Bottle Caps?

I have quite a few from my equipment collection process. Most likely several years old, but bagged and clean. They look new. Should I use them or replace them? Do they go bad?

Toss em in a bucket of sanitizer and use away.

Thanks for asking this question, I was wondering the same thing when a friend gave me their brewing equipment, including a bunch of caps that are 10 years old or so. They look fine and I wouldn't think they go bad, but not really sure.

If they are clean and not pitted with rust then they are fine. If they are O2 absorbing caps and have been damp then they might not absorb any O2 but they will mechanically work to seal the bottles.

O2 caps are activated by getting wet.

+1
I've used caps that were many many many years old and it's fine.

Cool, Thanks. I'd hate to FU my first batch for a couple bucks on caps. But I also hate to waste material.

Cheers'
Ron

I bottled half a batch a month or so ago with caps I'd been holding on to for around 10 years. a few days after bottling, my storage area smelled like a fresh ferment, and I figured I had a bottle bomb or two. Nope, nothing broken, after 3 weeks I chilled and opened a few to find them totally flat. The caps leaked.

A new bag of caps and carb drops and all is well. So, I guess there may be a limit before the liners in the caps dry out and won't hold pressure. BTW: they were Brewers Best caps.