Exploding Bottles -- what's your story

[FOF]

Hi All,
I wanted to relate my experience both to warn new brewers and for a bit of fun.

I had bottled a Bavarian lager that had stopped bubbling.
I stored it in the sleepout / computer room while waiting for the sampling day.
One morning I could smell this awfull stench coming from there and found a stubby had exploded. She who must be obeyed was not happy.
Carrying the trays to the shed without a care I removed the stench.
Later that morning all hell broke loose with bottles exploding like hand grenades. I needed them outa there so threw a cloth over them and got the trays outside in the sun.... Wrong.
Boom, boom, boom, and glass showered the lawn and roof 10 metres/30feet away.
Praying to the master brewer, I got a bag and covered them, then sprayed water on the lot to cool them down.
Those left were tipped down the drain.
I enjoy my beer and will probably die from it but I don't expect it to blow my head off.

Lesson learned... Always use the hydrometer to check if fermentation has stopped and if in doubt leave it for a few more days.

That's my story, what's yours,
cheers,
FOF

[Tourist]

I store my bottles in the garage, which is also where the missus' 3 cats sleep at night. The situation you describe is perfect for my needs in addressing my feline population issues.

From the time you bottled, how long did it take for them to explode? i.e. if I primed each stubbie with 1/2 cup of sugar at 9am, could I have the job done (quickly and painlessly) by the following morning? Is there enough power in a bottle to "neutralise" a tabby?

Does this make me a bad person?

[Dogger Dan]

I am sure I should be saying something sagely right now but,

It seems like a waste of good beer just to off a few felines when the neighbours dog could do the same thing?

Dogger

[FOF]

Hi Tourist,
It took about 12 days before they went off.
The answer is simple.....
Just mix the right brand of brewing sugar with the cats food and they won't come back...

Cheers,
FOF

[shane_vor]

One of my earliest brews (when I lived in the very same town FOF!) was the subject of much amusement when after a couple of explosions I realised I'd overprimed or bottled too early.

One afternoon my brother was working on his car, I kindly brought out a beer for his consumption (so he thought). While he was under the car I gave the bottle a mighty shake, set it down near him and 'remembered' that I had to go back inside to grab some glasses.....I was not popular for a few days after that, but he got me back.

[Tourist]

I am sure I should be saying something sagely right now but,

It seems like a waste of good beer just to off a few felines when the neighbours dog could do the same thing?

Dogger

How do you lock a doberman in your garage and make it look like an accident? Trust me - I've already pondered this.

[lethaldog]

I am sure I should be saying something sagely right now but,

It seems like a waste of good beer just to off a few felines when the neighbours dog could do the same thing?

Dogger

How do you lock a doberman in your garage and make it look like an accident? Trust me - I've already pondered this.

Throw the cat over the fence and hope the dog catches it, then come inside and say hey has anybody seen the cat

[Tourist]

I am sure I should be saying something sagely right now but,

It seems like a waste of good beer just to off a few felines when the neighbours dog could do the same thing?

Dogger

How do you lock a doberman in your garage and make it look like an accident? Trust me - I've already pondered this.

Throw the cat over the fence and hope the dog catches it, then come inside and say hey has anybody seen the cat

God, I hope she never reads this thread.....

[FOF]

I once went to Adelaide for a weeks holiday.
Two days after I had been gone the neighbours cat was spotted at the shed window frantically trying to get out.
The son in law had to break in to let it out....
And the cat still comes back.....

[gregb]

So I was visiting Mum & Dad, about a three hour drive, out past Lithgow.
Took some of my recent brews for Dad to try, all was good. The favour was returned, and I head off home in the afternoon with a selection tucked into a carry basket behind the front seat.

Heading into the level crossing at Ben Bullen, a bit overspeed for the 90o left (rattle klank), across the tracks (more rattle klank from the bottles - never been a problem before...) then into the 90o rightie Rattle, klank from the bottles as we speed up down the hill. Then rattle klank tink boonk. What's that smell?

Sure enough one stubby has launched itself from the floor up onto the backseat, all the while spraying black goodness.

No cats were harmed in this story. See if you can't get tiddles to sleep under the back tyre of a reversing vehicle some time.

Cheers,
Greg

[Dogger Dan]

Let the creature crawl up on the engine block and fire it up?

The other thing, it is far easier to seek forgivness that it is permission. If she really loves you she will stay. So I guess it would be like ridding oneself of one or two issues

But if it doesn't work, I deny ever recommending any of these ideas, remember this a beer making forum and I know very little about removing cats from the premises and even less about women

Dogger

[chris.]

I store my bottles in the garage, which is also where the missus' 3 cats sleep at night. The situation you describe is perfect for my needs in addressing my feline population issues.

A few dried ground Habenero Chilli's sprinkled over their bedding will get your message across

[Boonie]

Topic should be changed to "How to get rid of cats" without the missus finding out....

Anyway sorry still laughing at the Chilli one, I have had no explosions as I always taste test, oops, I mean test brew with my hydrometer.

As long as the temp is stable and high enough for that particular yeast, it should not go dormant.

My mate has had 1 explode under his house,which is one that I made him.

It just so happened that his son was playing cricket out there at the time, and as kids always say, Wasn't me Dad....it just blew up

[Schooner]

Been there done that,

I first started brewing in stub's and thankfully stored them in my shed in styro coolites, did not get a full fermentation when I bottled and had 54 of 60 go off - threw the works in the bin .

to add insult to injury a short time after that I was loading the bottom of my beer fridge from a coolite and heard a light clank and louder pop noise followed by a shower of glass coming down all over the place .I took most of the blast in the arm pit and what didn't fall out I had to pull out ( am glad I was sitting and not looking into the thing) blood everywhere and have some beaut scars to remind me - NEVER RUSH A BREW.

since then 4 years no grenades and not 1 bad bottle

[damonpeyo]

When I was brewing in Queensland, like 4-5 years ago, I find they more prone to exploding. Made a batch of very boring stout, somehow they were not ready for bottling, maybe over primed, I stored them in the summer, when I made them when the average temp's. was 35-40C a day every bottle was exploded, I bottled like 23 or so bottles, all bottles exploded in short period of week, but only 3 bottles survived unexploded, and didn't bother taste them for other least 9 mths down the track when I had to move and pack up the house as I totally forgot about these three bottles of stout, seriously, they were the best stouts I have ever drank, not too fizzy, creamy guniness-like type of heads, and I have no idea what the f--- I used or what the receipe was....!!!!!

Thats when I sorta of stopped brewing until I moved to Tassie

[Eureka]

After 4 months of HB today I experienced my first exploding bottle.

The pain in the ass explosion left tiny shattered pieces of glass stuck all over the other bottles, which took 1/2 - 1 hr to clean up.

No doubt this won't be the last time it will happen. At least the pantry now has a nice "brewery" smell.

[mark68]

I always use saflager s23 for my brews and brew them cold.I have never had a blown bottle yet with this yeast.I talways finishes at 1010,even when i start witha gravity of 1055.

[r.magnay]

I have posted my story before, but I lost about 130 stubbies when I first started brewing, I doubled the priming sugar on advice from someone who was obviously bullshitting me, anyway I still don't use a hydrometer but havn't lost any since then (about ten years ago).

[melbourne man]

a bottle of my stout exploded last night. i used the normal amount of priming sugar. 3g for a 375ml bottle. this beer never really stopped carbonation, it just kept going. is this due to the complex sugars in the stout that are broken doen over time? how much priming sugar would you normally use for a stot?

[possessed_haemorrhage]

a bottle of my stout exploded last night. i used the normal amount of priming sugar. 3g for a 375ml bottle. this beer never really stopped carbonation, it just kept going. is this due to the complex sugars in the stout that are broken doen over time? how much priming sugar would you normally use for a stot?

Usually 2/3 of the normal priming sugar if you're going to be drinking it fairly soon after bottling, or in cooler weather. If you're gonna leave them for a while and with it getting hotter, my HBS said to use half the normal priming sugar.