Exploding bottles questions......

[guitarsammy1]

I've just started my first ever batch of home brew.

It's a John Bull IPA kit to which I've added 1 kg of brewing sugar (dextrose). It's currently sitting in a fermenting bin and the airlock is bubbling away nicely. Because my heating is off during the day while I'm at work (and during the night when I'm asleep) and it's currently winter, I've sat it inside a good quality insulated sleeping bag with a couple of hot water bottles that I top up in the morning before work and in the evening before bed. Seems to be working.

I'm planning on bottling it in some glass brown beer bottles I've saved. I'm just a bit worried about bottles exploding, though, because I've read some horror stories online. I've got a couple of questions:

i. My understanding is that secondary fermentation takes around 2-4 days. Is this the "danger period", i.e. if no explosions have occurred after this is it likely that any will happen later on?

ii. If during secondary fermentation I keep the bottles inside a sleeping bag with hot water bottles in the shed, are they likely to ferment or will it be too cold at this time of year in the north of England?

iii. If the answer to (ii) is a resounding "no" and I decide to secondary ferment in the house, will I be safe to move them to the shed after approx. 4 days, or do I need to give them longer than that for the secondary fermentation?

Cheers!

[BazC]

I'm not very experienced with bottled beer but provided you have reached the target gravity in the kit instructions and you're using bottles that are in good condition and designed to take carbonated drinks and you use the correct amount of priming sugar there should be very little danger of "bottle bombs" Once primary fermentation is finished there should be very little fermentable sugars left and the small amount of priming sugar used won't create enough CO2 to create a dangerous level of pressure. If you bottle too early or add too much priming sugar it's another matter of course.

Secondary fermentation may take a week or more especially in this cold weather and I doubt your shed will be suitable even with insulation and hot water bottles! Somewhere in the house that stays reasonably warm is needed in the depths of winter! If you're really worried about exploding bottles put them in a plastic box/crate with a cover. If anything does blow the box should contain it. Provided you finish the primary fermentation properly I don't think there's much risk.

[Stomach]

Plus 1 to Bazc!

[pohawk]

I myself was paranoid about bottle bombs when i first started bottling so much so i went out and purchased a load of coopers pet bottles. I know its extra expense but to my mind it was worth every penny just to stop my paranoia.I havent found any problems with storage keeping beer perfectly fresh for over 12 months(i know light weight)

[staplefordbill]

Ah, exploding bottles. Everyone who's ever tried (and given up) brewing has tales of exploding bottles and demijohns, and beer up the walls etc. Not happened to me yet in 3.5 years of brewing.

Carbonation in the bottle (what you call secondary fermentation) can take as little as 2 days, and in the summer that's happened for me, but generally you want to allow a week.

The risks can be overstated. Glass bottles are all non-returnable nowadays and so much thinner than the bottles of the past, but even so they'll take quite a bit of pressure. Last year I made lager and used 150g of lager split between 23 litres. Very fizzy and some of the bottles gushed out when opened, but no explosions.

So +1 to everything BazC says - it all ties in with my experiences.

[Klaus]

I have bottled beers on and off over the past 20 years, never had one explode. Have over-primed on occassions but that just caused a bit of gushing. The only bottle that broke was a couple of weeks ago but that was during capping. The danger is probably over-stated but one should be aware that it is possible - sure there will be a few members who had this happen.
The best way is to ensure your brewing process is done properly, make sure the approx. bottling gravity is reached and the priming activity is planned. I always use a 2.5ml Calpol measuring spoon for bottle priming and a small cup of sugar so I am not using too much sugar accidentally or deliberately.

[CestrIan]

I've had 3 or 4 bottles explode in the past. Fortunately never when I've been around. Usually find a puddle and shards of glass sticking out the back of my beer cupboard door. The main cause, I believe has been infection. Sometimes I've had whole batches turn in to gushers because of infection during fermentation and other times just the odd bottle that wasn't cleaned properly.

I've not had one blow for the last couple of years and I think that is due to not being complacent with sanitisation and rinsing my bottles as soon as I pour a beer. If a dirty bottle gets put back in the cupboard with the other empties then there's a good chance you will not get it 100% clean on bottling day and they are the bottles that can explode IMO.

I don't want to put you off. I much prefer using bottles to kegs, but you just need to keep them clean and as others have said make sure fermentation has finished and priming sugar amounts are sensible and are added evenly to each batch.