What to do about exploding bottles...

[Egiltheviking]

OK, seems I over primed or the yeast wasn't quite done doing its thing...though the gravity was where I wanted it.
It's a good thing I had them in a plastic tote with a blanket over it...you just never know when one will go off!
At any rate, I now have exploding bottles of the best Saison I've brewed to date; how do I save the rest without causing great bodily harm?

Can I just burp the bottles and replace the caps? What have you asshats done when confronted with Milwaukee Car Bombs?

Thanks in advance,

Egil

[BrewBum]

OK, seems I over primed or the yeast wasn't quite done doing its thing...though the gravity was where I wanted it.
It's a good thing I had them in a plastic tote with a blanket over it...you just never know when one will go off!
At any rate, I now have exploding bottles of the best Saison I've brewed to date; how do I save the rest without causing great bodily harm?

Can I just burp the bottles and replace the caps? What have you asshats done when confronted with Milwaukee Car Bombs?

Thanks in advance,

Egil

You can burp them but if you can get them all at 35-40 degrees you should be safe. If you don't have the room, then burp and recap as fast as you can.

[Egiltheviking]

BrewBum, thanks for the quick response; I think I'll give recapping a try.
I didn't see any real downsides, besides the quick breach while replacing the cap.
I suspect there will be enough pressure pushing up that will prevent anything from falling in and StarSan on the caps should take care of the lip of the bottle...yes, I said lip!


Thanks again,

Egil

[BrewBum]

BrewBum, thanks for the quick response; I think I'll give recapping a try.
I didn't see any real downsides, besides the quick breach while replacing the cap.
I suspect there will be enough pressure pushing up that will prevent anything from falling in and StarSan on the caps should take care of the lip of the bottle...yes, I said lip!


Thanks again,

Egil

Your only big concern is the bottle may lose too much beer, causing an increase in headspace. Couple that with the loss of some carbonation, you may run the risk of undercarbonation, probably not likely but possible depending on how much beer you lose on the blow off.

[Thirsty Boy]

just be massively careful handling those bottles - before you get them chilled as close to freezing as you can, only pick them up by the crown seal. Hold them from the top, by the crown seal, bottle dangling down free... then if it does blow up, it wont take your hand out with it. Gloves, heavy clothes and an apron, safety glasses and hold em by the top.

I have personally seen an exploding bottle take out half the tendons in someone's hand... and that was through heavy work gloves. Not pretty and he still doesn't have full use of that hand 10 years later.

Be careful

[Evan B]

i had a bottle explode in my hand when i cracked the cap. luckily i was holding the main part of the bottle because the neck shot off and shattered on the wall about 10' away. wear a bomb suit

[Oktober]

Definately keep the cold - the colder the better. The only time I have had to deal with exploding bottles is when they started warming up too much.

Best of Luck!

-Okt

[Egiltheviking]

Holy crap, Thirsty Boy, that's quite a story and stern warning!!!

I haven't had one explode for about 4 days now (2 in total); I'm going to let them "condition" at ambient basement temperature (72F) for another week. Hopefully the worst will be behind me by then. To be on the safe side though, I'll keep these well chilled and handle them carefully until I've exhausted the lot...shouldn't take that long since I feel I nailed this one...too damn bad I F'ed up the priming!

Thanks for all the advice; BNer's rock!


- Egil