Broken capper?

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brewbies

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Hey all,

Using a wing capper that only has only done one batch so far. Got about 3/4 through my second batch and it seems to have gotten messed up some how. The motions seem fluid enough, but whenever I try and cap a bottle i hear a slight grinding noise of metal on glass. No matter how gently I do it I seem to take a chip out of a bottle or completely crack it. Has this happened to anyone before? Am I just putting to much pressure on it? Wishing I had about ten Grolsch bottles right about now.
 
Do you have a 2 liter soda bottle handy? You can bottle some of your beer in that, assuming you wash it out properly.

Just don't use a root beer bottle. Your beer will suffer from it.
 
I'll look around for some soda bottles, didn't know they were an option.

As for the capper, one beer it worked, next it didn't. Nothing seems to be wrong with it until I place it on a bottle and press the levers down. It takes so much pressure I'm scared to even attempt another.
 
Bottle mouth's should be fairly uniform right? The only thing I can think of is that I bottled two 32oz Guinness Extra Stout bottles before it started acting up, even though I used those with my last batch.
 
They don't look it. Well I am easing it down on a few larger bottles I have, still doesn't seem to be working properly. Basically have to close one side of the cap a time gently or it feels like it will crack. Thanks for the responses, still a complete noob at this. Anytime something goes wrong I run to the computer without thinking it through. I'll tell you this breakfast stout is worth all the trouble though.
 
get a bench capper the toss that wing capper. you wont regret it. as far as a problem i dont know but it could be that its not seating right on the bottle. i need to go find mine and see how it works
 
Were the chipped bottles threaded, or pry-offs? The only bottles I've had break during capping were threaded ones that had sneaked into my bottle collection when I wasn't looking.
 
All the bottles used were pop-tops. I managed cap the rest of the beer I had, but like I said I had to do it one side at a time. For some reason it seemed like the right wing just wouldn't depress without chipping/cracking the bottle. I'm going to take it to the LHBS with some empties and caps and see if the owner can discover the problem.

In the meantime I've been looking in to bench cappers and I had a few questions. First, do they have to be bolted down to a work table or can you hold them in place on a counter top? Second, is the Agata model worth buying? It's the first one I see popup in all my searches and seems reasonably priced, don't want to jump on it and get something flimsy though.
 
All the bottles used were pop-tops. I managed cap the rest of the beer I had, but like I said I had to do it one side at a time. For some reason it seemed like the right wing just wouldn't depress without chipping/cracking the bottle. I'm going to take it to the LHBS with some empties and caps and see if the owner can discover the problem.

In the meantime I've been looking in to bench cappers and I had a few questions. First, do they have to be bolted down to a work table or can you hold them in place on a counter top? Second, is the Agata model worth buying? It's the first one I see popup in all my searches and seems reasonably priced, don't want to jump on it and get something flimsy though.

I've heard good things about both the Agata and the Colonna.

FWIW, the Colonna also has a $60-ish version that works as a capper and a corker, and apparently handles European (29 mm) caps and Belgian corks as well as standard bottle caps and wine corks (but probably _doesn't_ work for mushroomed champagne corks from what I can tell). That's what I'm thinking about, though if you only want a capper save the money and get the $33 version.

I'd mainly want it to cork some Belgian strong ales and barleywines in Belgian bottles, but it'd be nice to have around if I decide to make some wine at some point.
 
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