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Post by nana on May 7, 2016 15:27:21 GMT -5
Take it from me, if the directions on a water kefir website say to burp your sealed bottles every day, PLEASE do it. Do not be lackadaisical like me because your kefir is carbonating somewhat sporadically so it makes you lose sight of the power of gas under pressure. By the sheer grace of God no one was in the kitchen when a liter grolsch type bottle blew up like a grenade. There were shards of glass in the living room 25 feet away. The entire kitchen was sprayed with glass shrapnel from almost microscopic fragments to 4" daggers. It took over 3 hours to clean it up, and I'm still finding sticky spots and glass even now, a day later. It was sitting on top of Marilyn's griddle instead of the thermowell lid because I was making yogurt in there at the time, and the broiler box collected a lot of the liquid, but I still had to take off the skirt and do my best to mop under her, and take out the burners and clean inside as best as I could. There was even glass pieces inside under the burners.
I knew that bottles under too much carbonation could explode, and I've even heard from some people who make their own beer that they've had it happen, but I though they would just crack in two, or something far less dramatic. RESPECT THE BUBBLES!!
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Post by vaporvac on May 7, 2016 18:19:59 GMT -5
Sorry to hear that. I've really wanted to make kefir, but maybe I'll see about making it in my beer container that let's the air out into water, although I don't know if that would work. I'm so glad no one was hurt.
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Post by nana on May 7, 2016 19:17:21 GMT -5
You can make water kefir in a open top or airlocked vessel, but it won't be fizzy. Although it will be a lot safer!
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Post by chipperhiker on May 7, 2016 21:45:39 GMT -5
Wow, nana. That must have been scary. I'm glad no one was hurt.
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Post by sporko on May 8, 2016 8:01:47 GMT -5
I knew that bottles under too much carbonation could explode, and I've even heard from some people who make their own beer that they've had it happen, but I though they would just crack in two, or something far less dramatic. RESPECT THE BUBBLES!! My uncle tells a story of gun shots in the house... one every few minutes... until he realized his beer was exploding one bottle at a time.
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Post by nana on May 8, 2016 11:25:11 GMT -5
I believe it, Sporko! It was a little scary, for sure. I now open the bottles every day at least once or twice to alleviate the pressure if any. Once bitten, twice shy!
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Post by mach12 on May 8, 2016 13:50:30 GMT -5
I knew that bottles under too much carbonation could explode, and I've even heard from some people who make their own beer that they've had it happen, but I though they would just crack in two, or something far less dramatic. RESPECT THE BUBBLES!! My uncle tells a story of gun shots in the house... one every few minutes... until he realized his beer was exploding one bottle at a time. I learned that one with root beer when we were first married and still am reminded about it from time to time. I didn't leave an airspace when I filled the bottles. We had an old couch that had a back that folded down to convert into a bed and it had storage space in the bottom so I put an old sleeping bag in there and put the bottles in the storage space. When the bottles started bursting I wasn't sure just what to do since I didn't want to open up the storage area and have a bottle explode in my face. Made one heck of a mess! Learned that lesson the hard way. I use a racking cane now (basically a rigid plastic tube with a shutoff valve that goes on the end of your siphon hose). You fill the bottle and then shut off the flow and when you lift out the racking cane it leaves the right airspace and the bottle is ready to cap. My wife still inspects every bottle before I'm allowed to keep them around and loves to tell everyone the story of how I overfilled the bottles. Forty some years ago.
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Post by nana on May 8, 2016 18:52:33 GMT -5
At least you had a couch to absorb the brunt of the explosions!
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Post by karitx on May 8, 2016 20:46:59 GMT -5
Wow, I had no idea it got *that* fizzy!
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Post by Chuckie on May 8, 2016 21:13:00 GMT -5
I knew that bottles under too much carbonation could explode, and I've even heard from some people who make their own beer that they've had it happen, but I though they would just crack in two, or something far less dramatic. RESPECT THE BUBBLES!! My uncle tells a story of gun shots in the house... one every few minutes... until he realized his beer was exploding one bottle at a time. ..a friend of mine in high school (late '70's) & I found out how much it cost to make homebrew, did the math and realized the FORTUNE that was to be had--bottling & selling it to our (under aged) classmates!!! Well, we managed to come up w/the empty bottles alright from me Da, washed & sterilized them (yea, that was pretty good to do for a coupla 16 year olds!!), bought the malt/ingredients @ A&P, Grandads old crock/bottle capper was in the basement, all was set! Then we made the 'batch'. We had an old guy across the alley (his recipe too!) that told us "after a few day when you put your ear over the crock and it ain't 'cracklin' no more, it's quit working & is ready to bottle". B-A-D advice to two eager-to-be-millionaires teens with High School Homecoming around the corner!!! My Mam told the story that she heard glass breaking downstairs in the middle of the night, and nudged me Da to say "somebody's BREAKING IN, go down & check!!!" He told her she was NUTZ, but then heard breaking glass as well. S-o-o-o-o-o-o, Da 'creeps' downstairs in his skivvies, 12ga in his hands, and listens---suddenly MORE breaking glass!!! Heads towards the sound (rec room w/outside window), suddenly feels moisture around his barefeet on the concrete, and smells a 'familiar odor'. He bent over, dipped his fingers in. By then, Mother had crept downstairs beside him, and they smelled the 'liquid', and he told her " GO GET THAT LIL S.O.B OUTTA BED, HIS BEER'S BLOWING UP!!!" (first methinks EITHER knew of our illicit enterprise!) I ran downstairs upon the summons & threw the pool table cover & moving quilt over the cases of it. The exploding glass from the bottles had even stuck in the paneling!!! Lost eighty some bottles, alas!! Needless to say, our bootlegging venture ended in a total LOSS and an old fashioned ASS WHUPPIN' for yours truly !!! CHEERS! (NOW!) Chuckie
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Post by nana on May 9, 2016 19:37:01 GMT -5
Wow, I had no idea it got *that* fizzy! Apparently, neither did I! On a lighter note: Spare the rod and spoil the child, or so they say. Thanks, Chuckies Dad, for making sure he turned out to be such a fine human being!
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Post by Chuckie on May 9, 2016 19:53:58 GMT -5
Wow, I had no idea it got *that* fizzy! Apparently, neither did I! On a lighter note: Spare the rod and spoil the child, or so they say. Thanks, Chuckies Dad, for making sure he turned out to be such a fine human being! Uhhhhhhhh, I don't know about the "fine human being" part!!!! Although I DO know I was the recipient of "the rod" a fair number of times---I DESERVED more than I RECEIVED---Praise God!!! All in all, the eight of us (living) didn't turn out too bad--in spite of ourselves!!! Guess my folks must've done SOMETHING right... CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by nana on May 9, 2016 21:23:05 GMT -5
My mom broke more than one wooden cooking spoon over me and my brothers' heads in our day. I don't resent it at all. We knew we had it coming.
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