Reusing Twist off bottles and caps

[abracadabra]

I visited with a guy this past weekend that brews his own potato beer and reuses the twist off bottles and caps.

He simply twists the caps back on and says they work great.

He also uses a balloon as an airlock for his homemade wine when the balloon deflates he says the wine is ready to cap.

 

[rod]

i use twist-off bottles as i don't have enough of the others, but i would never re-use the caps. why take a chance on ruining the beer for the price of new caps?

 

[sirsloop]

I'd rather pay a couple bucks for caps. Why risk it? As far as the balloon... yeah it'll work but you run the risk of the CO2 blowing the thing off or breaking it. You also do not have a water lock in there, so its possible for airborne contaminants to get in. Again, I'd rather pay $0.95 for a cheap S-lock. Imagine blowing the balloon off your $40 imperial and having it get moldy or infected as a result...

 

[Bobby_M]

Also, you'll need a bench capper to put new caps on a twist off bottle but the neck is pretty thin so be careful. You might break some bottles in the process.

 

[abracadabra]

I guess I should have put a caveat that he's uses the ballons on 1 gallon jugs of wine. I'm not suggesting anyone use a balloon on a 5 gal. batch of beer.

But as far as his reuse of twist off caps. This guy is an old timer and has been reusing twist off caps for a long time successfully.

I'm amazed by the resourcefullness and inventiveness of the older generation that had to make due with what they had. And did not or could not run down to the store to buy everything they need.

Plus it's kind of hard to argue with success.

But if you're afraid to "risk" 1 beer to give it a try that's OK by me. But I don't see the need to try to scare other people out of trying something new.

 

[sirsloop]

So you're telling me that he's never had one bottle that leaked and was flat/skunked as a result of a poor seal? I can tell you for a fact that none of my bottles that are capped on non-twist bottles and a bench capper have leaked. I've never broken any bottles capping either, which you are a lot more likely to do with those skinny lipped twist offs. Nothing like a nice fat thick-lipped sam adams bottle

I guess I don't want to get in a pissing match over the whole resourcefulness thing, but IMHO in the year 2007 that comes off as a bit cheap. I mean cmon... a gross of caps is like a dollar fifty....and I got an antique all metal (awesome!) bench capper for $13 shipped. There's resourceful, like making a cooler into a MTL, turning a sanke keg into a 15gallon brew pot, or making a temp controlled chill box out of house insulation, a fan, and 2L bottles of ice... then theres the latter

 

[abracadabra]

So you're telling me that he's never had one bottle that leaked and was flat/skunked as a result of a poor seal? )

No Sir I would not presume to tell you anything.

This information is for people that are interested in recycling, people on tight budgets, people interested in trying new things or experimenting, people that don't have easy access to anything other than twist off bottles and people that are not afraid to risk 1 beer.

It is not intended for all the nattering nabobs of negativity on the forum.

 

[sirsloop]

right then... good luck.

 

[mot]

the ballon thing has been around for years and years my Grandfather use to make wine that way a long long time ago

 

[abracadabra]

the ballon thing has been around for years and years my Grandfather use to make wine that way a long long time ago

Sounds like your grand dad was a cool dude

 

[dibby33]

It would probably work (putting the caps back on). I have put tops back on long necks (750ml) when I have had to go somewhere and the next day still ok. I would buy your friend some new caps for Christmas though

 

[boo boo]

Although I use new caps on my bottles, I could see where reusing the new type might work.
When I first started homebrewing our caps had cork under them instead of plastic.
This would not be a good type to reuse due to sanatation issues IMO.
As for reusing twist off bottles....our Canadian bottles are slightly heavier than the US bottles and are less prone to breakage. I use them regurlarly.

 

[abracadabra]

It would probably work (putting the caps back on). I have put tops back on long necks (750ml) when I have had to go somewhere and the next day still ok. I would buy your friend some new caps for Christmas though

I'd have to buy him a capper too.

 

[dibby33]

...when is his birthday?

The potato wine sound interesting! It could be that he is not waiting for the fermentation to complete and the lack of seal in the top is stopping the bottle bombs! It could also be that it tastes so bad that he would be unable to tell if the bottle wasn't sealed or not.
...did you get to taste any?

 

[abracadabra]

No, I didn't try any of his cranberry wine or potato beer it was to early in the day for me to start drinking.