Is boiling the caps a bad idea?

I have been boiling the caps in a few cups of water just to keep them sanitized. Problem: Palmer's book says it is a bad idea because the heat destroys the oxygen seal in them. Well, what will be the telltale signs of this happening? Beer gets oxidized after a few weeks?
Has this caused any problems to anyone yet?

Merry Xmas folks.

why bother boiling? Just dump what you need in a little bit of StarSan.

Wetting o2 barrier caps at all activates the o2 absorbant layer under the plastic seal. Not to mention,weakening the glue that holds it all together.
I just dunk them into some Starsan right before placing on the bottles. After I go to crimp the caps in place,I turn the bottle upside down once to make sure the o2 absorbant layer is activated. Not to mention that pasteurization happens between 142-160F,not boiling temp.

I used to boil. Sometimes the plastic seal inside them would shrivel, which I thought was not good.

I switched to just putting all my caps in the Vinator sanitizer reservoir at the beginning of bottling. Perfect.

If you are not using a vinator and a bottling tree, you should. It's a great investment and you'll wonder why you messed with anything else.

Gotta agree with that! My bottle tree,vinator & super agata bench capper make bottling day easier & faster. I have saved those plastic containers from the upscale luncheon meats to put starsan in for dunking my o2 barrier caps in before placing them on the bottles.

Boiling the caps is a waste of time...and often destroys the plastic seal. Better, as has been mentioned, is simply to throw them into a container with StarSan and let them soak a minute of two. Very easy...and the plastic seal retains its shape and integrity.

glenn514

I also simply drop mine in Star San, however, most breweries and a lot of homebrewers don't sanitize caps at all, so I wouldn't worry a whole lot.

When I use caps, which is not often, I don't sanitize them... The pros don't either. As long as your keeping you supply of caps protected in the first place (not strewn across the bottom of a dirty tote or something) y should have no issues.

If you are using the o2 type caps - the you don't want to wet them with anything except the beer in the bottle after it's been capped. That's the whole purpose of the o2 caps. If you dunk them in starsan first, then you just paid more for regular caps.

rawlus said:

When I use caps, which is not often, I don't sanitize them... The pros don't either. As long as your keeping you supply of caps protected in the first place (not strewn across the bottom of a dirty tote or something) y should have no issues.

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Bad advice. Caps have all sorts of crap over them. How do you think they get into the bag? They sure as heck aren't kept in a sterile lab with a sterile robot dumping them in. This was even mentioned on a Brewing Network podcast and one of the guys from Morebeer admitted that caps aren't free of contaminants.

We were discussing this in a thread once,& it seems to me revvy mention getting 1 or 2 out of three caps causing infections in some bottles. I don't soak the o2 barrier caps in Starsan,just give'em a quick dunk & onto the bottles.

IL1kebeer said:

Bad advice. Caps have all sorts of crap over them. How do you think they get into the bag? They sure as heck aren't kept in a sterile lab with a sterile robot dumping them in. This was even mentioned on a Brewing Network podcast and one of the guys from Morebeer admitted that caps aren't free of contaminants.

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To each their own... Some are extremely paranoid about sanitation and some are just cautious. As has been mentioned, there are plenty of examples of successful bottling without autoclaving the caps or taking other extreme measures. If you are going to starsan your caps, then you can save money by buying regular caps since the o2 ones will be depleted by the time you use them.

Not trying to create a debate or argument. Never said the caps were sterile, very few things are sterile. Just saying, caps are used in bottling lines straight outta the bag, corks too.

I drop my caps into a pan of water, bring it to a boil and off the burner ready to cap. I've never had a problem with them sealing. If I have extra caps I let them dry so I can use them on the next batch.

Those caps that I dunked in starsan and didn't use ended up getting thrown out because the rusted before I got another batch ready to cap.

I've always boiled and only had the occasional bad seal (maybe 1 or 2 per batch). Doing the StarSan soak seems like a reasonable alternative.

why some make this process more difficult then it really needs to be,

I just leave the caps in my tub of StarSan and pluck 'em out as needed for bottling.

According to this thread, O2 absorbing caps can be dunked in sanitizer (star-san or iodophor) just before capping. The sanitizer won't harm the O2 absorbing properties if the cap is used immediately after sanitizing. Once the O2 cap is activated it takes a week or so to work its magic.

Boiling is a different story. My guess is boiling the caps will boil off the 02 absorbing additive.

Seriously, just spray with starsan and cap right after. It takes 2 extra seconds to spray... Not much more difficult than picking your nose