Grolsch bottles losing carbonation when refrigerated

Have a batch of hefeweizen that was bottled on 3/25/2012. It has been bottle conditioning between 70-80 degrees since bottled. I used grolsch bottles - some older that I've used before, and some from a new batch I bought. Everything in the old bottles has been fine, but the beer in the new bottles loses carbonation when refrigerated. I have checked the new bottles unrefrigerated, and the beer seems fine. Could the seals on the bottles shrink because of the cold and lose their tight seal? I'm stumped. Any similar experiences or suggestions?

Thanks,
Cody

Did you replace the gaskets? They are cheap enough that I change them everytime.

Hi

Real simple (and possibly dangerous) way to check one:

Vinegar + baking soda = lots of CO2. Put a little of that in a sealed bottle and it will pressurize quickly. Dunk it in a bucket of cold water and look for bubbles.

This is very much a "less is better" science experiment. Put to much in the bottle and you have a bottle bomb. Pop the top *before* you take it out of the bucket.

Bob

Hammy71 said:

Did you replace the gaskets? They are cheap enough that I change them everytime.

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Hammy - They were brand new, never used before this batch. The strange thing is the old bottles with used gaskets are fine.

I dab each of my bottle top rims with a sanitized water solution before closing. This wet barrier acts as a better seal than a dry one from my experience. Since I've been doing that, all my bottles have never lost carbonation. Before I'd say 1 out of every 8 or so had a bad seal. Hope this works for u too!

a0628h0427 said:

Hammy - They were brand new, never used before this batch. The strange thing is the old bottles with used gaskets are fine.

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I had the exact same issue a few years ago with bottles that I bought new from my LHBS. I finally figured out that the wire bail was made in a way that I could not get a decent seal on it. It would seal and then once the handle passed the full seal point it would continue and then allow for a poor seal. It ended up being a poor design flaw & I ended up scrapping them.

The seals on Groslch bottles seem to be a much spongier rubber than the LHBS bottles I feel. I have several of both. Grolsh however, tends to be cheaper than the LHBS type and Grolsh fills theirs up with beer! There is no way to tell how long the LHBS bottles have sat there. I'd still try picking up a new package of gaskets (they are usually sealed in a plastic bag). The ones now might just be old despite being new... That sounds dumb, but for a couple of dollars it's worth trying to salvage 30 dollars worth of flip top bottles right?

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm going to try some new gaskets to see if I can salvage the bottles.