For some unknown reason, eight of the 80 Shillings Ale bottles exploded quite violently while in storage. A ninth exploded while being rinsed off during cleanup. Luckily no-one was injured by flying glass but that was more by good luck than good management.

The cause is unknown but suspected to have been incomplete fermentation prior to bottling (even though the brew had been in the fermenter for almost two weeks and fermentation had apparently stopped with a stable specific gravity being achieved).

Normal priming method of one teaspoon of sugar per bottle was used.

Most, if not all of the bottles that exploded were the screw top type 750 ml bottles that appear to have irregular thickness sidewalls which is very thin in some places.

Take care when using these types of bottles as they don't seem to be able to hold the pressure as well as the good old crown seal bottles.

Tell tale sign of overpressure was noted to be a prominent doming of the crown seal caps. 

Wrap any suspect bottle in a towel prior to handling and wear eye protection, just in case the bottle goes bang unexpectedly.

All is not lost, however. After cooling the remaining beers, they open less violently but still foam up (but do taste good when the foam settles).

I have been advised that if you encounter a similar problem, cool the beers, pop the tops and then reseal them after about 30 mins.

Wait some weeks and they should be drinkable with less violence attached to the process.

Obviously if too much liquid is lost after initial opening, you may have to top them up a little from one of the bottles.

Safe Brewing !