Flip cap bottles (grolsch) NEVER AGAIN!!!

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I had the same issue with flip-tops. I gave up on them and just went to kegging. I'm glad I kept a few of the flip-tops, though, because they're great when filling with already carbonated beer from the keg.

Bottom line, they don't make them like they used to. I think the problem comes when you're installing the wire bale. If you aren't gentle enough, the bale gets a little loose and doesn't pull tightly enough on the seal to make it stand up to the pressure of the natural carbonation process. But they still work fine for keeping cold carbonated beer sealed off, if that makes sense.

If you want to give your bottles another chance, you could try replacing the bale assemblies and make sure you get them installed properly on the first try and verrrry gently. I'm pretty convinced that this is the problem, because I noticed that the percentage of bottles that wouldn't carbonate correlated pretty closely to the percentage of bottles where I had trouble installing the bale -- either because I installed it "backwards" the first time (where the flip is on the wrong side after you click the bale in, and you have to force the flip to the other side) or because it kept slipping and I had to re-do it several times (weakening the bale).
 
The bottles blew up or were flat?

You could add some sugar individually and reseal them. When this happens to me (I bottle a few 1L fliptops from what does fit in a keg) I add 2 tsp of corn sugar to each 1L flip top and just wait a few weeks. There a thread a while ago that said 1 sugar cube per 12 oz bottle is enough so I scaled from there.

In those cases there wasn't enough sugar left over to carbonate the bottle, it wasn't a leak or anything I didn't expect. These have been more reliable than growlers for me as far as short-term transport.

If you're on a deadline for Xmas then it might be possible with three weeks left.
 
Bottles were FLAT!
The taste is there, good alcohol content, nice color but no fizz. The flavor IMHO with this needs to have some head to really release the flavor and mouth feel. Otherwise Meh!

When I was first starting my brewing education I did see a youtube video of a guy who bottled into 2 liter plastic soda bottles, like Fresca and Sprite, and he dropped a cube of sugar into each bottle and screwed em down tight. I think Im Going to try that and cover them in a big tub to protect from explosions and give it one last shot at salvage.

any thoughts?
 
I would really recommend you actually calculate how much priming sugar you need per bottle. You can add it as is, or make it into simple syrup, but you want to add the right amount! BTW, you can pick up a packet of rubber gaskets for swing tops very cheaply. I find that replacing the hard plastic gaskets on reused commercial swing tops with rubber makes a big difference.
 
I really don't understand what the issue is. I use flip-tops all the time and they are great. I have had bad seals on crown caps before, but not on flip-tops and I usually do about half of each beer in each type of bottle. I would really recommend the gaskets be the form fitting plastic ones though. Rubber gaskets have a weird smell and will dry out in time with use. Could that be your problem? If the gaskets are rubber and dry, they could have minor cracks that breath a little.
 
I have about twelve 750 ml bottles Imperial IPA in this situation. Im not sure how to go about calculating the Sugar needed per bottle so I'd appreciate some advice on that. But I'll grab some priming sugar for that purpose.

The caps I used this time were not rubber but orange plastic. It felt Nice and pliable but who knows. I've used the brick red rubber before and no problem but that didn't last or need to be stored long.

thanks all
 
Here's a resource for calculating how much sugar you will need.

This accounts for dissolved CO2 at low levels that happens at RT and tells you how much sugar to add for 5G to up that CO2 volume to where it needs to be by style.

Adjust for the total amount of beer you have and the number of bottles it's divided among.
 
chocotaco said:
Nope.
Click to expand...

But Rogue (and maybe some other breweries) sell bombers that are sealed with a crown cap but also have a flip-top hanging out (presumably to save the rest for later, as if anyone is ever going to do that with a bomber).

So they exist, somewhere. Just not at your LBHS.
 
Choco is correct. My bottles will support the flip cap only. I have just seen a bottle which is both crown cap for the shipping and storage.

a neat packaging idea. If I had the option it may have helped.
 
I've used grolsch bottles for about 10 batches with the original gaskets and never an isssue. How old were those bottles?
 
Never had a problem with my flip-tops. I love them. The sound when popping the top is so satisfying.

I'd blame priming process or the gaskets. Or maybe start collecting better flip-tops from beers you buy. Captured by Porches out in Portland has nice 750ml flip-tops. The import section is good for 500ml ones.
 
When I bottle with flip tops, I always put the tiniest amount of keg lube on the gasket. Helps it seal and keeps the gasket from drying out.

Cheers
 
Maybe I read the post wrong, but it sounded like you were taking them in and out of the fridge.

That temperature swing can mess with the yeast. After coming out of the fridge they have to wake up again and start eating and maybe not finishing before they go back to the fridge.

Also sometimes yeast is weird and it takes longer than expected. I had a bourbon red rye that was flat. Thought I screwed up the batch somehow. Then one day about 6 weeks after bottling I opened one expecting it to be flat and it was perfect.
 
If you go to the trouble of adding more sugar you might as well repitch some yeast in at least some of the bottles. A few grains of dry yeast might work. Also did you figure out your temp schedule for carbing? You should try 3 weeks at 70. The other trhread made it sound like you chilled and brought things back to temp a couple of times. While that may not kill them it most likely stressed them a bit.
 
I love my Grosch bottles. Never had a single pop-off in two years, and I am still using the same gaskets too. I will likely eventually move to kegging, but I wont give it up completely because frankly, I like the convenience and portability of the bottles. (This is a bit geeky, but I also like the idea of each bottle being its own isolated eco-system.)

I will say this, though: I bought some larger 22oz flip-cap bottles to use as well, and the ones I got were appreciably lower-quality than the Grolsch ones. My only bottle-bomb when I accidentally over-carbed once was on one of these generic ones. It may have just been the size differential, but even in this case, the bottom of the bottle popped open and the flip-top actually held.
Also, the generic ones didn't have any depressions blown into the bottle (i.e. they were completely smooth), which makes handing them when they're wet a bit dicier (and also less for custom labels to cling to).

Overall, I think the Grolsch people make a nice product. Depending on how old yours are, I'd recommend getting some replacement gaskets is all.
 
Grolsch or new fliptops?
I have yet to have a problem with Grolsch (or any other bottle acquired with commercial beer in it).
But, the first case of fliptops bought from an OHBS had slick plastic gaskets, that held in liquid, but slowly let gas out.
Replacing those gaskets with rubber gaskets solved that problem.
 
I've used Grolsch bottles for decades without a hitch...I also crown cap 22 oz. brown bombers and keg full size and half Cornies. Had more issues with kegs than I've ever had with Grolsch swing tops...so something you're doing is wrong (like overcarbing) or the bottles you're using aren't the same as mine. BTW, I am using a few of the vintage 473 mL Grolsch with the ceramic stoppers, but the majority of the 300 or so are the newer 450 mL with the plastic stoppers...
 
It was the plastic O-rings on the caps. My supply store has stopped carrying them.

Same recipe and process as previous that came out great. No biggie. I've got another batch ready. Crown caps going forward. I'm cool with that.
 
Still somewhat puzzled...I have used the old school rubber Grolsch 473's from the '80's and the 450 ml Grolsch from the 2000's (plastic) and just pull the gaskets off, sanitize them and away we go...mind you I do get rid of the bottled product fairly quickly, so I'll have to monitor the swings a little closer...
 
I used Grolsch bottles for a few years before I kegged, and didn't have problems. On the rare occasion that the wire bales loosened off, I just gave em a squeeze and they were as good as new.

The vast majority of mine were circa 2012 and came with heavy duty rubber gaskets, which I reused. I had one or two bottles that came with thin spongy gaskets, which were useless and I discarded them. I still keep a few Grolschies on hand for bottling small amounts.
 
Last edited:
I’ve had a huge number of seal failures from the batch I got from LHBS. Very few failed from the ceramic tops I got online. I got clear... and can see the failures when they are bottle conditioning. Little bubbles form at the top of the beer, sometimes if it is a bad failure (completely flat, rather than partially) then there are tiny bubbles or even visible leak at the gasket. On closer inspection the failed bottles have slight imperfections in the glass itself at the mouth. Often rough seams that hit the gasket at a piercing angle or micro bubbles or micro nodules in the body of the glass right at the spot of the failure. I tried new gaskets, ant I’m about to try new bales, but I’m sure it’s just poor manufacture of the bottles themselves. I’ve considered asking the local glass blower if the mouths could be re-heated to smooth the openings... but I am about to cull a bunch of bottles. What a waste.
 
No problems here.
Bought a crate of Grolsch, drank the content, and used them for my homebrew.
I like them, and I like Grolsch ;)
I started with bottling in 500 ml sprite pet bottles, as it has been difficult to find bottles and caps here. It works well, as long as you tighten the lid proper proper.
The crate of Grolsch came from a bottle store down South.
 
chocotaco said:
I had the same issue with flip-tops. I gave up on them and just went to kegging. I'm glad I kept a few of the flip-tops, though, because they're great when filling with already carbonated beer from the keg.

Bottom line, they don't make them like they used to. I think the problem comes when you're installing the wire bale. If you aren't gentle enough, the bale gets a little loose and doesn't pull tightly enough on the seal to make it stand up to the pressure of the natural carbonation process. But they still work fine for keeping cold carbonated beer sealed off, if that makes sense.

If you want to give your bottles another chance, you could try replacing the bale assemblies and make sure you get them installed properly on the first try and verrrry gently. I'm pretty convinced that this is the problem, because I noticed that the percentage of bottles that wouldn't carbonate correlated pretty closely to the percentage of bottles where I had trouble installing the bale -- either because I installed it "backwards" the first time (where the flip is on the wrong side after you click the bale in, and you have to force the flip to the other side) or because it kept slipping and I had to re-do it several times (weakening the bale).
Click to expand...


Have found out it is not the rubber seal but the cap itself. If you take the rubber off and where the mold joint is you will find it is either raised or suck in a bit. Took my dremel with a fine stone on it and gently took off the raised portion and have not had a problem since. You have to be careful not to take to much off.
 
FWIW: In Germany there are a bunch of breweries that package in ‘flippies’.
 
This is a zombie thread, but WTF. I have run a LOT of beer thru my swing-top Grolsch bottles over the years w/o a problem. I also have a lot of liter size swing tops my dad gave me that were from a German Taffelwasser. I remove gaskets as soon as they are empty to keep them from stretching out and replace them when it's time to bottle. Nothing but satisfying POPs and frothy goodness. Only problem I ever had with swing-tops was a batch that came from a beer called Jubel. They were like little jugs with a handle at the top like a gallon cider jug. Those were weak and a couple turned into Belgian Trippel hand grenades. Not TOO dangerous cause I have learned to keep my fresh bottled stash closed in plastic totes until it's time to refrigerate - but messy nonetheless. They don't make Grolsh bottles like they used to, agreed, but even the newer seamed ones have held up just fine. If the recipe is ambiguous about the length of time, ie "One to two weeks primary, One to two weeks secondary", I go for two and two and then bottle. Only time I cut it short is if I'm kegging.

**Snuffy
 
I got a set of these (not grolsch, but flip tops) on CL years ago and have run many batches through them. Never ever replaced gaskets. Never any issues.
 
I've got a couple of batches of beer and cider through my Grolsch bottles so far with the original seals in place. So far no problems.
 

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