Broken Bottle - worry or no?

[jmck]

I just found a broken bottle in a case of Honey Ale. It’s only been conditioning for 11 days, and its surviving brothers already have nice carbonation. (It’s NB’s White House Honey Ale extract kit, plus an extra lb. of Honey. FG was 1.014@74F)

I’ve heard stories of Bottle Bombs embedding broken glass shards in walls, this bottle had the bottom fall out in a reasonably clean disk. I’m not entirely convinced it’s an over carbonation problem, but maybe my plastic beer case contained the explosion…

So, should I be suspicious that I have another 45+ ticking bombs, or do I suspect the bottle was cracked when I filled it or maybe that someone put something down on top of the case too hard.

I really want these bottles to condition more; the hops and the honey still need some time to learn how to live together; but If I have to get them all in the fridge and drink them before they blow, I’ll take some vacation days if that’s what it takes.

Any advice?

[loopie_beer]

How much priming sugar did you use? What is your bottling procedure?

It could be over carbonation or it could have been a bad bottle. If they are carbed it will not hurt to place them in the fridge to finish aging and to stop the carbonation.

[brewingrover]

Did you open other bottles to check their carb level? You can do that and recap. If you get gushers, I’d throw it all in the fridge.

I have had a bottle bomb break in exactly that manner. The only clue I had that things were going wrong was the puddle of beer on the floor.

[jmck]

@Loopie Beer, I still go lazy, and just used the standard 5oz sugar they offer at kit checkout. In terms of technique we just use the standard bottling bucket and fill wand. In terms of experience, we’ve done about 10 batches; so still quite a long way from “Expert,” but not a total novice either. A noob screw-up isn’t out of the question.

@BrewingRover, yes, I’ve a couple others opened. Carb levels seem really nice, no gushers, not even too much head. Although given their age, maybe “nice” is too much? They’re just coming up on two weeks this weekend.

The beer was flat, but they did seem a bit foamy at fill time. My wife was having difficulty getting the bottles filled because foam would come to the top, then as she pulled the wand out the actual beer level was just to the neck. Pretty sure fermentation was done; the bubbler seemed to have stopped, and the gravity seemed right. Could it be this one was just overfilled?

Room temperature has been 70-75; I could move them the basement which is more 65-70.

[ynotbrusum]

Or put them in a Rubbermaid type laundry tub with a cover of some type…they may be finishing off that honey, too.

[jmck]

I guess the plan at this point is to ride it out, I have them in C&W crates, which are amazingly durable, and clean up nicely. The crates are in plastic garbage bags, which should catch any further spillage. I’ll just keep checking for any further breakage daily. If I see more breakage, I’ll start chilling them.

[sjkrol01]

The exact thing happened to me. I re-read the directions and realized I put double the amount of priming sugar. I dumped all the rest of the beer with every bottle being nearly all foam. Mistakes happen!