Are oxygen absorbing caps worth it?

I know their not much more expensive, but do they really make a difference? If they don't I would soon just rather save my few bucks.

I say they don't, but then again I've never tried them, much less a side-by-side comparison. So I'm basically just appeasing the cheap bastard in me, and I like the designs on the defunct breweries caps.

OK, I heard the brewmaster from Big Rock brewing say that the reason bottle conditioned beers can be aged for years is that the yeast, when coverting the bottling sugar to Alc/CO2 will quickly eat up the O2 in the headspace. And this does actually make sense, since as far as I know, dormant yeast still goes through an aerobic stage when awakining.

So, basically, yah don't need the O2 absorbing caps.

According to the guys at Wyeast, DFC is correct. Live yeast will consume all available oxygen.

The curious side of me had to try some.... I bottled dubble a few months ago, 1/2 with the O2 caps and the other half with normal ones. So when spring time comes around i'm going to sample them side by side, so uh, if your patient, I'll give you my opinion then

artfldodger said:

The curious side of me had to try some.... I bottled dubble a few months ago, 1/2 with the O2 caps and the other half with normal ones. So when spring time comes around i'm going to sample them side by side, so uh, if your patient, I'll give you my opinion then

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Cmon, i've been holding my breath for 4 years. Didn't spring come in Brooklyn yet?

I really would like to know if there was an conclusion to this experiment. Thanks dodger.

I've always used them, but when I sent my saison to NHC one of the judges noted oxidation. Although... he also noted the bottle had a low fill level so that might have been more of a factor. Not sure if I'm going to get oxycaps or regular next time I buy them.

I don't know if they do nothing, but considering that the yeast will consume the O2, and that there is a good chance you are introducing more O2 into the bottle while filling, I'd guess that it's probably not a very noticeable advantage.

How many of us purge our bottles with CO2 before filling?

Homercidal said:

How many of us purge our bottles with CO2 before filling?

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I'd be interested in hearing about that.

I think it would be cool if the cap contained the priming sugar or CO2 charge of some kind. Auto-priming caps! Maybe a solid pill of sugar. Sanitation issue, for sure.

passedpawn said:

I'd be interested in hearing about that.

I think it would be cool if the cap contained the priming sugar or CO2 charge of some kind. Auto-priming caps! Maybe a solid pill of sugar. Sanitation issue, for sure.

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If they came sanitized and sealed individually with a priming sugar pill. The pill would sit against the cap, then some type of seal to hold it there plus keep the inside of the cap sanitized. If you could get the sealant to be inert but also dissolve once in contact with liquid, then drop the sugar pill down into the beer for priming. That would be pretty cool!

According some folks in the mead forums, they're an absolute necessity for long term mead storage in 12oz bottles. Little to no yeast to absorb the O2 in a still mead.

They call them carb-drops. They've been around for a while now. I suppose you could lick one and stick it to the inside of your cap. Then cap & shake. Just don't let anyone see you licking them.

BellTap said:

They call them carb-drops. They've been around for a while now. I suppose you could lick one and stick it to the inside of your cap. Then cap & shake. Just don't let anyone see you licking them.

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Yeah lick it, or better yet, rub it in a dog turd and stick it to the cap.

impur said:

If they came sanitized and sealed individually with a priming sugar pill. The pill would sit against the cap, then some type of seal to hold it there plus keep the inside of the cap sanitized. If you could get the sealant to be inert but also dissolve once in contact with liquid, then drop the sugar pill down into the beer for priming. That would be pretty cool!

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Coming soon to a LHBS near you; self-priming, oxygen absorbing, individually wrapped and sanitized bottle caps! All for the low low price of $7.99 each! Get them while they last.

Might be off-topic, but the idea of co2 caps made me think of something. Are the little cartridges that charge Guiness when opened available for homebrew use? I think it would be awesome to just eliminate priming sugar alltogether and have carbonation on demand at time of consumption.

Are they worth it? What are we talking, $0.02/cap vs $0.01/cap?

That means almost a full dollar in caps for a 5 gallon batch into 12oz bottles for oxygen absorbing caps. Not exactly a fortune to try it.

With that said, I have both oxygen absorbing and non-oxygen absorbing. I'm not convinced there is any benefit to them. However, I suspect if the sanitizer (i.e. Iodine) is mixed too strong or sits on it too long, they can absorb the sanitizer and cause off flavors in the bottled beer.

Beernik said:

Are they worth it? What are we talking, $0.02/cap vs $0.01/cap?

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You're getting charged double for the oxygen absorbing caps?!? You're getting ripped off. At my LHBS regular caps at $5.25/lb and oxygen caps are $5.75/lb. Not that big of a difference if it might do something good for your beer.

I honestly don't remember what I'm paying for them. Half of what I bottle is swing tops so it takes me a really long time to go through a pound of caps. Usually I buy a bag for bottling day and then discover I already have 3 half used bags.

Edit: checked their website. $4.50 for regular, $7.95 or oxygen absorbing. That's about 75% more.