Hammer Capper

[mrhead]

Curious if anyone has had any experience using a hammer capper. It appears to be a good idea for quick and easy capping of all types of bottles without having to worry about adjusting the height of a bench capper. The obvious problem I see is the potential of breaking the bottles. Another possible issue would be the agitation created by pounding on the beer bottle, but I would think that would do nothing more than force carb the beer.

After seeing the image below I've been pondering building one myself using parts I have lying around, and tapping it with a mallet. I'll be building this within the next week and testing it on a variety of empty bottles and posting my results here for all to see.

Please let me know if you have used or seen one of these used before, or have any other feedback related to this type of capping.

Thank you

 

[WeHeavy]

Long, long time ago that was my first capper and after many broken bottles I threw it out never to be seen again, until you posted that photo.

Now I'll have nightmares.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

That thing doesn't even look or sound like a good idea.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Just keep in mind that "if the bottle breaks" you've hit it too hard.

 

[Hopleaf]

I'd use a rubber mallet

 

[EdWort]

Hammer and Capper are two words that mean cut wrist in the future.

While it seems infinitely adjustable, it is no where near as precise in getting the cap squarely (roundly maybe) on the bottle.

 

[MrFebtober]

I had no idea such a capper ever existed, but I can understand why I've never seen any homebrew supply store carry them. It looks dangerous, inaccurate, and I can't imagine any time savings over the conventional swing capper, which can be had for $15 and works great on any height of bottle.

 

[tnlandsailor]

This is right up there with the "cat carrier" on the list of good ideas:

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Carrier.htm

Try a lever type bottle capper if you don't like the bench models.

Prosit!

 

[CBBaron]

The Super Agata bench capper is auto-adjusting and works with all sizes and types of bottles. Its also much more precise and less dangerous. While its a little more expensive than the one pictured its still under $40.

I've broken the neck on several bottles using my wing capper so I had a second reason to go with the bench capper. I was amazed how easy it adapts to different bottle sizes. I'm glad I didn't try to go slightly cheaper and get the bench capper that requires manual adjustment.

Craig

 

[raceskier]

Ditto on the Super Agata. Really easy to use. Fast, never had a mis-cap, much less a broken bottle.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

+1 on a bench capper. I don't use the super agata, but I have all uniform bottles, so I never adjust my height.

 

[Danek]

+ another 1 for a bench capper.

And minus several million for hammer cappers. They may be cheap, but I'd pay good money not to have to clean up broken glass and perfectly good beer from the floor of my kitchen.

 

[Finn]

Curious if anyone has had any experience using a hammer capper. It appears to be a good idea for quick and easy capping of all types of bottles without having to worry about adjusting the height of a bench capper. The obvious problem I see is the potential of breaking the bottles. Another possible issue would be the agitation created by pounding on the beer bottle, but I would think that would do nothing more than force carb the beer.

After seeing the image below I've been pondering building one myself using parts I have lying around, and tapping it with a mallet. I'll be building this within the next week and testing it on a variety of empty bottles and posting my results here for all to see.

Please let me know if you have used or seen one of these used before, or have any other feedback related to this type of capping.

Thank you

I considered buying one of these so I could re-use some old Belgian Lambec bottles. I'm not too worried about shattering them; they're hell-for-stout and I'm pretty sure it will take a more doughty soul than I to break 'em, and they take weird Eurotrash caps so my bench capper won't work.

Having said that ... beating on a regular beer bottle seems like a bad plan. Plus, a batch is 40-some bottles, and that's an awful lot of beatings to dish out to save $7.95. I'm thinking the advice you're getting is pretty damn solid ...

--Finn

 

[mrhead]

LHB has an agata bench capper for $30 so I'll be buying one next month.

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[rushpapers]

Have a hammer capper... never used it.
I like my grifo bench capper. The thing is heavy steel and doesn't flex at all. I often do one-handed capping while the other hand is setting up the next bottle on the counterpressure bottle filler.