carbonation, abottling issue?

[Pixiebeer]

Hi,
I am still kinda new to brewing and am wondering if there is something wrong with my bottle capper. I am roughly 6 brews in and have noticed the last 3 that my brews are really undercarbonated.
The last was a really basic brewers best weizen beer, fermented 2 weeks then 5oz priming sugar, condition ed in bottle for 3 weeks. Very little head retention and many bottles just seem flat. However, I used several grolsch bottles this time and the carbonation was much better along with the head retention, this was consistent in all the swing top grolsch bottles of this batch.
A friend gave me another bottle capper and we were playing with it last night and comparing it to mine. Mine puts a circular indentation in the cap and looks like it may be compromising the inner seal of the caps. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?
Additionally, I just bottled a batch about 5 days ago and wondering if I should recap them with the new capper if you guys think the capper is the issue? I am guessing that probably wouldn't work well but figured I'd ask
thanks for your input!!
Claire

 

[dkeller12]

Best way to test if your caps are leaking CO2 is to place a balloon (condoms work also) over the cap and either wait (no shake) or give a bottle a gentle shake and see if the balloon inflates. If it does, your caps are leaking. My capper puts the same small circle into the middle of the cap and I don't have any carb issues.

 

[Paradingbull]

Three weeks is a rough estimate for expected carbonation but no means a given. Other factors such as conditioning temps, alcohol content of the beer, how long you refrigerate before drinking, and bottle size all play factors in the carbonation process. I am not trying to say it is not the capper, it might well be, but if you see some carbonation it is most likely a function of the other things mentioned. Good luck.

 

[unionrdr]

The bell on my wing capper got stretched out or something, just a little bit. The caps weren't sealing quite tight enough a several leaked the co2 out as the beer was carbonating. They oxidized after a couple weeks. I got a bench capper & solved that problem.

 

[Pixiebeer]

So they are definitely leaking, tested it. Do I go through the whole batch , figure out which ones are leaking and recap any that are? Should I put more priming sugar in when I recap? Any other ideas?
Thanks for all your help!!
Claire

 

[Potamus]

I would recap them all rather than taking the time to test each bottle. Caps are cheap. If they've been sitting a few weeks already, you will need something to carbonate them again because the priming sugar will have already fermented out. If you dump them into a bucket to add more priming sugar, you will risk oxidation. I would get a pack of carbonation drops and add one to each bottle as you recap them.

 

[Pixiebeer]

They have only been bottled for about a week but think I will get carb drops tomorrow and recap.
I'll let yall know how it goes.
thanks again,
Claire

 

[dkeller12]

You can also put a 1/2 teaspoon of priming sugar into each bottle and skip the carb drops if you don't want to go get drops and have sugar available. Just make sure they are level scoops and you will be just fine. I bottle all of my small batch bottles this way and actually like the results better than the drops.

Just sayin'


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[Pixiebeer]

So I rechecked and couldn't repeat the affirmative test for leaking, so I did not recap or add anything......
I am so glad I did not, about 3 days later I had my very first bottle bomb!!
So far no more, I am just gonna leave them to carb for a few more weeks and we'll see.
I used about 50 extra grams of priming sugar at bottling this time trying to combat aforementioned carbing issue.
The local brewshop owner said he usually adds a bit extra with no issue......
Hopefully no more explosions!!
I'll let yall know how it turns out.
Claire

 

[JimRausch]

Claire- one thing that I do that might help: squeeze the capper, rotate the bottle a 1/4 turn and resqueeze. In case your squeeze is not getting a good crimp, this might help. Good luck, hope you figure it out.

 

[unionrdr]

The bells on cappers are screw on & can be replaced if needs be.