Bottle Explosion

[Blues]

I finished my second batch of beer recently. It turned out nice and friends and family have given me positive feedback. This last Monday, 16 days after bottling I had one bottle to explode. None since. I took a couple of random bottles from the case and opened them over the sink (wrapped in a towel). Neither was a gusher. In fact there was just a normal pffft sound when I opened them and they tasted ok without an inordinate amount of carbonation. My theory is that I must have failed to stir the priming solution after I siphoned the beer from fermenter into the bottling bucket and one bottle (or more) received more than its share of sugar. I'm keeping the case of beer in the bathtub covered with towels just in case. What say you?

 

[ChicoBrewer]

Or that bottle was infected with something that eats sugar the yeast wouldn't touch.

 

[J A]

It's pretty common for bottles to retain just a little skunge here and there. Unless you have a bullet-proof regimen for cleaning bottles, you could get just a little bit of a wild thang in a bottle or two.
Your notion of uneven carbonation is valid, though. It would mean that some bottles were noticeably undercarbee, too.

 

[Nosybear]

Or that bottle was infected with something that eats sugar the yeast wouldn't touch.

That's my vote. If you stirred your priming sugar or syrup in, it'll stay stirred in - sugar is soluble enough in water that at the concentrations we're using, it won't stratify.

 

[Hawkbox]

No picture of the exploded bottle?

 

[Drewfus1]

Uneven priming sugar distribution seems likely. But you may also just have had a weak bottle. If there was a little chip or crack in the bottle it may have been the culprit. If you find the carbonation is even in the rest of the bottles this could be the case. Still, a good gentle stir of the bottling bucket before you start filling bottles is a good habit to get into. I always sample the dregs of the bottling bucket after bottle filling. It should taste just slightly sweet. If it tastes sickly sweet, some of your sugar was sitting on the bottom and the last few bottles you filled should be put in a rubbermaid container to condition.

 

[Blues]

No picture of the broken bottle but the way it broke was interesting. I had a case of empties sitting on top of the case of full bottles. The empty bottle directly above the exploded bottle was propelled out of the case but it didn't break. When I lifted the broken bottle it was intact except for the very bottom so essentially it came apart in only two pieces.

 

[jmcnamara]

No picture of the broken bottle but the way it broke was interesting. I had a case of empties sitting on top of the case of full bottles. The empty bottle directly above the exploded bottle was propelled out of the case but it didn't break. When I lifted the broken bottle it was intact except for the very bottom so essentially it came apart in only two pieces.

the few bombs i've had were like that. kinda weird that the force was vertical, rather than outward equally from the center of the bottle

 

[Hogarthe]

Weak bottle. Maybe that one got dropped or it had a thin spot when it was made.

 

[J A]

I can get behind that theory^^^.
It makes sense based on the break. A bump on the edge of the bottom could have started a crack that wouldn't have leaked or cracked all the way until there was pressure.

 

[Nosybear]

There's a little "rim" on the bottom of the bottle. In engineering terms, that's called a strain enhancer. If it's going to break anywhere under pressure, that's where it should start. The few bottle bombs I've had have done the same thing.

 

[thehaze]

If the bottle in question was previously used for another beer or beers, then there is a big chance that the bottle had a little speck of something " left " from the other beers, which would cause gushers.