Cheap source for carbonation caps??

[eanema]

Hi all,
I'm just wondering if anyone has found a good, cheap source for carbonation caps?

I have a nice stainless steal one, that I left at a buddies place with a bottle full of cider. I like leaving beer behind, but I don't want to have to take the cap off before going home... A carbonation cap is the kinda thing you want to have lots of.

I found a cheap source for them if you happen to be in Australia, $1.95 each if you buy 10 or more:
https://www.kegland.com.au/plastic-carbonation-line-cleaning-cap-fermzilla-cap.html
But they only ship inside Aus...

Has anyone seen anything similar in price in North America? Bonus if it's from Canada ;-)

 

[eanema]

Well, I have found the same caps online and forsale in the USA:
https://www.morebeer.com/products/carbonation-line-cleaning-ball-lock-cap-plastic.html

They are $5.99 each, and if you buy 10 they will ship for free to anywhere in the states.... But of course I live in Canada so they want $40 to ship to me >:-(

I did find a local store that sold these, for $9 CAD. If you happen to live in Winnipeg check out these guys:
https://www.graintoglass.ca/

Not quite as cheap as I was hoping, but they are the best deal so far.

 

[IslandLizard]

I bought a couple stainless steel ones on eBay from a fairly large seller, homebrewstuff1 (I have no relationship to them).
They were $8.25 a piece, shipping included, back in 2017. Very good product!

There may be better deals around now, they're becoming more common.
I've seen them on Amazon too.
And "directly" from China on AliExpress at real bargain pricing.

 

[eanema]

I've have scoured the internet over the last few weeks. If you happen to see anything in your travels, please share the link!

 

[day_trippr]

Aliexpress.com might be worth a look...

Cheers!

 

[eanema]

I checked out AliExpress, found some for about $2 but they only had a couple... I ended up buying 10 from brewHQ:

https://brewhq.ca/products/fermzilla-liquid-gas-post-connection-for-carb-cap

$10 shipping across Canada

 

[day_trippr]

I didn't have much luck with the two plastic caps I used years ago. The problem wasn't sealing to the bottle, it was imperfect sealing to the disconnect. If I wanted to quick carb say a liter of beer that wouldn't fit in the keg I filled that day, shaking the bottle resulted in gas streaming out around the post O-ring instead of dissolving in the beer. The SS one I got off Alixexpress, otoh, still works perfectly.

But there's at least a visible [edit: not visual. My bad] difference between the one shown and what I eventually tossed, so hopefully that problem doesn't exist...

Cheers!

 

[eanema]

Haha I agree. I hope it doesn't leak, cause I just bought 10 of em! I do have a nice stainless one, I suppose I could carb with that one then switch caps and re-pressurize... I'll update with the results once I get them in and try them out

 

[eanema]

Well, I've used one for the first time now... Didn't leak as fr as I could tell. Looking good so far.

 

[Beer666]

I didn't have much luck with the two plastic caps I used years ago. The problem wasn't sealing to the bottle, it was imperfect sealing to the disconnect. If I wanted to quick carb say a liter of beer that wouldn't fit in the keg I filled that day, shaking the bottle resulted in gas streaming out around the post O-ring instead of dissolving in the beer. The SS one I got off Alixexpress, otoh, still works perfectly.

But there's at least a visible [edit: not visual. My bad] difference between the one shown and what I eventually tossed, so hopefully that problem doesn't exist...

Cheers!

I know its an old post but would you have any idea what size seal i need for a SS carb cap? Somehow lost mine, tried one from a flip top bottle but that's useless. Searched but cant find anything. Cheers

 

[IslandLizard]

I know its an old post but would you have any idea what size seal i need for a SS carb cap? Somehow lost mine, tried one from a flip top bottle but that's useless. Searched but cant find anything. Cheers

You mean the rubber washer inside the carb cap?
I can measure mine, which is a flat washer inside a stainless carb cap, if that will help you.

 

[Beer666]

You mean the rubber washer inside the carb cap?
I can measure mine, which is a flat washer inside a stainless carb cap, if that will help you.

Thank you that would be very helpful.

 

[IslandLizard]

These are the closest measurements I can get with manual calipers:
OD 1-3/64" (26.6 mm)
ID 11/16" (17.6 mm)
Thickness 1/8" (3.2 mm)

My carb cap washers are silicone, which tends to distort and creep out when tightened a tad too much.
I think using regular (Buna-N) rubber would be better, as they are stiffer. It's also less oxygen permeable.

 

[Beer666]

Thank you i will see if i can track some down.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

These are the closest measurements I can get with manual calipers:
OD 1-3/64" (26.6 mm)
ID 11/16" (17.6 mm)
Thickness 1/8" (3.2 mm)

My carb cap washers are silicone, which tends to distort and creep out when tightened a tad too much.
I think using regular (Buna-N) rubber would be better, as they are stiffer. It's also less oxygen permeable.

I just measured the seal from mine that I got from Amazon with digital calipers, metric to imperial done by the calipers and measured by adjusting the caliper until the seal just drops off under gravity:

OD 1 1/128" (25.54mm)
ID 45/64" (17.90mm)
Thickness 1/8" (3.20mm)

A smaller ID, down to maybe 15mm would still fit around the central gas barb and give less space for distortion to twist the seal out of the way.