There are two types of brewers

[bpgreen]

Those who have already had a bottle bomb and those who will have a bottle bomb.

I've been brewing since 2009 and always laughed at that axiom. Especially when I switched to kegging.

Earlier today, I was moving some things around and found a 12 pack that was bottled in 2013. Only 4 were intact. I don't know how many bottles were in there to start, but I've now had at least one bottle bomb.

I guess I need to find all of my bottles and stick them in fridges.

[Dawg LB Steve]

First one scared the crap out of me, since it was bottled from the keg and was saving for a comp, thought no problem it was way overcarbonated. Learned how to bottle from the keg after that. Then found old bottle conditioned ones that were in the basement and had the bottom blown out of 2.

[RickBeer]

Yeah, I used to read about bottle bombs and think "what the hell do they do wrong"? Then this past summer, I had two blowouts, two different batches, both from 1 liter Mr. Beer bottles, with the bottom blowing out. One of those batches has gushers from the glass bottles, but the other batch is perfect. Very loud, and a big mess both times.

Since then I am carefully examining all the 1 liter bottles before I use them.

[FedoraDave]

A few years ago, I was conditioning some bottles of stout in my beer closet. Hadn't thought much about them, since I intended to let them condition for an extended period. Then one day, I opened the closet door and saw stains on the inside of it, and elsewhere on the other items I've got stored. Couldn't figure it out until I dug the bottles out and discovered the carnage.

My son was watching over my shoulder and said, "Oh, THAT'S what that sound was!" He'd heard it from the other room, but had no idea what caused it.

[Kealia]

Those who have already had a bottle bomb and those who will have a bottle bomb.

Yep, unfortunately it IS true. I recently found out it is true for stuck sparges, too.

Sorry to hear you've joined the club.

[mashani]

I still haven't had a PET bomb, the last bomb I had was a glass carboy.

But I did have the PET where 95% of the contents mysteriously escaped to the outside of the bottle and all over the bottom of my box, while the bottle somehow still remained intact, and was actually still had the headspace pressurized by what remained inside. I could never figure out how that happened. I didn't keep that bottle though.

[bpgreen]

I put the four remaining bottles in the fridge for a couple of days. I got a 20 oz glass ready and opened the bottle in the sink. Much to my surprise, it didn't gush out of the bottle. However, when I poured it into the glass, I got foam. So I got a second 20 oz glass. And a third. And a fourth. The fourth only filled up a little bit, and had a lot of trub in it, so I discarded it. I let the other three settle (that's 60 oz, or 5 times the volume of the bottle) and mixed it with some beer on tap to make it more palatable (I never throw out my mistakes; I just try to learn from them).

[ScrewyBrewer]

About 5 or 6 years ago I had my first, and thankfully last, bottle bomb experience. Actually it was more of a multi growler bomb, where a few half gallon growlers exploded at around 3:00 AM. The sound it made was like a car crash, loud enough to rudely wake up everyone in the house. Something told me to let those growlers carbonate inside a spare bathroom tub, with the shower curtain closed. The mess was still a PITA to clean up, but it could have been a whole lot worse had they exploded in the living room.

[Beer-lord]

Have I never told of my bottle bomb experience before? When there was no sun or moon in the sky, I brewed beer starting in college and kept it up until a few years after marriage. I had brewed beer shortly after coming home from my honeymoon and was in a small apartment with no space and put the cases of beer under the bed (it was an antique bed that was high off the ground). Having brewed for a few years, I never had a problem but one hot night, in the middle of night while asleep I thought there was an earthquake! The bed shook then I thought it was someone shooting as us! Turned out 2 bottles busted and lets just say I never kept any beer related materials under the bed again.

[brewnewb]

I'm a one and done bomber. A few 1 quart EZ Cap bottles bit the dust in my old basement.

Never did hear them go off and it most likely occurred weeks prior to discovery. I had them labeled and stored in boxes on a shelf. Was poking around one day and said, what is all this sticky S%^T on this shelf. That sticky S^&T was bomb residue.

Lost 3 of 6 quarts and lucky that the only mess was the leaking of the burst bottles. Still a PITA to clean up.

Not long after that, I gave away ALL my bottles to a homebrew shop near work. I kinda miss my old Straub 16 oz bottles in a hard case.

Kinda miss them ........ but not really