Which capper do you all recommend? - reviews are so mixed

I've looked at the various ones on a few homebrew supply sites and the reviews are so mixed. Seems like the Red Wing capper is rated best but everyone says you eventually progress to a benchcapper. I want this to be a one time deal. I've read about bench cappers busting in a few days, a wing capper cutting someone's hand LOL.... so many varied opinions. What do you all recommend as a good final capper?

I'm looking to try using glass bottles since I have so many from all the cases of Franziskaner (large brown bottles) I buy. So far I have 60 740ml PET bottles and 48 500ml PET bottles. I've used PET and do really like them but what is driving me nuts the most is how featherlight they are. Any time I try to line them up they're always falling all over the place. Plus there's the tamper ring. With the Cooper's bottle caps it's not a problem, the ring comes right off easily. But the caps I got for the 500ml bottles from Midwest are a nightmare. They aren't cut all the way around so they leave about 1/8th of plastic attached that you have to use pliers to snap off and then it often leaves a sharp point. PITA! At least I know to buy the Cooper's caps instead next time. Someone on here mentioned you can break bottles with a capper Is that something common?


Rev.

So who's everyone??? I've been brewing for years and never felt the need to "progress" beyond my red wing capper.

In fact I've got my bottling system so streamlined that it takes me about 45 minutes to bottle 2 cases of beer. In order to use a bench capper with my system as outlined, here, it would more than likely take longer. I've tweaked my system down to the point where "if it ain't broke...."

So I can't see the need for one. It won't speed anything up for me.

It's really about preference, not that any one is better than another, or a "progression." It's like so much in brewing it's not a matter of one being better, just what's better for you.

+1, my wing capper has served me well and continues to do so. Never seen a need to progress to the bench cappers. I can think of better areas of my homebrewing setup to spend the money.

Ace_Club said:

+1, my wing capper has served me well and continues to do so. Never seen a need to progress to the bench cappers. I can think of better areas of my homebrewing setup to spend the money.

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Yeah. The only one I might consider getting is the one that folks have modded to use for capping Belgian corks and champagne bottles, but I would only use it for that prupose, not for regular bottling situations. But I even can't see spending 60 bucks for it.

This one.



See with a wing capper, you take the capper to the bottles, with a bench capper you have to take the bottle to the capper. I can have a whole case of bottles with the caps fitted on already sitting on my table, and just walk over and without moving the bottles, just lean over and go "blam, blam, blam, blam" 24 times in succession. With a bench capper, I have to pick up bottle, move to capper, crip it, put bottle aside, grab next bottle, etc, etc. I could probably have 5 bottles capped with my wing in the time it would take to go through all the motions of capping one with the bench.

In my system it's all about economy of motion, no wasted motion.

BENCH CAPPER. I would never go back to a wing capper.

Been using a wing capper for 20 years, until I started kegging. Keep them clean and lubed and they last forever.

For bottling, I have to agree with Gregscsu. I never could get a wing capper to work right. I also can't golf.

Another vote for the bench capper, but a wing capper will certainly do. It's more a matter of preference than anything else.

I was in your situation when i was starting out(didn't want to make a double purcghase down the line). I decided on the bench capper pictured above by Greg. It works great. I always hear people saying that you can't use twist top bottles with a wing capper, I use quite a few twist off bottles and they work great for me. I've never used a wing capper and prolly never will.

Revvy said:

So who's everyone??? I've been brewing for years and never felt the need to "progress" beyond my red wing capper.

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OK, so I read a couple of comments in posts that said this, so sue me

Thanks for the info so far guys! It's really striking a cord and seems to be inline with why I see the red wing cappers always rated the highest. They're also inexpensive, good to hear long term experienced folks on this so thanks again! Keep the opinions coming of course. Oh, about that comment I read about the risk for breaking bottles, does that really happen?


Rev.

JNye said:

I was in your situation when i was starting out(didn't want to make a double purcghase down the line). I decided on the bench capper pictured above by Greg. It works great.

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Thanks JNye. How about using it when not bolted down? I don't have a bench to bolt it to and have seen some comments about it really needing to be bolted down.


Rev.

I had a butterfly capper but the threads in it used up after about 20 batches. Maybe I wasn't lucky. I'm using a bench top right now but I'm still looking for one of the vintage ones made out of steel. The plastic garbage bench top cappers that comes out of Asia, like the one I have now, prolly won't last too long.

Rev2010 said:

Oh, about that comment I read about the risk for breaking bottles, does that really happen?


Rev.

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Does it happen? I've read about it. Ever happen to me, no. Bottle on!

Trace

I broke a few with the wing capper. I got a bench capper and I love it. If you were closer I would give you my old wing capper, free.

I have both of the bench cappers pictured above. I like both.
The first one (Corona, with the arch) also corks. I do wine too.
The second one (single column) is easy to adjust if your bottles are not the same height. I have never used the wing capper.

Revvy said:

Yeah. The only one I might consider getting is the one that folks have modded to use for capping Belgian corks and champagne bottles, but I would only use it for that prupose, not for regular bottling situations. But I even can't see spending 60 bucks for it.

This one.

See with a wing capper, you take the capper to the bottles, with a bench capper you have to take the bottle to the capper. I can have a whole case of bottles with the caps fitted on already sitting on my table, and just walk over and without moving the bottles, just lean over and go "blam, blam, blam, blam" 24 times in succession. With a bench capper, I have to pick up bottle, move to capper, crip it, put bottle aside, grab next bottle, etc, etc. I could probably have 5 bottles capped with my wing in the time it would take to go through all the motions of capping one with the bench.

In my system it's all about economy of motion, no wasted motion.

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I have the Colonna capper/corker pictured above and love it. I always cork and cage a few of any beer (Belgian corks and bottles) that I think could be special, as potential gifts. And it'll work for wine if/when I decide to go that route.

My red wing capper broke after about 5 batches--it will still work if I'm very careful, but the guide on one side is snapped and it needs careful attention to seat properly.

Unless you want to cork some stuff, if your wing capper doesn't break there's no real need to change cappers. A bench capper may make it a little easier to cap some bottles (e.g. ones that don't have much of a lip to grab onto), but in general there's not a huge difference.

I have the wing capper and don't see myself going with a bench capper. Plus, I started kegging, so the wing capper is more than adequate for my needs (something to consider if you think you might ever keg).

One thing I will say, I know that the red wing capper can be used for 26mm caps (standard beer bottle) and 29mm caps (large diameter opening sparkling wine bottles). You just have to buy the larger capping bell, but it's cheap. I don't know if that is true for the black wing capper. I make sparkling wine once per year, so I was glad to not need another capper for those bottles.

blizzard said:

I have the wing capper and don't see myself going with a bench capper. Plus, I started kegging, so the wing capper is more than adequate for my needs (something to consider if you think you might ever keg).

One thing I will say, I know that the red wing capper can be used for 26mm caps (standard beer bottle) and 29mm caps (large diameter opening sparkling wine bottles). You just have to buy the larger capping bell, but it's cheap. I don't know if that is true for the black wing capper. I make sparkling wine once per year, so I was glad to not need another capper for those bottles.

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The colonna bench corker/capper comes with the regular and European bells, too.

never broken a bottle with my bench capper. I have never had it botled down and it does not need to be. I think broken bottles are possible with a wing capper if you get too aggressive. I like the option of using different size bells for different size bottles.

I think people probably break bottles or wing cappers from misuse. My red baron capper is pretty easy to use, it's so smooth you might feel you need to put a little more effort in, but you don't, and I assume that's where things go wrong for people.

I just bottled my first brew, and it was pretty easy with the wing capper.

Let's face it, bottling isn't much fun no matter how you do it. I choose to save my money, and buy more brew.

i have a black wing capper. it works really well and like Revvy said. i can take the capper to the bottle. only problem i ever had was a missed maintainance. i didnt' check the capper bell to see if it was screwed in tight. pushed down and the bell stayed on the bottle. sweated for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what i was going to do with the beer in the bucket. i didn't know they can screw on or off. well i do now.


and yes, i have broken a couple of bottles with my wing capper. not seated proper on the bottle is the main problem

My personal results:

Bench capper (which, BTW, I've never bolted down...): This is the easiest of the two. Very quick and painless. But does NOT play well with screw-top bottles. I've broken quite a few twist-off bottles over the years. The twist-offs tend to get stuck inside it.

Wing capper: Works ok, but I don't find it all that stable. I'm always concerned that the bottle will slip sideways. Does OK with twist-offs. I keep it specifically for that purpose.

I try to stick to regular crown bottles (non twist-offs) but I always have "foreigners" getting into my collection of bottles.

I've never seen the need to bolt down the bench top capper. The only thing is that the bottom is as sharp sides, so on a countertop you need to protect the surface. I just use a kitchen towel, table cloth, etc.

M_C

I have yet to actually use bottles that need to be capped... I've been using the Grolsch style bottles from brew 1... I did just pick up two cases of Belgian bottles for the BarleyWine I need to bottle up (this weekend)... I picked up the floor corker at the same time (discounted due to a scratch in the paint, saved 10% that way). Now I'll be ready for when it's time to bottle up the mead I have going. I had thought about getting the bench corker/capper, but then I'd be able to cap as well. Not sure if I really want to start going down that road. Especially since I could (or so I'm told) use the floor corker with champagne style bottles (and corks) by using some of the old gray-matter... :rockin: That has more value to me, since I do see myself using those types of bottles in the future (when I can find them in the size and color I want).

Hey Rev2010, I started with the red plastic wing capper. Never broke a bottle but quite a few "slip sideways" if I try to go fast. . .I find that stressful. I looked at all the "new" bench cappers for a while and finally picked one from Ebay.

I went with a 1950 (ish) Eveready antique capper. It's red, made in USA, built like a boulder and will outlive many brewers. There are a lot of rusty crappy ones on Ebay. I was patient & got one that looks brand new/in orig box for about 40 bucks shipped.

It is beyond awsome. I did not bolt it down, it's super stable, faster than my "wing" and best of all. . .SWMBO approved it for a permanent spot on our kitchen counter. It has this very cool 1950's retro soda shop feel. Whoa, brewing equipment on permanent display and works great too? Doesn't get any better than that!

K, so far I'm swaying toward the bench capper. I also like the idea of the capper that does corking too, as it would be nice to do some belgian beers and put them in corked bottles I'll also take your advice ^^ and look up some antique one's on EBay too, see if there's any good one's on there.


Rev.

It looks like you are getting a lot of people on both sides of the fence between the wing cappers and the bench cappers in this thread. I started out with a wing capper and it works rather well for the most part. I upgraded to a bench capper last week for one specific reason. Some of the bottles I come across simply won't cap well with the wing capper. One specific example is the Anchor Brewing Company bottles. The wing capper depends on the shape of the bottle lip to grab onto when it presses the cap on. Bottles that have a very thin lip up top simply won't cap with a wing capper. If they will, I was never able to figure out how to make it work. A bench capper will cap anything.

I have also had minor difficulties capping Sierra Nevada bottles and New Belgium bottles with my Red Baron. Those bottle lips are only slightly smaller than something like a Sam Adams bottle, but I have encountered multiple bottles of homebrew that did not seal properly and therefore did not carb up nicely in the bottle.

I started out with a bench capper given to me from a winemaker years ago. Has worked flawlessly. Only issue is having to adjust the handle for different bottle heights. No big deal. My little girl used it last night to bottle some IPA.

I also bought a wing capper just to cap the small batches and/or half-bottles. I don't even know where that thing is now. It's quick and easy, but I had an issue with some bottles not grabbing. And I always felt like the thinner bottles were going to break on me. I think I used it for two whole batches.

My personal opinion is that the wing capper is quicker, but I prefer my bench capper.

It looks just like this one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-bottle-capper-/300521595683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f87ba323

I have both and I like the bench capper better, it just feels more secure. Sometimes it can be annoying where you'll have the height set perfect and then for no reason it will spring up a few notches and you have to reset it so often. It can also be annoying if you don't sit the bottles down close enough to center it sometimes doesn't cap them right and you need to rip the top off and do it again.

Homercidal said:

It looks just like this one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-bottle-capper-/300521595683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f87ba323

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I saw some Big Ben cappers on EBay in good condition for low cost. Was wondering if those would be good or if the modern one's are better for any reason.


Rev.

My wing capper works great and I never had a complaint until trying to bottle large quantities of short neck Sierra Nevada type bottles. The bench style capper works great for those.

+1 on the bench top capper--not bolted down.

My red baron wing capper would not fully crimp corona, modelo, pils urquell, and many other bottles with a thin lower lip. I found this out after filling a case full of corona bottles.

I was disapointed to break a bottle. I was using a red barron but it was a boulevard brewing bottle with a twist top.It wasnt a twist cap beer though(whats the point of those threads on it anyway, if its not twist off?) So im not using those wonder if Coopers will break too. I was getting an extra bottle out of that batch and was pissed that it broke.
Did some body mention maintanence? On a capper? HOw do you do that?
I would have to agree that a bench capper would be more conveinent to bottle for larger qauntites.

Nuggethead said:

My wing capper works great and I never had a complaint until trying to bottle large quantities of short neck Sierra Nevada type bottles. The bench style capper works great for those.

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Maybe that's why I like the bench capper more, more than half of my bottles are SN.

Wing capper all the way. I have had no problems with mine!!
Stores easy, replaces(cost) easy, uses easy, what else could you want?

Of course it does not cork bottles but hey, nobody is perfect:cross:

ILuvIPA said:

Hey Rev2010, I started with the red plastic wing capper. Never broke a bottle but quite a few "slip sideways" if I try to go fast. . .I find that stressful. I looked at all the "new" bench cappers for a while and finally picked one from Ebay.

I went with a 1950 (ish) Eveready antique capper. It's red, made in USA, built like a boulder and will outlive many brewers. There are a lot of rusty crappy ones on Ebay. I was patient & got one that looks brand new/in orig box for about 40 bucks shipped.

It is beyond awsome. I did not bolt it down, it's super stable, faster than my "wing" and best of all. . .SWMBO approved it for a permanent spot on our kitchen counter. It has this very cool 1950's retro soda shop feel. Whoa, brewing equipment on permanent display and works great too? Doesn't get any better than that!

Click to expand...

I also got a vintage one off eBay cheap. My issue with the wing capper is that I've had it slip sideways and knock over a couple bottles that were waiting. Personally, I find the bench capper faster but I usually bottle with a friend or spouse and the capper can always stay ahead of the filler so that isn't a huge factor for me.

It was definitely worth it for me to buy the bench capper and I'd do it again.

KevinW said:

Wing capper all the way. I have had no problems with mine!!
Stores easy, replaces(cost) easy, uses easy, what else could you want?

Of course it does not cork bottles but hey, nobody is perfect:cross:

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Jessica Beal to run my capper for me.

This is a little but anyone cut the center post with the magnet out?

It wont affect the performance will it?

I put my caps on the bottle and sometimes the magnet will move the cap.

Im thinking mine has got to go.

from here.


I love my bench capper like Gregscsu posted, never bolted it down - quite portable.
But I'm waiting to try out my copy of this puppy!

Wing capper vote here. I have broken 2 bottles in 30+ batches. They were likely flawed or weak bottles.... no biggie. Good riddance.

I don't see a reason to buy a fancier capper......... the cheap red one that comes in the starter kits works just fine.

I will agree that it doesn't fully crimp the "thin lip" bottles. It will cap them sufficiently enough that they will carbonate. I just phased those thin lip bottles out of my bottle supply once I accumulated enough bottles.

Rev2010 said:

I saw some Big Ben cappers on EBay in good condition for low cost. Was wondering if those would be good or if the modern one's are better for any reason.


Rev.

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Hey Rev, some of the modern bench cappers use plastic/nylon drive pieces. The metal pieces on new models are lightweight aluminum/thin tubular steel. The "antiques" are all heavy steel/cast iron. There is NO advantage to the modern ones unless the antique capper is in poor condition.

The key thing to look for is no rust inside the bell (will scratch your caps but more importantly the capped bottle will "stick" inside the bell after capping.) Cosmetic rust on the body is just that - a cosmetic issue. The antiques all had a circle of cork or other pliable material where the bottle sits. Often that's missing or broken - easy to replace (gives a little "grip" to the base of the bottle when capping.)

A Big Ben will work great. This one has a pic of the inside of the bell - clean as a whistle! Paint job looks new. . .possibly been wire brushed & repainted - no problem there. It needs a circle of cork or thin rubber pad glued on where the bottle sits. I'd buy this one in a heartbeat: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Big-Ben-Bottle-Capper-Press-L-K-/300518992622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f853eaee

This is an Eveready (I have 2 of these.) Evereadys are on par with the Big Ben & work flawlessly. This one is missing the cork and is a rusty piece of sh... BUT, for the right price this one can be cleaned up with a wire wheel etc, repainted and would work great. So you can pick one up cheap & refurb or be patient for a clean one. This one needs a lot of work, I personally prefer starting with a cleaner bell: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-EVEREDY-BEER-WINE-SODA-BOTTLE-CAPPER-CAST-IRON-/280623396753?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4156753791

I use my Evereadys sitting on a wood butcherblock countertop (not bolted down.) It has never slipped or scratched the counter. Sorry for the long post, hope it's of some use to you. These old cappers are a dream to use and will outlast us all!