Bottle bomb time frame

I've just bottled my first batch. How long do you think until I'm in the clear regarding bottle bombs? Temp range 70-75dF
I'm going to have to explain this phenomenon to SWMBO. She's from Texas and yes, she keeps a gun next to the bed. I'm worried I'll wake up to her thinking a gun fight has broken out in the house.

Why do you think you'd have bottle bombs? I've never had one with 10 batches or so bottled. As long as you used the right amount of bottling sugar, let it mix in the bottling bucket well, and only bottled after reaching FG, you should be fine.

I've never had a bottle bomb with beer or wine. I've made 300+ batches of beer, and more than that with wine.

I don't think that if you're going to have them, you're ever "in the clear". If you've got an infection in the bottle, for example, the bottle might explode tomorrow or next year.

But if you sanitize properly, bottle only finished beer, and use the correct amount of priming sugar, you won't have any bottle bombs. Ever.

I'm sure I'm safe. I have no reason to think it's going to happen but I hear it's possible.
Currently, the booze is in a tiled utility room. I'm going to store the beer in a carpeted walk-in cupboard after a while. I just want to make sure I don't wreck said carpet, and my sex life.

Right...................................................NOW!!!!!!!!






Check the time stamp, did I call it?

I had what i think would qualify as a bottle bomb (the neck of the bottle was found two feet from the rest of the bottle, though not much beer mess) in a batch of otherwise perfectly 100% consistently carbonated beers, I suspect due to a cracked bottle. So it's always possible.

Bottle bombs do happen, but they are not very common. I don't know how many batches I've done, couple hundred I'm sure, never a bottle bomb. One time I did have a cap sizzling, heard a weird noise and realized air was escaping from one of the caps. Probably the cap would blow off before the glass explodes? Another reason for bottle bombs is that the integrity of the bottle was damaged, got dropped, or just old (cheap) bottles used over and over again. If your bottles are new-ish, haven't been clanging around in a recycling bin, banging against each other and such, no worries. And what Yooper and others have already said... get the process correct and it should never happen.

bottle bombs can happen at any time. i recently finished off a batch that i made 4 or 5 months ago, and a bottle blew down in my cellar just last week. could happen in a few days, or could happen in months.

why are you afraid of bottle bombs? did you over-prime? do you suspect you have an infection? bombs are a pretty rare occurrence, it's not something you should expect...

thatshowyougetants said:

I suspect due to a cracked bottle.

Click to expand...

+1, I suspect this is the more common reason for bottle bombs.

Millions of folks bottle beer every year and we don't have bottle bombs......

What are we doing right, that you're afraid of doing wrong? Unless you're infected, over primed, or bottled early, there's no reason to expect or feel the need to guard against bottle bombs. An industry standard Beer bottle is meant to contain MORE than the 2-2.5 volumes of co2 that we tend to normally bottle at.

• If you allowed full fermentation (Static gravity readings for 3 or more days)…
• If you used good sanitation throughout the fermentation and bottling process…
• If you used the proper amount of priming agent and the agent was thoroughly mixed with your beer…

The likelihood of bottle bombs is very small. Even if you messed up on one or more of the above items, gushers and unpourable beer will likely be your issue.

That said, if you want to minimize the issue should a bottle rupture…line a milk crate with a heavy duty (contractor grade) garbage bag. Place your bottles in the milk crate (they hold about 24 bottles) and tie the garbage bag up securely. Damage caused by bursting bottles is almost always due to leaking beer.