capper broke

[dyepsen]

I have been reading this forum and learning since Christmas. I got a beer kit for Christmas from my son in law, who has been brewing for a while now. I made a Bavarian hefweizen and it tastes and smells awesome. It was fermenting for 2 1/2 weeks in the primary. I decided to bottle tonight. After 10 bottles, my capper broke (double lever plastic kind). As I was doing this late night, I decided in a pinch to pour the remaining bottles into the bottling bucket, put the lid on and the airlock. I can probably get back to bottling in 8 to 10 hours at the soonest. I have read some old threads here and some posts on a similar subject say it should be ok, some say to let it ferment again, and I don't know what to do. I have to bottle it, I have no CO2 system. I don't want to make bombs out of my bottles. I really want to make this work. And as you can tell, I am certainly no expert on this.....thanks for the help everyone.

 

[andy6026]

yeah, those plastic hand cappers are garbage. I got one with my first kit and it broke part way through my 7th batch. When I went to my LHBS that sold me the kit and I told them what happened they said, 'yeah, 7 batches is great for one of those, we're surprised it lasted that long.' Really???

So I recommend you buy a bench capper. There are obviously multiple kinds. If you can, get one that has the arm that can slide up and down without having to screw it into position each time -- only really necessary if you have different height bottles, which I do.

As for pouring the beer back into the bucket - you do risk oxidization by agitating the beer like that. You'd have been better served by resting a cap on top of each one.

As for letting your priming sugar ferment out, and then adding more for bottling, that's a tough call. If it's no more than 8-10 hours then I would probably go ahead and bottle/cap the remaining beer as is. In the mean time, store it in as cool a place as possible and that will prevent the sugar from fermenting as much as you can get away with. This method won't produce bottle bombs (unless you have an infection or originally adding too much sugar). It's if you decide to let it ferment out, add more priming sugar, and then bottle prematurely before your original priming sugar fermented completely that you risk bombs. I suspect that at the quantities of sugar we're talking about as well as the fact that you'd let the original priming sugar ferment out for at least 2-3 days then the risk of bombs would be very negligible.

Welcome to the hobby by the way. May your future batches be more problem-free.

 

[dyepsen]

Thanks for the help! I started off by making aluminum foil caps.....then decided it may be better in the bucket with an airlock. I am gonna try to borrow a capper in the morning. I'm an hour and a half from the nearest brew shop.

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[RM-MN]

yeah, those plastic hand cappers are garbage. I got one with my first kit and it broke part way through my 7th batch. When I went to my LHBS that sold me the kit and I told them what happened they said, 'yeah, 7 batches is great for one of those, we're surprised it lasted that long.' Really???

Thanks for letting us know that those plastic cappers are so bad. I've probably only capped a couple thousand bottles with mine but I'll be expecting it to break on the next bottle....NOT! You can get a bad one occasionally, same as you can get a car that won't run properly but most of them work fine for years.:rockin:

 

[Doongie]

Thanks for letting us know that those plastic cappers are so bad. I've probably only capped a couple thousand bottles with mine but I'll be expecting it to break on the next bottle....NOT! You can get a bad one occasionally, same as you can get a car that won't run properly but most of them work fine for years.:rockin:

I got mine in 1992, and still use it.

 

[mtnagel]

was going to say my plastic capper has lasted me 31 batches over 2+ years, but Doongie has me beat.

 

[Doongie]

was going to say my plastic capper has lasted me 31 batches over 2+ years, but Doongie has me beat.

To be fair, I had a long hiatus in there, but, mine has gotten quite a few years of use. Maybe there is a little "they don't make 'em like they used to" also.

I have found that many foreign bottles (Warsteiner is one) seem to have less of a ridge around the neck, making it more difficult to use the wing capper, leading to increased pressure applied. Maybe the OP has some of that going on too.

In any case, I received a bench capper for Christmas, so the wing capper is now an emergency backup.

 

[dyepsen]

Yeah, I'm using the same bottles we used on a previous batch we made with my son's kit before I got mine. They all capped fine. We did learn abot the ridge difference on an earlier brew and don't use them. I noticed a noise in the spring on the first few bottles, then the plastic in the center cracked on bottle 11. I kept trying but was not getting full closure. A friend in town is lending me one so I am going to try to resume bottling later this morning. We'll see what happens. I just don't want to lose a good batch of beer! Thanks again for all your help. This is a great forum.

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[unionrdr]

I used the red baron capper for a couple years,& it didn't break. but the bell that crimps the cap stretched out somehow. Maybe you & I were too aggressive with it? After breaking a couple SN stubbies,I learned not to gorilla the capper. But since the bell went south,I bought the Super Agata bench capper,where you slide the handle up or down in a near vertical position to change heights. No more problems after that.

 

[Hello]

Another vote for a bench capper. I too have the wing capper which still works, but worries that I needed a backup resulted in me picking up a bench capper second hand for $20.00. I love how easy it is to use.

 

[andy6026]

see below

 

[unionrdr]

The way I found out the bell had stretched on my red baron was after they started conditioning in the MB. I started getting wiffs of malty smell. Got bench capper,problem solved.

 

[jpcourtney]

I have a Greta winged capper, but also have a Colonna bench capper that I use all of the time. Much faster, too.

 

[andy6026]

Thanks for letting us know that those plastic cappers are so bad. I've probably only capped a couple thousand bottles with mine but I'll be expecting it to break on the next bottle....NOT! You can get a bad one occasionally, same as you can get a car that won't run properly but most of them work fine for years.:rockin:

Ok, so what do you make of the experience of the OP, who's capper broke on the first batch, mine that broke on the 7th, and the LHBS owner that doesn't expect them to last after half a dozen batches, and whom, I would assume has sold many of them?

Are we all full of it, or haven't the foggiest what we're talking about?

And do you actually have any advice for the OP or is it simply to go out and buy the same brand of capper, because, just like buying a car, it's only "occassionally" that you get a bad one, and what would be the odds on him buying two cappers of the same brand not lasting as long as yours?

 

[soccerdad]

Take it back. Or send it back. It should last at least 90 days. Mine has over 2000 Bottles and still works fine. I might get a spare for the eventual day, but any brew shop (mail or in person) should exchange yours.

 

[unionrdr]

That's probably where the 7 batch thing comes from. He doesn't wanna be the one to honor the warrenty. And I said to get a bench capper,because lip style,etc doesn't matter on those as much as the wing style. And,like I said before & in my bottling video,DON'T GORILLA THE CAPPER!!

 

[ColoradoHomebrew]

Look for the red capper. It is better than the black ones. I've sold a couple of hundred and only one has been returned, and he did not buy it at my store. Your LHBS should guarantee it. As with any product defects do happen.

 

[soccerdad]

If the LHBS sold me and capper and it broke, and he (or she) said, "I didn't expect it to last 7 batches," I would look him in the eye and ask if he wants my continued business and my GOOD will, or none of my business EVER and my ILL will. If the later, I would tell everyone I know that he runs a shady business. Let me know how you make out .. my sig line here and on every e-mail I write can easily change to one that says, "I recommend NEVER doing business with XYZ Home Brew. They sell shoddy equipment at full mark up and do not stand behind it."

But I'm a prick. Yer probably a nice person.

 

[andy6026]

I'm pretty sure I didn't Gorilla the capper. It seemed to be the bell that bent out of shape, and I could be wrong, but I'm presuming that it's using thinner or softer metal than a better quality capper. The handles didn't snap or anything like that... it just doesn't bend the caps around the lip of the bottle. It is a red capper, but I'm not sure what brand - it came with a typical 'starter kit', as likely did that of the OP. I'm sure some are better than others, and it would probably be a great service to many new homebrewers to identify which brands are more likely to be reliable and which are best to avoid. It would probably also help those who own LHBSs to get feedback from the community on what cappers are better than others. Sure, on the one hand they want to offer "competitive" prices, but they probably are also well aware that junky equipment that falls apart during the first batch is not helping to entice new brewers to continue with the hobby. One of the main attractions for me when I first thought to homebrew was the idea that I'd be saving money. As much as that turned out to be a bit of a fallacy (for me at least it is until I brew many many batches in order to recover my outlay on equipment), I'd bet that when it comes to brewers, we're probably counting pennies a little more so than the average population. Not that it's our only reason, or even primary reason for brewing, but as much as I enjoy brewing, if it cost me more in the long run to brew than to buy what I consider "good" commercial beer, then I probably would stop.

I too was surprised by the LHBS owner's reaction, and if there was any local competition it would have put me right off frequenting his store. However, he's been very helpful in many other ways, and given that it's the only place I can do a pick-up at reasonable prices and avoid delivery fees, I thus far have little choice. So far his helpfulness has far outweighed that one "transgression", so I don't feel that I've been put over a barrel.

 

[soccerdad]

his helpfulness has far outweighed that one "transgression", so I don't feel that I've been put over a barrel

Damn - I wanted to rip his eyes out and puke in his dead skull !!! Why do people always have to go with kindness, gentleness, peace, patience and self control

 

[dyepsen]

A friend lent me his two handled capper, just like mine, and a bench capper. I was so gun shy with the handled one today I immediately switched to the bench capper. Very nice. My LHBS is going to replace it, great guy. He said it shouldn't have exploded like it did. (I have used one before with no problems) I am not ruling out operator error, or just one capper with a flaw. Honestly guys, I was more concerned with how to protect the beer from being wasted and to share that knowledge with someone else that may run into the same problem. I bottled 'em up. Will at least have 10 good beers! I'll come back and let ya know in a couple weeks. Or sooner if they start exploding. Thanks again everyone!

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[masskrug]

DON'T GORILLA THE CAPPER!!

Yep.

 

[dyepsen]

Just a follow up, my home brew shop replaced the capper and I brewed up a batch of wheat ale with peach extract added in the bottling bucket. I just bottled this morning with the new capper and everything went perfect, 2 cases of beer. taste and aroma is great. Can't wait for some carbonation........Thanks everyone for all the replies. And for the record, the first bottled beers before the capper broke came through very nice with the carbonation, and although the taste was the same, the remaining beer did not achieve the same carbonation level, or at least didn't get the nice frothy head on the pour. Hey, I am learning, and having a great time with it.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup. That's what it's all about. first time shame on you...second time,shame on me.