Bottle Bombs?

[SonOfSParda786_gmail.com (Joe)]

So I recently (6/26) bottled a watermelon lemon kolsch and has a little extra so I poured it into a plastic bottle to be able to clearly see when it was primed. Today i took a look at the plastic bottle and it was completely bulging. every recess was poked out and protruding.

So i was wondering does this mean my glass bottles are about to burst or are going to burst soon? Or does something about the plastic cause this. I’ve never poured beer in plastic to prime so i don’t know for sure.

I used real fruit in my beer but was very careful about sanitizing to avoid infection so i don’t think there is any infection.

If I do have a bottle bomb scenario how do I go about remedying the situation or at the very least minimizing the mess. Thanks for any and all help.

[system]

@joe

So I recently (6/26) bottled a watermelon lemon kolsch and has a little extra so I poured it into a plastic bottle to be able to clearly see when it was primed. Today i took a look at the plastic bottle and it was completely bulging. every recess was poked out and protruding.

So i was wondering does this mean my glass bottles are about to burst or are going to burst soon? Or does something about the plastic cause this. I’ve never poured beer in plastic to prime so i don’t know for sure.

I used real fruit in my beer but was very careful about sanitizing to avoid infection so i don’t think there is any infection.

If I do have a bottle bomb scenario how do I go about remedying the situation or at the very least minimizing the mess. Thanks for any and all help.

Batch size? How much sugar did you add?

[beowulf_36 (GS)]

Let’s take care of the bottle bomb issue first. Release the pressure on your bottles, both plastic and glass. I’ll bet if you look at the caps on your glass bottles, they are bulging. Not good.

[SonOfSParda786_gmail.com (Joe)]

@joe

So I recently (6/26) bottled a watermelon lemon kolsch and has a little extra so I poured it into a plastic bottle to be able to clearly see when it was primed. Today i took a look at the plastic bottle and it was completely bulging. every recess was poked out and protruding.

So i was wondering does this mean my glass bottles are about to burst or are going to burst soon? Or does something about the plastic cause this. I’ve never poured beer in plastic to prime so i don’t know for sure.

I used real fruit in my beer but was very careful about sanitizing to avoid infection so i don’t think there is any infection.

If I do have a bottle bomb scenario how do I go about remedying the situation or at the very least minimizing the mess. Thanks for any and all help.

Batch size? How much sugar did you add?

5 gallon batch 5 oz of priming sugar

Let’s take care of the bottle bomb issue first. Release the pressure on your bottles, both plastic and glass. I’ll bet if you look at the caps on your glass bottles, they are bulging. Not good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

The caps aren’t bulging they look like they normally do.

[skatz (Stevie)]

What kind of plastic bottle? Water bottles are crazy thin and not made for pressure.

[SonOfSParda786_gmail.com (Joe)]

What kind of plastic bottle? Water bottles are crazy thin and not made for pressure.

it was a 12 oz powerade bottle. I just used it to hold the extra liquid and to kinda see when carbonation occured.

[Bob357]

@joe

What kind of plastic bottle? Water bottles are crazy thin and not made for pressure.

it was a 12 oz powerade bottle. I just used it to hold the extra liquid and to kinda see when carbonation occured.

Bottles from carbonated beverages should be used. The others aren’t made to withstand pressure. The big question is, Did you check gravity over a few days to be sure fermentation was complete?

[skatz (Stevie)]

High final gravity is one possibility, infection is another. But that bottle isn’t made for pressure.

[SonOfSParda786_gmail.com (Joe)]

@Bob357

@joe

What kind of plastic bottle? Water bottles are crazy thin and not made for pressure.

it was a 12 oz powerade bottle. I just used it to hold the extra liquid and to kinda see when carbonation occured.

Bottles from carbonated beverages should be used. The others aren’t made to withstand pressure. The big question is, Did you check gravity over a few days to be sure fermentation was complete?

I did make sure fermentation was complete so it’s looking look its probably just I used a non pressure withstanding bottle.

[Visor]

Pop a top on one of your glass bottles. If you don’t get a gusher, wait a few days and try another, if no gusher continue to test every few days. Short of a weird infection, if you have bombs you should start getting gushers in less than week. Just my WAG.

[ethinson]

I second the idea to open a couple carefully (say, over the sink).  Make sure they are good and cold.  Warm beer will foam out of the bottle many times.

I feel like you’re fine, though.  I started out with a MrBeer kit with plastic bottles, and even though they were thick “soda” style bottles, even they would bulge some and the indentions in the bottom would flatten out.  It’s a fine place to start but I got away from plastic bottles as quick as I could.  They just don’t seem to work that well.

[SonOfSParda786_gmail.com (Joe)]

@ethinson

I second the idea to open a couple carefully (say, over the sink).  Make sure they are good and cold.  Warm beer will foam out of the bottle many times.

I feel like you’re fine, though.  I started out with a MrBeer kit with plastic bottles, and even though they were thick “soda” style bottles, even they would bulge some and the indentions in the bottom would flatten out.  It’s a fine place to start but I got away from plastic bottles as quick as I could.  They just don’t seem to work that well.

Yeah i always do glass. But i had maybe 5 oz left over and wanted to not just drain it so i poured some in a powerade bottle. I probably will not do this again. haha