Capping - argh

So I'm capping my bottles - they are 22 oz. if that helps - and most of them go on fine, but some of them twist a little after I get them on. I read that this should not happen, but no matter how many times I uncap and recap, they still twist. Should I be concerned? Do you think it may just be a faulty bottle?

Thanks!

Danny013 said:

So I'm capping my bottles - they are 22 oz. if that helps - and most of them go on fine, but some of them twist a little after I get them on. I read that this should not happen, but no matter how many times I uncap and recap, they still twist. Should I be concerned? Do you think it may just be a faulty bottle?

Thanks!

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Probably not the bottle. I've had that trouble with the red capper with side handles. i finally invested in a bench top capper and all was well.

Are you pushing the capper handles down all the way? I know it seems obvious, but I went through half of my first batch before I realized the red capper needed to go further down to crimp the cap tighter.

It reaches a stop point, then you keep pushing a little until it gives some more.

Chris

Yup. I thought that was the problem at first, and then made sure to push them down all the way and then some - I was going until I could hear the capper start to creak a little, lol. Most of the caps went on fine, though a few still twisted no matter how many times I recapped.

I left them, marked them, and this morning they seem to be tighter. If they don't carb, well oh well. I have other homebrews to drown my sorrows in.

Thanks for the input!

Danny013 said:

Yup. I thought that was the problem at first, and then made sure to push them down all the way and then some - I was going until I could hear the capper start to creak a little, lol. Most of the caps went on fine, though a few still twisted no matter how many times I recapped.

I left them, marked them, and this morning they seem to be tighter. If they don't carb, well oh well. I have other homebrews to drown my sorrows in.

Thanks for the input!

Click to expand...

Having the capper start to creak a little may not be enough. I push pretty hard when I am capping and I always feel like the whole capper wants to break in my hands (though it never has) - I may very well be overdoing it but I've never had issues with the caps not sealing.

One sign I always look for when using the red capper is whether there is a small circular indent in the middle of the cap, left by the magnet. I have to push pretty hard to leave a good indent, so I know it's sealed. Take my advice with a grain of salt, but it's worked for me - YMMV.

I might question the bottles you are using too - from what I hear, some bottles like twist-offs or some european types can be tough or impossible to properly cap using a handheld capper and should only be used with a bench capper.

I was pushing down pretty hard - all my caps have a little indentation from the magnet, too. I felt confident that the capper could not go down any further without breaking the neck of the bottle

I'm not sure where the bottles are from originally - I just grabbed some generic brown 22 oz. bottles from the LHBS. I had 2 Newcastle bottles that I used to bottle and they capped great.

I dunno. Strange...

= FTL!!



= FTW!!!!!

Haha, yeah I was looking at that earlier today, actually.

What's the difference between that one and the other lever capper they have? The other one is a little cheaper and they recommended it on morebeer.

Gots to start saving my pennies...

i think it can work on bigger bottles, but i'm not really sure. it's the only one i've ever had.