Exploding Bottles (welcome back from vacaction!)

[Julie]

JSWORDY!!!!!! BUSTED! You keep this up and you will be spending time in the corner with Runningwolf!

 

[jamesngalveston]

lol, too funny

 

[Elmer]

The only time I have had a cork pop out of a normally-sealed bottle was when I left it in my car during a hot Texas afternoon (I know - what was I thinking? But I was on my way to deliver it as a gift and got sidetracked on the way). You know those horror stories about kids left in cars on hot days? Well, it was that bad, but it was a sad and red-wine-messy situation inside my car. Note: only one bottled popped, the other two with it were fine (though somewhat worse for the high temperatures/cooking).
Never had the glass break, even when corking, so I have no idea what sort of pressure differential would be necessary to break the glass.
Still, my theory remains: pressure buildup inside from re-fermentation after back-sweetening + warm temperature (=warmer wine than when bottled = greater pressure inside) + sudden drop in barometric pressure outside due to thunderstorm => high pressure inside and low pressure outside, along with tightly sealed #9 corks => glass on top/side of bottle (which is thinner than the glass in the neck, I think) breaks under pressure from *air* inside the bottle, because the bottles were on their side! And perhaps the breaking glass of one bottle damaged or created enough disturbance to another bottle enough to break it too!

I am going with Bartman's explanation.
There is just no way for a bottle to drop 6 inches and shatter backwards. And the only person home is my cat who loves me way to much to destroy my wine.
Otherwise I can not think of anything that would have dropped on them or otherwise caused them to pop, except gas and pressure or a someone on the grassy knoll!

 

[Sammyk]

The CAT did it. He/she climbed up on the shelf and tumbled them down.

 

[Sammyk]

I can see that happening. Cat jumps up there one bottle falls off, scares the he!! out of the cat and in a hurry to get away knocked more bottles on the floor. Did you smell the cats breathe and look for cuts on its feet?

Jethro would be proud of me. LOL! LOL!

 

[Sammyk]

Julie I will go to the corner now with Dan and Jim. My bad!

 

[jamesngalveston]

u guys all in trouble today...glad im being good..i hate scolding from julie.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

This thread IS better than CSI. *popping popcorn in my mouth and sipping on my strawberry wine while I wait to read the next post.*

 

[cedarswamp]

Elmer how much airspace did you have in those bottles?

 

[jamesngalveston]

i think elmer drank his dragon blood, got mad cause he was out, and took it out on the other bottles.....shame on you.

 

[DaveL]

By chance did you put corks in screw cap bottles? These would be weaker than nonscrew caps ( the ones that didn't break).

 

[Tess]

Maybe a drunk house setter not meaning too stumbled into it. He feels bad and guilty. He is sticking with the "Hmm, I sure dont know what happened" Story!

 

[FTC Wines]

I had a similar thing happen to me. I had 22bottles of Peach wine, thankfully stored in an 18 gal. Tote, sitting on my basement floor in No. Ga. Aprox 68* very steady temp & pressure. Well 12 bottles BLEW UP, never heard them but started smelling something rotten in the winery & went looking. CSI wife thought it was from back sweetening, but why didn't the other 10 bottles blow? this was before I knew about de-gassing, but again why did only 12 bottles blow? The other 10 bottles were fine, didn't see anything different & didn't taste any different. We called Gibbs to see if we could borrow Abby, but she was too busy! This was over 4 years ago, have NOT had a problem since. Roy

 

[Elmer]

so I got home and ran a 6 pack over to my neighbor who has sat. I told him what happened and asked how hot it was on thurs/fri. Darn hot he responded. 70 by 7 am. I asked if I could use his car for a controlled experiment. No deal. Did not even offer me one of the IPA I bought him!

Anyway I get home I pulled one of the remaining bottles of BluePom. Told my wife to listen for a pop or a hush, to determine if there is air or gas in there. I get the bottle on the counter and pull the cork, my wife has her head close to the bottle and we hear a POP Then immediately the wine erupted out of the bottle like a science fair volcano!
All over the counter and all over the mini throw rug.
Gave what was left in the bottle a taste and it was bubbly.

Could the heat have re-ignited fermentation? (even thought I add sorbate prior to bottling)
Should I be concerned about all the other bottles of wine in my basement?

 

[Loner]

Sounds like the sitter is off the hook....unless he sabotaged the remaining unbroken bottles to make you think it was your fault. It may take Jethro and Tony to solve this one.

 

[Julie]

how old was your sorbate and where do you store it at?

 

[Sammyk]

Not to hijack but where should sorbate be stored?

 

[Runningwolf]

Cool dark place. Replace every 6-8 months.

 

[Sammyk]

Dan as in refrigerator? IF so I guess I better throw mine out......

 

[Tess]

Glad you got to the bottom of it. Mine never last that long lol It never comes dated either!