Will Bottle Bombs occur in Refridgerated Environments?

Question

I had 8 22oz bottles in room temperature for a long time (at least over 5 months). I noticed the other day that the floor was covered in dried beer, and after inspecting the container I saw that one of the bottles blew out its lower base.

Instead of opening them and wasting the brew, I thought it would be a good idea to move them into refrigeration. My reasoning was that the carbonation inside of the neck would dissolve into the solution, reducing the pressure on the glass. It did occur to me that this notion was pseudo-science and that the overall pressure in the bottle wouldn't change just because the CO2 dissolved into solution.

Am I safe to leave these in the refridgerator, or should I carefully open them and discard the contents?

Answer 1

If you lower the temperature you will increase the amount of CO2 that can dissolve into solution, thereby slightly reducing the pressure. I would carefully open and drink them, over the next week or so.

Also you could open and recap?

If you do put them into the refrigerator and another explodes, then dispose of all of them.

Answer 2

No need to discard the content. No need to drink them fast.

Put them in refrigerator. Set temperature for 4 degrees Celsius. Wait a day or two. Now, pressure should be safely below explosion point. Put on safety goggles, heavy gloves, and carefully lift a side of a cap. You should hear a hiss of escaping gas and see foam rising. Stop putting pressure on cap's side when foam gets near the top. Repeat with each bottle. And repeat this for few days - you know when you're done when you can take cap off and foam is not rising at all. And then congratulations, your beer should be safe again. Be sure to drink one every week or so, and repeat the degas process in case of any doubt.

Answer 3

If the others havn't blown by now, they probably never will with proper handling.

If a bottle fails from pressure before the cap, the bottle had a flaw. All glass carbonated beverage bottles (sold in the US) are designed to withstand more psi than thier caps and corks.

Most stress fractures happen when capping, by applying too much down force. Its a good idea to make sure your capper has a good soft rubber base the bottle sits on. The rubber can get hard if improperly stored. If using a two hand version, place the bottle on a pot holder something to give the bottle protection.