Do I have crap caps or did I overprime? What now?

[Northerngal]

I bottled a pilsner about 2weeks ago. I noticed that about 1/3 of the bottles have leaked about 1/3-1/4 of the beer out (they were stored horizontally.) This was the first time I've had this issue, which leads me to wonder if I bought crappy caps or if I overprimed. Did I possibly just do a sh|t job at capping? This was the 3rd of four batches I bottled that day, and the only one that has issues. Also the only one with these caps. Highest stored temp of 21C (warm room temp) and I primed 5gal with 5oz of white sugar. Any thoughts?

Can I use this beer for anything (vinegar maybe?) or is it time to dump? I opened one of the bottles that was still full and it wasn't a gusher.

Some background: this is probably my 15th or so batch of beer. I've reused the same bottles (or set of bottles) for each batch. I use a bench capper. This beer comes in at 4.2% abv.

Thanks, J

 

[doomy86]

Hi J,

That sucks, i guess the problem was capping. The caps normally hold pressure until the bottle explodes, so overpriming is not the culprit. Maybe you can check your technique and caps by filling and capping some bottles with cold carbonated water.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Definitely check your capping technique. If you don't see any imperfection in the actual caps
I found that with my old double-fisting crank capper I was constantly capping crooked.

 

[Chanoc]

Questions.
Are those screw-off cap bottles? The lower ring looks like those.
Alo, I have found bottles that havd this smaller ring and are a bit$# to cap right.
I throw these away.
On capping technique, do you check for seal once capped? Escaping CO" pushes a drop or two of beer if turned and shaken a couple of times if they are not properly capped.
HTH.

ETA:
The one on the left looks like the cap is further away from the ring, so it may be a problem with your capper.

Chanoc.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If that's the only batch that used that particular cap it sounds like the caps are your culprit. I somehow doubt that you just lost your ability to cap securely for one particular batch in a four batch bottling day, especially when there was another obvious variable with that batch.

Another possibility is the bottles though. Did you use any particular kind of bottle with that batch that didn't get used in other batches? Those caps actually look like the standard gold caps that my LHBS packs with their beer kits, which I've used without any problems.

 

[Northerngal]

Thanks all. They were just a bag of cheap caps, it is either the capper or tired hands. Ah well; live & learn.

They are pop top stubby bottles; I've never had an issue with them before.

Should I try making some malt vinegar with the partial bottles? Any thoughts? Thanks