Rusted Bottle Caps

Hi. Longtime lurker, first time poster.

So I bottled my beers a couple days ago, and I was trying a new system to maintain my bottling temp around 70. I had the bottles in a water bath in a cooler, heated with an aqaurium heater. Bad idea, i guess. I noticed today that the bottle caps have some rust on them. It seems to be mostly along the edges of the crimps, probably where some of the paint was scratched off by the capper. I'm assuming that with the lid closed, water evaporated and condensesd on the inside of the lid, as well as on the tops of the bottles, causing the rust.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have some advice on what the longterm consequences of this might be? I'm hoping the worst is that the caps willl just look a little ugly, but I'm wondering if the rust could spread and eventually impart some kind of bad flavor.

I was considering taking the caps off and replacing them, but without adding more priming sugar, I'd probably never get full carbonation. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Any adviced would be much appreciated.


Thanks!
-Chad

I have no idea, but if they're fine you gotta name the batch something like "Lockjaw Stout" or something like that.

I used to use One Step to sanitize my caps and after a few minutes the edges of the caps would have rust or rust-like buildup on them. I rubbed it off with my fingers and used them and the beer (several different batches) came out great.

I would recommend taking the bottles out of your heating device, drying them off and "proceeding as usual." I highly doubt that anything bad has happened to your beer because of this. If you look at the inside of a cap it's entirely a non-metal gasket and hence rust proof. I'm not a chemist, but I don't think your caps are going to continue to rust away in the time frame you're likely to drink your beer in so no worries there.

In my brewing experience, I've found that the less weird things you do to your beer (like recapping an entire batch) the better the beer turns out. Relax, don't worry and have a home brew

Never had that happen to me. Rust is not toxic. It is just oxidized iron or steel. Also, it does not cause tetanus, as some people assume. A cut from a rusty nail could not cause tetanus if it did not have tetanus bacteria on it. However a dirty nail could, because the bacteria that causes tetanus is common in soil. In any case, it's not a good idea to cut yourself with a rusty or dirty bail. I don't know if it will affect the taste of your brew. I never tasted beer with rust in it. If there is no rust on the inside of the bottle you are fine.

It used to be really common for imported beer to have slightly rusty caps. You'd pop em' off, and there would be a little bit of rust remaining on the rim of the bottle. I would just wipe it off, and proceed to pour...it never impacted the beer itself.

I'd just leave them alone, and not worry about it!

the inside of the caps surface is coated in a plastic type material that will keep the rust away from the beer, hopefully.

Ok, well thanks for all the answers. I'll just go ahead and dry the bottles off and see what happens.

I should've known the answer would be RDWHARHB.

Well? How did it turn out?

I just filled all my bottles with my latest batch. When I went back to cap them, that's when I noticed that all my caps were slightly rusty. It was late at night, so I capped them up (no store). I kinda wish I'd have gotten new caps now.

Do you think that if I poured every beer back into the bucket, let it sit for a week to eat up the priming sugar, re-primed it, then re-bottled it.... that it would affect it much? Seems like a lot of oxygen getting in there.

Don't sanitize too many caps. Just chunk a good handful in to start, and then add 5 or so as you need. That way you don't have the rust.

Count how many bottles you have Maybe add a few.

I had never had a problem putting a cap on till these rusty caps. Anyhow..... Have a new brew started. Hopefully I'll still have a steady stream of beer

I have a similar system for conditioning, and am hoping I don't get rust on mine...considering taking the lid off.

I just ran into the same problem with a cooler full of my first batch of homebrew.

Rusty caps. Heartbreaking. I want to enter a fair.


My solution:
I just (as in right now) poured half a gallon of white vinegar in the cooler. This was just enough to cover all the caps. Vinegar dissolves rust. White vinegar won't harber acetobacter. It shouldn't matter because the bottles are sealed anyway. I hope to rinse/wipe the rust off after a period of time.

I will check on them tomorrow after work.
I expect this should work marvelously and I will enter the fair.

:fro:

The vinegar solution kinda worked.

It does loosen up the rust so you can scrub it away. But rust that is deep enough is persistent.

Getting into the tight spots under a cap with a brush is difficult.

Once the bottle is stained with rust it seems to permeate the glass a bit.

I will keep mastering my recipe.

There will be more fairs.