Exploding Bottles

[Smithmonster]

Made my first ever batch of cider. One of the bottles exploded-2 weeks into bottle conditioning!!

Do I need to be concerned for the rest?? They were stored in a basement at a constant 72 degrees.

Any helpful thoughts/comments appreciated.

[John Sand]

You might. Take one outside, wear safety glasses, open it pointing away from you. If it gushes out, you have a problem. It might be infection, or perhaps a mistake in process. If the bottle only has normal carbonation, your explosion may be a bottle infection, or too much priming sugar. Others will chime in. It will help if you post your recipe and process. It will help you sleep if you put all of the bottles in a plastic tub with a cover. That way if another bursts, there will be less of a mess.
Don't let this deter you. We all make mistakes.

[Beer-lord]

John gave excellent advice but there's also the possibility that the bottle had stress spots and was too weak to hold the carbonation. Sometimes this happens when capping and other times just because bottles are used alot.

[LouieMacGoo]

As John said it might be an infection or too much priming sugar. If your using plastic bottles with twist on caps check them to see if there are any excessive bulging, if so you can do as John suggested and slowly twist the cap open to relieve some of the pressure. If your using glass bottles you will want to be more careful when you attempt opening them.

Go back and double check how much sugar you used to prime the bottles this my help you determine if that is the issue or something else.

[Smithmonster]

I am thinking that it might have been a bottle defect. The other plastic bottles are good (as of now).

I did open one that was in the frig. It bubbled over like champagne. I checked the amount of sugar used-it matches the amount from the BrewDemon recipe (basic hard cider). I filled the bottles halfway up the neck-maybe I need to fill to the bottom of the neck?? I also have 4 glass bottles for use next time (with attached tops).

Thanks for all of the helpful insights and comments!

[John Sand]

Keep us posted.

[mashani]

Might not have been fully fermented out when you bottled it.

You might want to throw all the bottles in the fridge to stop any more fermentation from happening just in case.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Best way to know if anything is stable enough to bottle (finished fermenting) is to use an hydrometer. Once the final reading stays the same for 3 days it is stable enough to bottle. By bottling too soon, the beverage is still fermenting and creating CO2 then you are adding more sugar for it to eat with the priming sugar which in turn is creating more CO2 pressure. Using PET bottles will let you degas those easy enough, glass bottles use caution.

[Smithmonster]

Update: no other exploding bottles. I am drinking them one week at a time, and other than a little sediment, I think I did OK for a first go-around!!

Based on what I have observed and from what others have offered, I think that I didn't let it ferment long enough. I did get the bubbler upgrade for the BrewDemon, so I hope that will help with the fermentation issues.

Batch #2 will be a cherry cider, and I will use glass bottles, as the plastic seems to bulge quite a bit on the bottom, which makes it unsteady. If it falls over, that might be enough to cause the explosion (which is what I think happened last time).

Thanks for all of the advice!!

[mashani]

Couple of things. Pardon my bluntness, but this is how it is.

Bubbler upgrade means squat. Just because you stare at it and don't see any action doesn't mean it's done. Just wait for 3 weeks to bottle if you don't have a hydrometer, unless you pitch twice as much yeast as they provide, in which case 2 weeks is probably ok as long as you are fermenting at a good (not too cold) temp.

Bottom of your bottles bulged only because of over carbonation. They won't fall down normally. Unless it fell off a shelf and down onto the floor, I doubt simply tipping over caused anything that wasn't already going to happen. I use PETs because wing cappers and my hands don't agree with one another, and never have that problem. But I am always sure my fermentation is complete and I'm always sure about my bottling sugar amounts.

Glass will *simply explode all over the place* instead of bulge. So think about how many bottles you have now that are bulged, tippy, or have what seems to be a good bit larger amount of headspace then when you bottled it, and then imagine that many glass bottles potentially exploding and putting shards of glass into your walls or scattering them all over the floor and that much cider spilled.

Except for very high quality Belgian glass bottles designed for high carbonation levels (IE little stubby Duval type bottles, or large Corked bottles), most glass will explode *much easier* then your PETs bottles can. And then to make sure that if that happens nobody gets injured or any mess/glass is contained, make sure you put your bottles somewhere "enclosed and bomb proof" or at least in a box and then put the box in a garbage bag to hopefully contain any liquid, until you are sure that you have a handle on this.

To be sure you have a handle on this, then ponder again what I said above and just wait 3 weeks to bottle, or else pitch a lot more yeast then provided, or get a hydrometer.

[RickBeer]

The level of fill in the neck has zero impact on your issue. No bottle defects, you bottled too soon or put in too much sugar when bottling.