Twist off Bottles

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msudawgs267

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Can you use twist off bottles when bottling your beer? I have a capper and caps and have tried to cap an empty twist off bottle and it worked, but it seems like the seal was not as tight as a re-capped pry off bottle. Do I need to make sure I use pry off bottles only? Thanks for the help
 
I've been searching through old threads on this myself. Personally I have found Canadian twist offs work fine with a wing capper, the red one that is everywhere.

Apparently American twist offs are different. Some people say they work with a bench capper some people say they don't work at all. Some people say the Canadian bottles only work with a bench capper as well, but my wing capper seems to work fine. Gets them nice and tight and all my beers are carbonated.

Maybe try a few beers with twist off bottles and the rest with whatever you are currently using and just test it out.
 
I know people have had success using them, and others - not so much. I was going to try using some, but made a good score on non-twist off's from craigslist.

If you are going to try to use them, you might do some small test batches to make sure they are working. It would suck to wait 3+ weeks and find out all your twist off's didn't carbonate.
 
You might get them to work...and might not. Like dgooden said, it would suck to find out you wasted 3 weeks waiting for your beer to carb only to find out they didn't work as expected....
 
I use a bench capper, and have successfully used all sorts of different bottles, including twist-offs.
 
I use a standard wing capper but thanks for the advice. I'll probably do 3 or 4 bottles with twist off using a wing capper and see what happens. Thanks for the help guys
 
I'll Echo the sentiment that I've done tons of Canadian twist-offs with my bench capper and never had a problem although it takes considerably more pressure to cap twists compared to pry-offs.

2 possible tests to determine if the caps are sealing properly:
1. Seal an empty bottle and hold it under water for a few seconds if you see any air bubbles then water is getting in and the bottle is not capped properly. Now open the bottle it should be dry inside.
2. Fill a twist-off with Soda to the same height you would beer and cap it as quickly as possible, leave it for a few days and then uncap it, if the soda still has some carbonation the CO2 didn't escape and you were capped properly and should be good to go.
 
I'll Echo the sentiment that I've done tons of Canadian twist-offs with my bench capper and never had a problem although it takes considerably more pressure to cap twists compared to pry-offs.

2 possible tests to determine if the caps are sealing properly:
1. Seal an empty bottle and hold it under water for a few seconds if you see any air bubbles then water is getting in and the bottle is not capped properly. Now open the bottle it should be dry inside.
2. Fill a twist-off with Soda to the same height you would beer and cap it as quickly as possible, leave it for a few days and then uncap it, if the soda still has some carbonation the CO2 didn't escape and you were capped properly and should be good to go.

I know, it's an old thread...

I just did this soda test with a Killian's bottle (two, actually, since the Stella Artois was a no-go with my Emily capper) and put in the fridge. I'll leave them a week and test.

I think one of the best things anyone that bottles can do (yes, I know, besides kegging) is get a bench capper and then use just about any kind of bottle. Right now, I can't use the old Labbatt's or Molson stubbies, or Stella etc from Europe (not sure if the cap size is different or if it's the shape of the bottle top) due to the wing-capper's limitations.

Just a heads up.
 
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