Broken Bottle Capper

[ZigZagMarquis]

Well crap.

I was halfway through bottling batch #3 and broke my bottle capper.

 

[meatcleaver]

that sucks!
I have the same capper & I bet I've capped 1200-1500 bottles with zero issues.
I do have 2 backups just in case.

 

[OldHamlet]

I snapped one of those blue ones in half but haven't had and problems with the red ones. Bought two just in case.

 

[beergolf]

wow that sucks.

I have the same capper and have done over 400 cases of beer using it. It just keeps hanging in there. I do have a backup that someone gave me that I turned the plates around to bottle Belgian bottles with the thicker necks. So if mine breaks I do have a backup.

 

[beermanpete]

I broke a bottle or two with that style capper but never the capper. I used to have the bench style capper and prefer it. I might get another one and use the buttlerfly capper as a backup.

@beergolf: I did not know there was an adjustment. I will look at that as I do suspect the breakage was on imported bottles that might have a different design.

 

[kh54s10]

What the.... You broke both the capper and the bottle?? You must have really been using a lot of pressure. I use a pressure down on the outside of the handles while kind of lifting up on the inner end if that makes sense. So I am putting a little less downward pressure on the handles.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Yup. I broke 3 of that same model before I finally bought a table top capper.
And before you ask, "why are you capping table tops?"
Believe it or not, It's actually used to cap beer bottles that sits on the table.
And I'm so glad that I switched.

 

[MaryB]

I have watched guys capping, they use way to much pressure! Firm even pressure is all it takes to make the cap seal.

 

[seabrew8]

I bottled over 100 cases of beer with caps from commercial beer bottles bought in the store.

I recommend using a dish rag and running a little water over it first before you push and twist the bottles caps on your homebrew.

You don't need a "capper". Of course its better just like kegs are even better.

 

[Brownalemikie]

FYI, if you search Amazon you'll find Red Baron Cappers for $7.50 each. I bought 2 of them so I'd have a back-up. Btw, 2 of them for $15 (free shipping with Amazon Prime).

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Wait! Did I read that you are trying to cap onto screw cap bottles?! You cannot do that. The bottle will break.
I think my capper actually had that warning on it when I bought it.
If your are doing that, it would be better just to reuse old bud caps.

 

[IslandLizard]

That happens when trying to cap empty bottles...

But seriously, that sucks! Those all-plastic cappers are the pits. I hate the spongy feel of them. I have a metal wing capper, with only a few plastic parts, none in any critical pressure area. It's a lot nicer to work with. But some bottles simply won't cap!

How did you end up finishing the batch? Growlers? Screw cap 40s? Plastic soda bottles?

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

I wasn't trying to cap screw-on bottles.

I didn't finish the batch. I ended up dumping what was left.

 

[IslandLizard]

[...] I ended up dumping what was left.

That's the spirit!

 

[MaryB]

Could have left it in the fermenter/bottling bucket with an air locked lid and just reprimed it when the new capper arrived!

 

[Maylar]

Bummer. That always scares me, so I usually cap each bottle as it's filled. Bottling from a keg means no loss of brew if the bottling / capping operation goes bad.

 

[beermanpete]

I looked at my capper today and the metal plates (jaws) are two-sided. One end is marked 26 and the other 29. I suspect this is diameter of the bottle neck in millimeters. All the 12 ounce bottles I have that use crown caps are 26 millilmetes. A few of the larger bottles have 29 mm diameter necks.

I also found the 12 oz. bottles have some variation in the distance from the top of the bottle to the bottom of the shoulder that the metal jaws in the capper use to pull against. On most bottles this distance is less than the closed dimension of the capper, meaning the bottle is slightly loose within the capper when the capper is fully closed. This is without a cap. One bottle I had was too long and the capper fully tightens on it even without a cap. As it happens, this was a twist-off bottle.

I do not know if the bottles that I broke on me were this type or not as I was not in fault analysis mode when they broke. I cleaned up, discarding the pieces, and carried on. For now I have decided to only use bottles from certain brands of beer that I know fit in the capper well: Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, Kona, and Anchor all seem ok. Certainly there are many others that will work correctly.

 

[BeerAddikt]

You guys are freaking me out. I think I'm going to pick up a spare capper next time I head to the LHBS.

 

[Sadu]

I use hand cappers with a hammer because I'm cheap. They actually work fine. Take up hardly any space and are cheap so would be a good choice as a backup.