Well !&@%!

homebrewdad said:

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

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And possibly had a hairline crack that occurred during cleaning/sanitizing. I try to look closer at each bottle now, because I found a tiny chip in the very top of the cap lip on one of my recycled bottles, may have sealed, may have not.

homebrewdad said:

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

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This is true, but doesn't actually contradict the guy you quoted. The forces applied to the cap and bottle when using a wing capper are far more likely to result in this kind of failure than when using a bench capper. Using the bottle repeatedly for 12+ years probably did weaken it, but I can pretty much guarantee that it would not have broken like that (within the same timeframe, anyways) had he used a bench capper.

Not only that, but had he used a bench capper the entire time, I can also pretty much guarantee that it wouldn't have been so severely weakened; assuming the failure WAS the result of "built up" weakness due to repeated capping, then I can similarly assure you that even if he used a wing capper this one particular time anyways, it wouldn't have broken like that had he been using a bench capper up until then, as it wouldn't have been nearly so weakened.

emjay said:

This is true, but doesn't actually contradict the guy you quoted. The forces applied to the cap and bottle when using a wing capper are far more likely to result in this kind of failure than when using a bench capper. Using the bottle repeatedly for 12+ years probably did weaken it, but I can pretty much guarantee that it would not have broken like that (within the same timeframe, anyways) had he used a bench capper.

Not only that, but had he used a bench capper the entire time, I can also pretty much guarantee that it wouldn't have been so severely weakened; assuming the failure WAS the result of "built up" weakness due to repeated capping, then I can similarly assure you that even if he used a wing capper this one particular time anyways, it wouldn't have broken like that had he been using a bench capper up until then, as it wouldn't have been nearly so weakened.

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Be that as it may, I can personally deal with twelve years of use out of my bottles. I'm betting most of us, can, too.

I used to have a metal wing style capper that broke off the top of every kind of bottle I tried it on. I named it The DeCapitator and chucked it.

Here you go Revvy. This is a WWII era bottle.

Until 1980 or so, bottles were returnable. A particular buddy would always say “Do you know how old this bottle is?” He knew how to read the code on the bottom of the bottle. One day the answer was “I don’t know.” He said before 1945 they didn’t use date codes.

When I took it down to photograph it, I noticed it was heavy. It’s 330g, almost as much as the beer. I wonder how many times this bottle was capped.

Oh yeah, all the way with bench cappers. I hated bottling until I got rid of the wing capper and got a bottle filler. Also I use the dishwasher as a bottle tree and place to bottle over. No more sticky floors, just close the door.

Lately I have been using the filler without the spring. I end up spilling a half cup or so, but it’s faster and easier.

Straub in PA still has the old school returnable bottles. they are the sturdiest and most beat to hell things I've seen. they look identical to the bootless posted by revvy. for a 4 dollar deposit i don't mind using then for a while myself...

Wynne, Sledge, I think those old bottles show a lot of character, don't you? I love seeing all the marks from the repeated runs through the bottling line.

speaking of old Pabst bottles still in use.


its an easy-cap/growler, so its cheating.

amandabab said:

speaking of old Pabst bottles still in use.

its an easy-cap, so its cheating.

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It's not cheating, it's just bottling without the need to crimp caps on top

I pull bottles of brew from the faucets, or directly off of a keg (Beer Gun) to bring places. I like that mostly because people can either drink directly from the bottle, or up-end it and get every last drop into glass. Unless bottle carbonating where you need to leave some behind. On the 4th of July, I brought a 1L and two 500ml bottles of my MO SMaSH brew to my sister/mother's place. Mom has one of the 500ml bottles still in her fridge (I keep her in good beer ) but we drank the rest. With splitting the bottles it was no issue from keg. Had these been bottle carbonated it would have been different. I do have some of the 375ml Belgian bottles that I plan on using for some BIG brews. I plan to carbonate those in keg first though, since I'll be pushing beyond the yeast's tolerance (or far enough to make bottle carbonating slow at best).

IMO, bottle, keg, or both, but do what YOU want. Me, I'm kegging each batch but also pulling bottles from keg to give away or bring to gatherings (or just keep mom supplied :rockin...

For the record, as much as I like kegging, I wouldn't have mentioned it as the solution for the OP... More likely time to get more/new bottles, or maybe a different capper.

How about some pbr quarts?

amandabab that's awesome.

One of my brew buddy's gave me 4 big bottles just like that that he got at some work party where a beer distributor was giving out big bottles like that of some Budweiser product. I'm going to use the for my saison. And when I don't have a saison going, probably to bring kegged beer to parties.

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

SledgeH said:

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

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I agree. That look is cool as hell.

SledgeH said:

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

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I have 6 cases of hose straub and 2 cases of yuengling from that same era. Same build of box and bottles between the two brands, heavy duty stuff.

emjay said:

This. I broke so many bottles helping a friend bottle a couple of his batches with a wing capper. Granted, he was using twist- off bottles, but the point is that wing cappers put that kind of force on bottles. Bench cappers are so much nicer to use and don't have this problem.

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This. Grandpa's old Prohibition era bench capper has yet to crack or break a bottle neck. My "red baron" wing capper destroyed a few.