twist top bottles

i have been told that twist top bottles will not work with the bottle caps /capper from LHB stores. is this true?

if so does anyone know why? they get pricey quick brewing a batch a week .


i am hoping to buy a keg system but first i want to get the stuff for all grain

yes they are not a crown style top. and you can't cap them with the capper. Only crown style bottles can be re used.

I just collected brown bottles from friends and drank domestic beer and saved bottles as i first started brewing. It takes a while but eventually you will have a stock pile..

You will be very happy with all grain man.. Good luck on your supplies and happy brewing.!!

squeekysheep,

from what i have read and my experience, twist top bottles work best w/ the original cap carefully twisted back on. That being said, a heavier crown cap bottle will withstand more pressure and will probably be better sealed w/ a crimped crown cap.

Crimping caps on twist offs is not really the intended use??

Good luck...Mike

k just figured i would get the opinion of the wonderful folk here. i had a batch i wanna bottle tomorrow and i might be a few bottles short.


the bad news is my local store is closed on Sunday and Monday. the good news is i am off and will have to drink 6 bottles before i bottle the new brew.


Life is rough

From what I've read/heard, a bench capper WILL work with twist offs, a wing capper will not. I just bottled a batch today with a bench capper and I used 3 twist off bottles just to see. I'll let you know in a few weeks how it goes.

For the record, I have a few twistoff bottles floating around in my bottle inventory, and I bottle just fine with a wing capper.

Twistoffs are not ideal because the glass is thinner at the top of the bottle for repeated capping attempts, and there's a possibility of CO2 leaking out if it's not crimped properly. A bench capper is better because it forces the cap down evenly around the lip of the bottle, where a wing capper kinda crunches in from the sides. It's easier to break the glass that way although personally I never have.

Go to the bar and ask the bartender/barback if you can have a case or two of bottles. A $5 tip is usually worth it.
B

I have capped over a thousand twistoffs with a wing capper, and only broke 3 of them.
bud bottles work fine

im with jeff, i use a wing capper with twist offs, and it works just fine.
ive got the plastic capper, and a steel one, i prefer the steel one.

ive only snapped a handfull of bottle necks.

Never snapped a bottle neck.

A bench capper WILL bottle any kind of bottle. Wing cappers typically do not work on twist offs because the bottle lacks a lip for the wing capper mechanism to grab. it grabs, and then pulls the cap down and crimps it.

a bench capper pushes the cap down, and crimps it, so it needs no lip.

+1 for asking a local bar/tavern/pub if you can haul away his empties.
some people also dig thru the public recycling bins.

Well you learn something new everyday.. I was told that they don't have a good seal and tend to leak. So I never attempted to save any of them. Good to know that you can use them though.. I don't know how many twist offs i have thrown away over the years..

The main question about using them is do you really want to take a chance with $40 -$50 worth of beer, and your time, that may leak?

Crown top bottles are not that hard to come by. Even if you don't have good beer drinking friends, you can buy new cases for $12 that will last for a long time. Personally, I think it's a false economy to try to use inferior products in my beer.

^^^ Well said. That is why nothing short of the best will ever be a part of my brewing and bottling.. It didn't take long to gather a load of crown top brown bottles for me. I got about 30 cases now.

usually when I bottle and realize I wont have enough I go to the store and get a 2 liter soda for 99c or something drink some so it wont be wastefull and dump the rest and VIOLA 2 liters of beer bottled

Bench cappers do twist tops OK, I've got about 80 twist top 750ml bottles. They have never leaked.
The only problem is when the capper is new, it's very tight on twist tops and a bugger of a job, once they're on though they don't leak.
Oiling the capper bell with food grade oil and wearing it in after 3-4 batches makes it easier on twist tops.
edit: Wing cappers have the same problem, new ones are very tight and sometimes they chip or break the bottles, but once worn in are OK but not as reliable as bench cappers in sealing twist tops without breakage and chipping (I broke and chipped about a dozen before getting a benchcapper).

OMFG...I can't believe that I haven't chimed in on this yet....
Actually...I just finished putting 5 gallons of BigKahuna's Haus Pale into bottles...twist top bottles.

These are cases & 10 and 11 in twist top, and no problems at all.

All of that said....I am stashing the $12 per case that I'm saving using twist tops for my Kreezer project.

I've worked several cases of twist-off bottles into my rotation once I got my bench capper and no-leaks, no-breaks, nothing but great results on about 5 batches so far. I think with a good bench capper you will have no problems with twist-off bottles. That's my 2 cents.

I use Honey Brown Lager bottles and they are pull off caps but the bottles are definitely twist off type . they seal well with a hand capper . Bench capper seems to be a useless tool for any bottle . It does how ever cap the bottles I buy from the supply store but not all of them seal off . I am going back to the 15 dollar hand capper .