coffeemark Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 2 Location: Calgary Expertise: Advanced
Posted Mon May 19, 2003, 6:23pm Subject: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
I've been making coffee with a french press for years, and have smashed my fair share of them. But today, as I was plunging my 1L Bodum, a piece of glass about the size and shape of a quarter blew out of the bottom corner. I received a pretty good scalding just at the waistline (luckily protected by pants, shirt, belt, etc), but if my daughter had been near it could have seriously injured her (or frankly, if I had been in my pajamas, my own burn would have been worse). It was really an explosion, like a pressure vessel failure. Coffee and grounds were splashed a good five feet across the kitchen.
Has anyone in this forum ever heard of or experienced such a thing?
And for the record, I treat my press reasonably well, rarely wash it in the dishwasher, stir the grounds with a bamboo chopstick, plunge carefully. etc. etc.
frpressjunkie Senior Member Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 36 Location: Ohio Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Moka Pot Grinder: Capresso Burr Grinder Vac Pot: Bodum French Press Roaster: Fresh Roast Plus 8
Posted Mon May 19, 2003, 6:37pm Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
If your having to use a lot of pressure to plunge the coffee, you may be using to fine of a grind. Try a little more course of a grind. If you get resistance, lift to plunger and start again. I press slowly with two fingers on the plunger. I stir with a plastic spoon. But, you may have had a weakness in the glass or a crack.
Posted Mon May 19, 2003, 9:27pm Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
Mark, Something similar happened to me when stirring. I was using a knife and it lightly tapped the bottom and a peice the size of my thumbnail popped out...so did the coffee (fun huh?) I was'nt nearly as un lucky as you. But it was pretty frustrating. I think just that in day to day use the press may get knocked now and again and you just don't take note of it...But after a few times of being banged around or just hitting the counter accidently I think the glass developes a weak spot and finally either another ding...to much pressure etc...and boom! The straw broke the camels back. What I use are chop sticks. They are perfect...I just grab few when I go out for (insert Fav. Asian food here) and I'm set. Hope this helps. -Deferio
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,427 Location: Vancouver, BC Expertise: Professional
Espresso: KvdW Speedster Grinder: Compak K10 WBC Vac Pot: A bit too many Drip: Clive Coffee Drip Stand Roaster: Hario Glass Retro Roaster
Posted Mon May 19, 2003, 11:57pm Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
Ouch! First, good to hear you weren't injured any worse than you were...
Second - I've noticed over the past few years that the larger press pots (8 cups or bigger) are pretty dangerous - it's a physics thing - you're plunging down a substantial amount of coffee, and water and air (and CO2 and other stuff) have to pass through the bed of coffee and the plunger - I've scalded myself several times using 1litre, and 1.2 litre press pots, but always through the top - I'd press evenly, get lots of resistance, then all of a sudden either I'd go sideways with the plunger, and have scalding coffee-brew squirt up at me, or just a major slosh.
I've never had this problem with 6, 4 and 2 cup press pots - 8 cups seem to be the limit for me.
I've also never heard of blowing a chunk of glass out - but I'm wondering - is it possible the glass was damaged before you brewed this particular pot? Because of the large pressures you invoke pressing down, it's possible that, with the heat, a slight hairline crack could develop into a full fracture.
E61 Senior Member Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 63 Location: Copenhagen Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Faema E61 Grinder: Rossi RR45, Innova Drip: Just french press Roaster: HotTop/HWP
Posted Tue May 20, 2003, 8:02am Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
I have been drinking french press for most of my near 40 years and hae experienced a couple of "exploding" french presses - never been hurt seriously though.
And yes I have only seen it happen to the larger models.
There seem to be a number of reasons to this happening.
Firstly, if your grind is on the fine side the pressure on the bottom of the glass will be very high and especially on larger pots this can cause explosions. In the early Bodum days (we are talking 70'ies) many people changed from dripp to french press, but still used the same pre-grinded coffee and the "exploding" Bodum was very common (in Denmark at least).
Another reason - that now seems to be the most common - is an uneven pressure on the filter. If ypu press just a little more to one side the pressure can get the press to crack. Especially if you always do it. A little trick here is to ensure that the press the filter down with the press in different positions each time you use it.
And of course if there was a little crack in the press already, the pressure combined with the heat can make it crack completely.
I think you will stille find many Danes who are extremely cautionous when using there Bodum and ensuring it is firmly on the table and that no children is around when they press it
frpressjunkie Senior Member Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 36 Location: Ohio Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Moka Pot Grinder: Capresso Burr Grinder Vac Pot: Bodum French Press Roaster: Fresh Roast Plus 8
Posted Tue May 27, 2003, 5:18am Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
If you stir the coffee about a minute or so into the brew, you'll break up the coffee cap that forms. This will release some the pressure you encounter as you plunge the coffee.
deltaburke98 Senior Member Joined: 4 May 2009 Posts: 1 Location: US Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Mon May 4, 2009, 9:36am Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
This happened to me. My pot was less than a year old and I used it maybe twice a month. I always use a wooden spoon to stir, and the grounds are not fine. The exact same thing happened.. only I was badly burnt all over my stomach, and my 5 yo was standing behind me. Had he been next to me his eyes would have been burnt. I had the 8 cup pot.
Posted Mon May 4, 2009, 10:10am Subject: Re: french press explosion: failure of vessel?
Wow! This thread is like 6 years old, and now we have a new case of the same issue. I wonder if there was a defective run and poor DeltaBurke was unfortunate enough to get an old stock item?
If you use the "break and clean" technique before pressing this can be avoided entirely. The coffee comes out a tad cleaner with less sediment and some folks claim it removes bitterness as well. Basically, after steeping and before pressing you would just skim off the surface stuff with a spoon (or spoons). I've been doing this lately and enjoying the results.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 