I think it's luck - until you have L3 Alchemy, there's a random chance that each potion will blow up. L2 Alchemy makes the chance smaller, but doesn't make it zero.
Even l3 alchemy doesn't make the chance of an accident zero. My potions did blow up a few times long after I bought l3 alchemy (last time some 30 scientists were working on the lab and it was funny to watch all of them running)