Could the caps make a difference in carbonation?

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Cicada

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Hi all. Since Friday I've tried about 6 bottles of my 2nd beer, a Karl's 90 schilling from northern Brewing. It's not very carbonated, despite 3 weeks conditioning. I know that time will help to solve that, but have another question. Could the caps prevent full carbing? I have noticed with every bottle that the cap comes off easier than my previous batch or any of the store bought beers I drink. Could this be the problem? The type of caps used?
 
Cicada said:
Hi all. Since Friday I've tried about 6 bottles of my 2nd beer, a Karl's 90 schilling from northern Brewing. It's not very carbonated, despite 3 weeks conditioning. I know that time will help to solve that, but have another question. Could the caps prevent full carbing? I have noticed with every bottle that the cap comes off easier than my previous batch or any of the store bought beers I drink. Could this be the problem? The type of caps used?

If you twist the caps, do they turn at all? If they do, it's a good possibility they are part of the problem. I would look at the capper too. The twin lever cappers are kinda cheap and inconsistent. I hate mine and can't wait to upgrade to a bench capper. Oh, and I asked about the different caps and was told that the expensive oxygen barrier caps don't make a difference, especially short term. Not sure if that question was coming, but when I looked into it, that was the answer. Maybe give them a little more time to condition, especially if they are high alcohol beers. 3 weeks minimum at 70° or higher. Also, make sure you stir in the priming sugar well when bottling. I stir a few times while bottling to try to keep the sugar mixed evenly, and that seems to help.
 
I used the same wing capper as my first batch, which carbonated fine. For the first batch, I used a bunch of old Sam Adams homebrew competition caps that were leftover from my dad's last batch (in 1999). That batch was a Brewers best kit, so It came with caps as well. I used the BB caps this time in order to differentiate the 2 batches.

Is it possible that one brand of caps are inferior to another? Has anyone experienced anything similar?
 
My first batch never carbonated. I used 10 year old caps & a 10 year old wing style capper. Even though the caps seemed tight, in guessing they didn't completely seal. There was sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so I'm guessing the yeast consumed the priming sugar, bit the resulting co2 was able to escape.

Also, I recently used new brewers best caps & a newer capper & the beer carbed up perfectly.
 
Cicada said:
Hi all. Since Friday I've tried about 6 bottles of my 2nd beer, a Karl's 90 schilling from northern Brewing. It's not very carbonated, despite 3 weeks conditioning. I know that time will help to solve that, but have another question. Could the caps prevent full carbing? I have noticed with every bottle that the cap comes off easier than my previous batch or any of the store bought beers I drink. Could this be the problem? The type of caps used?

I doubt its the caps, so it could be the capper. But I don't know. My capper is 17 years old and works fine. How cold were the beers during conditioning? Also, how did you measure the priming sugar, and how did you mix it in before bottling?
 
Conditioned at room temperature in the basement, where it stays about 72-74.

I used the priming sugar that was prepackaged in the kit, I believe it was 5 ounces.

I boiled the priming sugar in however much water was suggested on the directions, then poured it in the bottling bucket just prior to siphoning the beer into the bucket. I had read that this helps to mix it up, but I figured I'd stir it up once all the beer was in the bucket. About 5 beers into bottling (no caps yet) I realized that I hadn't stirred it, so I poured those five back into the bottling bucket and stirred it all up. I figure that wouldn't make a difference.

Again, there is a little carbonation, but not why I would expect at 3 weeks of conditioning.
 
Im assuming your using pop top bottles and not screw tops. You said theyre coming off easier than the other beers you've had recently. Are they making a pop or fizz noise when you take them off? If they are then that means there is pressure built up, if you refrigerate the bottles before opening some of the co2 in the bottle will be absorbed back into the beer, potentially improving your situation.
But then again, I don't know because I don't know all the details.

But you did suggest that they are somewhat carbonated so I don't think its a capping problem otherwise I think they would just be flat. You should probably give it more time, an start your third batch if you haven't already. My fifth batch took 10 weeks to carbonate. I was gonna dump them but I never got around to it. By the end of the summer I cracked one open and they were perfect. It was the houblonmonstre ipa kit from northern brewer. Long story short, RDWHAHB. Things don't always happen on the timeline we expect them to
 
I recently ran into the same carbonating problem with both a stout and imperial stout; one moderate and one high gravity beer. I used some new gold caps with my Colonna capper. After 5 weeks of conditioning at 70 degrees, at least 50% of the beers were either completely or mostly flat. After carefully inspecting the caps, I noticed a kind of taco shell crimp in the caps. Although very slight and barely noticeable, I can only assume that this crimp is causing a leak. I have pitched the remaining caps and am going back to the reliable BB crowns which I just used for my Belgian Tripel with no crimping. I can only assume that the gold caps were slightly larger in circumference, thus causing the crimping issue....I bought them through Amazon so who knows. Just be careful with buying caps from a place other than a brew shop or on-line distributor.
 
a suggestion from my Jedi Master/ LHBS owner

IF:
  1. You added carbonation tabs or sugar to the beer before you bottled it.
  2. The beer sat for at least 2 weeks. If it hasn’t sat for 2 weeks let it sit another and see what happens.
  3. The beer was sitting in the low 70s for the whole time If not, it will have to sit for a bit longer.
  4. You open the beer and there is barely anything or almost no head.

try rousing he yeast by turning them upside down for 3 days, then rightside up another 3 days

chill & open

worked for my belgian blonde ale capped with 20-year-old oxygen absorbing caps and a wonky wing capper that I'm about to beat against something unyielding
 
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