix—don’t splash.
19. Fill and cap bottles.
The only thing that was a little different is that I have the 6 gallon fermentation bucket with the spigot so instead of siphoning I just let gravity do the work for me and I attached a hose to the spigot and kept it from splashing. But what you said definitely hold merit and I will try to make doubly sure the priming solution is well mixed.
Thank you again
First of all welcome to the forum. Feel free to ask any questions you have.
With that those are generic directions. They work but if you have only 4.5gals of beer after fermentation that amount would be wrong. I’m not saying you did but just saying it’s important to know your amount in regards to this. Keep brewing and you’ll lock it all in as long as you’re keeping notes.
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Ask hank from breaking bad for advise
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After stirring it for 30 seconds in the bucket,let it set for a few minutes. Helps with the sugar dissolve and distribution. Not sure that was on the directions.
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I have had a few exploding bottles in my time but only once since switching to use the priming calculator on our host’s site.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator
@denny and @loopie_beer instructed me to use the highest temperature reached and not current temperature. This change has made all my bottles reach their a level of carbonation suitable for their style and no more gushers.
However, the most common cause of bottle bombs is bottling before fermentation is complete. Your beer must have a stable gravity for 3 or more days before you consider bottling.
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Good comments from all above. If you did not mix well enough, the initial first bottles will be higher in carbonation as sugars have higher density than water. If you somehow can tell first few from last few bottled chill and pour them to see if carbonation is substantially different. If it is, that may be the culprit. If they are all high carbonation, then likely culprit is not having complete fermentation. The instructions in my opinion are optimistic on the times. Longer fermentation times often needed to not only completely ferment but also to clean the beer of undesirable byproducts of fermentation. Agree with squeegeethree. I can’t see the volume of beer being 4.5 vs even 5.5 gallons causing explosion as the volume CO2 just is not that much higher with 4.5 vs 5.5 gallons (2.9 vs 2.5). Its important to use the right volume of beer in calculations but can not see it making bottle bombs.
Bottle bombs have been a rare occurrence in my limited experience. Be safe an set them in a safe place like a cooler to avoid shrapnel injury. Enjoy the brews and welcome to forum and brewing.
I’ve never had so much as a gusher with anything I’ve bottled so I’m probably due. To avoid them I make sure my sanitation practices are good, my fermentation is complete (yeast don’t use a calendar), and always use our host’s calculator. Welcome and happy brewing!
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I have had 2 batches turn into gushers. One was completely due to my priming solution being too high in sugar, which caused over carbonation in a few bottles, this led to some bottle bombs. My problem was that my priming sugar was actually maple syrup due to the recipe, and my syrup turned out to be more pure than the type I was told to use… So it was more easily fermentable and thus my calculations were wrong. Many broken bottles, many geysers that reached the ceiling.
The other time was due to a bacterial infection. A pellicle formed on the surface of my brew, but I wasn’t sure if this was natural oils from hazelnuts, or something nefarious. Turns out it was the latter. Every bottle results in what would be considered a gentle gusher. Nothing violent, but definitely led to a lot of foaming and wasted yield. If I wanted to drink it, I needed to split a single bottle between 2-3 glasses. Not fun
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