Bottling dilemma

[TrickyDick]

Hey,

Have a standard double handle red hand capper. It works, but it's no fun to use. Have a Portuguese floor corker for when I want to bottle Belgians or sour brews with a cork finish.

I know that standard cap sizes are 26mm, but some bottle take a 29mm cap. I have acquired a few of these bottles that I'd like to reuse.

First off, where can you buy 29mm caps? A preliminary search turned up not much. Also can my standard capper cap them? I don't think my floor corker can be adapted for capping, though the Ferrari floor corker does have a capping attachment AND comes with inserts for both 26 and 29 mm caps. I think the Ferrari corker is limited in the bottle height it can be used on, and I don't think it can cap or cork short 12 oz short or long neck bottles. Can anyone confirm these suspicions? Seems that given the price of the Ferrari floor corker and the attachment that I'd be better off just throwing away the 29mm bottles and buying standard bottles if I need them. Being a homebrewer though, I have a compulsion to find out about my options.

Thanks

TD


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[WI_Wino]

Ritebrew has 29 mm caps: http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/863247.htm

I believe most wing cappers can cap standard and 29 mm caps. On mine, the metal jaw pieces slide out and flip around to accommodate the wider cap. I wouldn't cork regular beer bottles, the necks on most of them are too thin and likely to break IMO. I have the blue Ferrari floor corker at home and it is wonderful for corking wine bottles. I would never use it to cap beer bottles, I have 0 issues with my wing capper and it's way faster.

 

[TrickyDick]

I am not sure if my capper will let me change out the metal piece. Otherwise thanks for the help!
I don't see why the Italian capper attachment cannot be attached to the Portuguese model.
Pictures of the two look identical except for the color.

TD


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[WI_Wino]

I had to use pliers and a screw driver to pull out the jaws the first time. They were in there really tight. I think they slide out towards the middle of the capper if that makes sense. The metal jaw piece is stamped 26 one side and 29 on the other.

One thought about interchanging the capping bell would be the thread pitch. I don't know if that's standard between the various floor corkers.

 

[TrickyDick]

I think I found the difference in the corkers. The Italian has threads on the plunger with a threaded sleeve it seems that goes over top which can be removed presumably and perhaps also adjusted. The Portuguese has also a threaded plunger. They are both welded to the lever/arm. The Portuguese has another welded blunt/flat tip at the end of the plunger which cannot be removed. I suppose it could be cut off, and the plunger stem rethreaded, but probably not worth the effort. I'll investigate my hand capper and see if the metal jaw slides out. I suspect that it doesn't, but I am unsure.

Thanks

TD


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[WI_Wino]

If I have time tonight I'll try to take a couple pics of how the jaws slide out in my wing capper.

 

[WI_Wino]

Pic of the jaw half way out.



Close up of jaw,you cam see one side is 26 and the other is 29.

 

[passedpawn]

Hey,

Have a standard double handle red hand capper. It works, but it's no fun to use. Have a Portuguese floor corker for when I want to bottle Belgians or sour brews with a cork finish.

I know that standard cap sizes are 26mm, but some bottle take a 29mm cap. I have acquired a few of these bottles that I'd like to reuse.

First off, where can you buy 29mm caps? A preliminary search turned up not much. Also can my standard capper cap them? I don't think my floor corker can be adapted for capping, though the Ferrari floor corker does have a capping attachment AND comes with inserts for both 26 and 29 mm caps. I think the Ferrari corker is limited in the bottle height it can be used on, and I don't think it can cap or cork short 12 oz short or long neck bottles. Can anyone confirm these suspicions? Seems that given the price of the Ferrari floor corker and the attachment that I'd be better off just throwing away the 29mm bottles and buying standard bottles if I need them. Being a homebrewer though, I have a compulsion to find out about my options. Thanks. TD

I bought the following 29mm bell for my wing capper. Worked great. I also got the 29mm caps from BMW, but I don't see them there any more.

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0102151/29mm-capper-bell

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks.

Found the bell on Amazon and some caps. I see that those jaws look just like my wing capper.
To WI Wino, when using 29mm, do you need to swap out the bell fitting like passed pawn uses?

Thanks

TD

 

[PapaO]

Midwest has both.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/searchspring/result/?cat=&q=29mm

 

[WI_Wino]

Thanks.

Found the bell on Amazon and some caps. I see that those jaws look just like my wing capper.
To WI Wino, when using 29mm, do you need to swap out the bell fitting like passed pawn uses?

Thanks

TD

I don't know actually.

 

[TrickyDick]

Looks like my capper has the same design with different jaw. I also bought the bell for 29mm in case. Doesn't thread too well so be careful of cross threading.




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