Just bought a bench capper and bottles get stuck after capping..

jleiii said:

I've had an occasional stuck bottle too, but the biggest problem I've found with the bench capper is that it's a flimsy scandal of a tool, and flexes so much that the caps are crooked.

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I've read many having issues with the "cheapness" of the agata capper due to the plastic notch that sets the height, however I've not had any problems at all with it and have been using it for years.

Don't get me wrong, there's enough complaints to warrant an interest in its durability. But, I think there might be some user influenced problems. As I mentioned earlier, I found setting the height to just the right level is very important. You don't want the arm to be able to provide too much "over" leverage to the point where you are applying too much pressure without noticing it. I think in those situations the plastic notch piece would break or slip. As for unevenness, I'm not lying... I have not had a *single* bottle capped with my Super Agata bench capper (I think I got mine from LabelPeelers) come out with a bad or crooked seal - not a *single* bottle!, and I've done several hundreds of them with it.

Not trying to defend the product, I'm kegging now anyhow, just reporting my experience with it having been careful and taking the time to adjust it to where I found would be proper.


Rev.

Rev2010 said:

As for unevenness, I'm not lying... I have not had a *single* bottle capped with my Super Agata bench capper (I think I got mine from LabelPeelers) come out with a bad or crooked seal - not a *single* bottle!, and I've done several hundreds of them with it.

Rev.

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I've done hundreds as well, and they are consistently crooked, but not necessarily to the point of leakage. I had 2 or 3 in the very first batch leak, and I've done the press, twist and press again ever since. The angle was obvious after the first press. Maybe mine is just worse than yours.
With the Franz bottles I have to adjust it to just barely clear the bottle & cap, and the lever still almost bottoms out due to the play. It lifts up, and back at an angle, probably 1/4" or more as I press the lever. The wedges I mentioned take up some, but not all of that play.

I'll have to do a couple dry caps to compare.

I know this is going to sound simplistic, but use the circles on the red base to line up the bottle square with the bell to get it capped evenly. I use those circles as a bullseye.

Yeah I use those circles too. Now that Jleiii mentions it... I too do the press, turn and repress. Just have always done it that way since the beginning, just for good measure. So perhaps that's why I've never gotten a crooked or poorly sealed cap.


Rev.

I bottled a batch last night, and decided to test my previous experience with crooked caps, and with a few habitual double strikes, I did not have a single crooked cap. After almost 2 years doing double strikes, the hands really wanted to twist and hit them a second time.
Of the 47 only 3 stuck in the capper bell, and 1 needed an extra heavy hand to cap. All random 12's I've collected.

I suppose that my previous experience may not be reflective of the tool, but maybe how I was using it initially, and maybe partly to do with the taller Franz bottles having a slightly different profile. A hand capper is almost impossible to use on these. It can't grip them. I'm debating giving away the Franz bottles at this point for various reason.

So, please disregard my bad experience as operator error?

I like ferrari cappers cause when i meet chicks i tell them i have a ferrari and i ain't lying..they are a little disappointed thou when they see my candy apple red ferrari capper hahaha sorry that was