Caps -- To Sanitize, or Not to Sanitize?

[Homercidal]

I just dip in starsan right before I start filling bottles. Then they sit on the bottles until I start capping. It's so fast and easy (I already have Starsan in a bucket from sanitizing the bottling bucket) that I can't imagine why you wouldn't.

You could compare this to dry hopping and say that if you can dry hop with out worry, then you can cap without sanitizing, but if there was a reasonable way to sanitize your hops before dry hopping, I bet many here would choose to do it.

And I have a barleywine that should be bottled soon, should I buy some O2 caps for it??

 

[giligson]

If you sanitize your bottles it doesn't make sense not to sanitize your caps.

But I still don't get why people who bottle condition their beers use oxygen absorbing caps - the yeast will eat up the oxygen just as well.

 

[HenryHill]

If you sanitize your bottles it doesn't make sense not to sanitize your caps.

But I still don't get why people who bottle condition their beers use oxygen absorbing caps - the yeast will eat up the oxygen just as well.

Heh. Good point.



If you sanitize everything that comes into contact with the beer post boil, and don't sanitize the caps, what is the point of doing all the other items, if you leave out the one of the two that are in contact the longest?

While true that there is a CO2 blanket above the fluid level of the beer, after the secondary carbonation fermentation, there isn't before that time. If the bottles are filled from a keg of beer that is already carbonated, it still only makes logical sense to give the caps at least a dip or spray of starsan, as you undoubtedly have that out and in use anyway.

Not sanitizing caps may not be considered lazy, if it is merely an aversion to something that is logical, it is more likely neurotic.

 

[zman]

+10 on this. It really is not any more effort to soak them for say a minute. I put mine in a colander and swish them around in my Star San solution. 60 seconds for piece of mind...priceless

 

[boodyrischous]

There was another thread that discussed O2 absorbing caps. The word from the manufacturer was that they only become activated when they get wet, and it takes a while to fully activate. So sanitizing them and then bottling will not harm their ability to absorb O2 (unless you sanitize too many and re-use them another time and then they will just function as normal caps). It seems like no trouble to sanitize them, and it doesn't diminish their effectiveness, so why not?

 

[mastin1]

Here is a new twist on sanitizing caps (no pun intended). I have always sanitized everything I could including caps. I have though, almost talked myself out of sanitizing the caps. Every time I soak the caps in sanitizer, brown spots that look like rust appear in my sanitizer. I have done a lot of experimenting to try to figure this out and my only conclusion is that when combining the caps, sanitizer and my city water a chemical (or rust) is drawn out of the water. This does not occur with sanitizing anything else.
Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[boodyrischous]

I have experienced that, but lately I noticed that it was only on caps that were extra. Caps we sanitized and then had to dry and use again developed the brown spots. Our solution was just to pop in a handful and replenish as you bottle, so they don't sit in the solution for as long, and we don't sanitize unneeded caps.

 

[JimGossett]

I've been brewing and bottling for 34 years. I've never sanitized my caps and I have never, ever, had even one bottle go bad.

 

[dark_avenger]

Can't say I'd even thought of sanitizing my caps...

Never had an issue but as a lot of people have said if you have it out already for the 60 seconds longer it takes why not....

 

[tezcatlipoca]

Hahaha, wow. I just found this thread, after years of brewing and bottling. Last night, I finally thought about it. Why am I not sanitizing caps when I do everything else? I guess at the beginning they were in a sealed bag, so it doesn't seem to matter. Guess I'll start taking the effort to sanitize caps before bottling. Just if you're curious, I've had just one infection recently and that had swing tops infected too, so I think that was from not thoroughly cleaning my beer gun. The 'recently' is anything after some decent experience was gained.