ReverseApacheMaster

Recipes 

Not like possessed (although if anybody has a possessed wing capper, I would be interested in acquiring such an item), but no longer functioning properly.

I have the generic black wing capper that I bought 13 months ago with my initial brew kit. It's worked fine up until the last month or so. I've started finding bottles among batches that look capped just fine, but aren't carbed.

I don't believe it is an issue with uneven priming distribution because I've followed the same process for the past year and only recently had problems consistently with bottles. I've also had this problem with different sets of caps purchased at different LHBS. I'm also capping 12oz bottles that I have used successfully for several batches.

Last night I was bottling a batch and several caps didn't securely cap or wouldn't cap. The only consistent factor seems to be the capper, but I'm not sure if those cappers start to fail. Does anybody have any ideas for repairing the capper, or do I need to just look into buying a new one?

Shooter

Recipes 

The metal part that crimps the cap can wear out. Also, make sure they didn't accidentally get turned around. Sometimes there is a larger size crimper on the other side.

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

ReverseApacheMaster

Recipes 

Can I buy replacement parts for those metal pieces at one of the HBS?

malkore

Recipes 

Not really. wing cappers are $15 pieces of ****

The last one I owned, the tabs on the sides that guide the handles down properly both broke, so the whole thing is now flimsy and will skew as you crimp it.

$35 bench capper was the best investment I made in bottling...along with a bottle tree.

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

Shooter

Recipes 

Possibly.

How many bottles have you done with this capper? Seems kind of fast to wear out. Are you using any new types of bottles? Sometimes you find bottles from certain brands just don't work well with the wing cappers. Also, is the little cup that holds the cap in place tight and still in good visual working order?

__________________
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

Beerbeque

Recipes 

Try spraying all of the pivot points with WD-40. It will probly work better than new. I've capped thousands of bottles with my original wing capper.

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Give us this day our liquid bread

ReverseApacheMaster

Recipes 

Certainly no more than a thousand. The bottles are whatever we have bought and drank, so there's a lot of different bottles. Nothing tremendously new or different has been introduced.

The cup seems to be soldily in place. The indention from the magnet in the middle of the cup is usually only half a circle. I thought that suggested imbalanced pressure on the cap, but my girlfriend, who does the capping, said it's always been that way. She could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

Shooter

Recipes 

Mine always makes a half circle. So, I think she might be right on that...FOR NOW!!!

__________________
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)