First speed bump

I was in the process of bottling my second batch of beer. I brewed a 5 gallon batch of an American wheat beer. I added the priming sugar and bottled half the batch and capped it. I added some cherry extract to the second half of the batch, filled my bottles then found out that not all beer bottle tops are the same. The caps didn't fit. I had to pour the bottles as gently as possible back into the bottling bucket. Found some spare bottles laying around (luckily I had the exact amount I needed) and sanitized them quick. I filled the bottles up and capped them. I ended up with 42 12oz bottles and 1 22oz bottle.

I'm just worried that the second half of my beer is going to turn out flat or that it got infected. Should it be alright?

Should be fine. RDWHAHB.

It won't be flat, and isn't very likely to be infected. The worst that may have happened is it was exposed to a little more oxygen than ideal, which can result in some slight cardboard-y flavor. I really wouldn't worry about it.

Carbonation hadn't even started yet so it will not be flat..I doubt its infected either.

When i asked the guy at the home brew store this he said all bottles are the same. can you mention brand of bottles that don't work?
I'm making my first batch and want to make sure all bthe caps will fit.

Probably fine, I have had to do something similar with some of the Belgian beer 22 oz bottles, their caps were larger that the standard ones we use.

ninjazx7r said:

When i asked the guy at the home brew store this he said all bottles are the same. can you mention brand of bottles that don't work?
I'm making my first batch and want to make sure all the caps will fit.

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Many European bottles take 29 mm caps. I have several thicker 25 ozs bottles that use them. You need a different capping bell in addition to different caps.

ninjazx7r said:

When i asked the guy at the home brew store this he said all bottles are the same. can you mention brand of bottles that don't work?
I'm making my first batch and want to make sure all bthe caps will fit.

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The Abita bottles were the one brand I know didn't work and some of the other shorter wider bottles. The neck where the bottle capper grips the bottle is closer to the top on these ones and doesn't work properly

This is going to be a long 3 weeks. The sample I tasted when I took the gravity reading was spot on.

can anyone confirm if i can use a Stella Artois bottle ?

Been drinking my face off 120 bottles as of tonight just so i had enough for for bottle day

Please tell me they work lol

ninjazx7r said:

can anyone confirm if i can use a Stella Artois bottle ?

Been drinking my face off 120 bottles as of tonight just so i had enough for for bottle day

Please tell me they work lol

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No clue, take an empty one and try to bottle it

I have trouble reusing Bass bottles... They take the same size caps but the "shoulder" on the crown doesn't work well with my wing capper. I can usually get a seal, but something just isn't quite right about it.

Stella works

I found the shoulder near the mouth on my Sam Adams bottles are lower and when my red baron bottle cap crimper grabs the shoulder it squishes the caps on tight. I also have some Full Sail bottles that work, but the labels were a pain to remove. My capper didn't work however for New Belgium or Sierra Nevada bottles because the shoulder is higher.

It may well mention it in the instructions which I threw away, but I figured out on my own that you can unscrew the bell and get quite a bit of adjustment for the smaller shoulders. I haven't tried the Sierra Nevada, but I think they are the same size as the New Belgium and I have tested the New Belgium and they are nice and tight after I adjust the bell.

I can only assume that this would greatly weaken the connection between the body and bell thus making it susceptible to breaking, but it might get you by on a couple of bottles. I plan to collect only the long shoulder bottles going forward. I have swing top ez-cap bottles which could be capped on a bench capper, but the shoulders on these are too long for my red baron capper to grab.

Sorry the picture isn't great but from top to bottom is the EZ-Cap bottle, New Belgium bottle, Sierra Nevada bottle and a Full Sail bottle. You can see the Full Sail bottle shoulder is a little longer. One caveat though is the Full Sail bottle glass looked thinner to me than the Sam Adams bottle too. It seems there are quite few variables. I knew to stay away from the twist tops.

AZCoolerBrewer said:

I found the shoulder near the mouth on my Sam Adams bottles are lower and when my red baron bottle cap crimper grabs the shoulder it squishes the caps on tight. I also have some Full Sail bottles that work, but the labels were a pain to remove. My capper didn't work however for New Belgium or Sierra Nevada bottles because the shoulder is higher.

It may well mention it in the instructions which I threw away, but I figured out on my own that you can unscrew the bell and get quite a bit of adjustment for the smaller shoulders. I haven't tried the Sierra Nevada, but I think they are the same size as the New Belgium and I have tested the New Belgium and they are nice and tight after I adjust the bell.

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Don't adjust the screw on the bell, or you may very well break the thread on the capper.

If you have problems in fully clamping the cap due to the bottle/neck diameter, you need to turn the two metal plates around in the capper.

I reuse Stella bottles, they work fine....had just one snap the top of the bottle off when crimping (wasted 12 oz of mead ), but have had this happen occasionally with a couple other bottle types also....I attribute this to a couple of weak bottles and my hamfisted-ness...isolated incidents, I have no qualms about using Stella bottles.

For everyone having issues with a wing capper attaching to bottles with various shoulder heights......

May I suggest you invest in a bench capper. It does not rely on using a shoulder to grip the bottle. Once I bought one I never had issues with bottling again.

They are also adjustable for different bottle heights.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Agata-Bench-Capper.html