Ginger Beer Explosion

A few years back one of my roommates had an eye-catching sticker on the refrigerator from The Beer Nut in Salt Lake City, which said "MAKE BEER NOT BOMBS." Well here I am, asking if it's possible to shift the paradigm and have the best of both worlds. Couldn't we just have beer bombs?

The resounding answer is: yes. The proof is in my kitchen cupboard.

I came home tonight eager to see my man and when I saw/smelled the remnants of some spilled ginger beer (brewed about 3 weeks ago) on the kitchen counter I thought, "Aha! I've caught you now my dear-- sipping on stolen ginger beer." Alas he was nowhere to be found and slowly the gnawing suspicion of something terrible took over. I opened up the cupboard and there it was: Shrapnel. He had not taken the beer and left foolish proof behind, nor had he even been home. The spillage on the counter was the simple result of a bottle of beer exploding from too much carbonation.

Much of the ephemera I came across regarding soda-making warned of bottle explosions, and thus demanded bottling in plastic. When I made my ginger beer, however, I thought I had let the co2 ferment out before bottling and was even worried about flat beer more than overcarbonation-- this was an alcoholic beverage I was shooting for, not a soda. Fast forward a few weeks and lesson learned. Because of lower temperatures in my apartment I should have let the brew ferment for an additional 1-3 days before bottling to avoid the problem.

How did I solve this little snafu? With trepidation and minor fear of a bottle exploding and lodging glass in my eyeballs, face, and arms, I simply poured the foamy remnants into various vessels and have avowed to give some away ASAP and drink a lot. Shucks.

What a mess. I hope to never have another explosion.... and I imagine it probably scared the cat pretty good. Tiny pieces of glass somehow made their way into jars that were one and two shelves above the bottles. Crazy!