flip tops and flat beers

[dantose]

ok, so popped open a flip top of wheat beer that I was using for longer aging and was greeted with not carbs. Looking around the internets I've seen that other's have had this problem as well.

Question, if I store the bottles upsidedown or on their side, will it help ensure a good enough seal to carb?

ETA: the regular bottles I used for the rest of the batch were all carbed just fine so I know that it's primed and had active yeast.

 

[Whiskey]

Is the seal deformed like it was not sitting centered on the bottle opening?

How many times was the seal used?



The issue you will have with laying the bottle on its side, or upside down is the yeast. Also I would guess that if you did not have a good seal, it will leak regardless of the orientation of the bottle.

Non sealing flip-tops is usually caused by a bad gasket or the top was not centered on the bottle opening when you seated the basket.

I've never had a flip-top not seal in 20 or so batches.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I would say get new seals for the bottles that didn't seal. I've not used them personally except on bottle from my first batch, But I know they don't last forever

 

[arturo7]

ork ork

ork ork

 

[IrregularPulse]

That's your problem. All you're seals appear to be dead!

 

[dantose]

2 more bottles opened for tasting. Both under carbed. seals are centered and all should have been still wet from sterilizing at bottling. I'm gonna try keeping the latest batch sideways while they carb and see if that helps.

 

[dantose]

update. the ones kept on their side carbed decently but I did notice a bit of a syrupy leakage around the caps. not enough to drip just enough to see. I've got some new ones bottled with 2 rubber washers stacked to increase the pressure on the seal. I'm gonna store them sideways too. If that works I'll have to look around for thicker seals for the bottles. I also might want to find some ceramic stoppers to replace the plastic ones that came with them.

 

[tenglert]

Here are a few tips from my years of trial and error.

I have around 100 flip top bottles, half of which have plastic caps. The plastic ones seem to be just as good as the ceramic ones. In fact, I've had a few ceramic ones break or chip while the plastic ones seem to last for ever.

I also found that if you remove the gaskets from the bottles when they are not in use, they (the gaskets) will last longer. I also remove the flip tops from the bottles. It makes the bottles easier to handle while cleaning and inspecting. It's also much easier to put gaskets on the caps while the're not attached to bottles.

When filling the bottles, allow the beer to wet the mouth of the bottle. The sugar in the beer will seal the gasket to the bottle. After snapping the bottle shut, invert the bottle so that the gasket gets sealed to the cap.

Make sure the cap and gasket is centered before and after snapping it shut. A lot of times the cap will move while sealing it. So I use one hand to hold the cap steady while the other locks the wire down.

At bottling time, I always sanitize a few extra flip tops. If any one cap goes on easier than the rest, I pull it off and switch it with another one. You can't always see a bad gasket, but you can often feel it when while capping.

HTH

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I also treat my seals with a little food grade safe silicon, as well as my keg seals, etc. It dramatically increases their life time.
As for the other seals, Someone give me sledge hammer and point out the pups. Good eats!

 

[camiller]

ork ork

ork ork

Want to go clubbing?