Swing Top Bottles - Any tips?

[nztayls]

Okay, so I have a mix of PET and Swing-tops, both bought new from my LHBS.

I am finding that about 50% of my swingtops end up going flat before I can drink them. Its getting to the point where I am going to bin them in favour of PETs.

As I am reasonably new to this I was wondering:

- Are there any tricks to using swing-tops?. I'm just filling them and closing them up, obviously after they have been cleaned and sanitised.

- What is the best option to use for consistency swing tops vs PETs vs re-capping glass bottles?

Thanks!

 

[tx-brewer]

Are the gaskets New and in good shape? I always wet the top of the bottle and gasket as well. Like you might lick a suction cup to get a better seal. Might be in my head but I haven't had any issues

 

[H-Balm]

What if you tip it like a wine bottle?

Then you could spot drips or leaks.

 

[jethro55]

There are a couple of gasket types out there. I still see both on the shelf.
One is an older natural material - and that one is known to leak. These are light brown in color.
The other one is a newer synthetic and does not leak. It is bright red and shiny.

 

[stvo]

Check the gaskets they could have probably dried out a bit... and most brew shops sell them cheap!! I buy these (pic) at a local store here in CA for 1.99 per bottle with beer in them!!! bonus!! They seal well..... I have a sasion conditioning in them probably close to 2 months now, I primed them for close to 3.2 volumes of carbonation not problem yet...
when I sanitize these and others I've accumulated... I take the gaskets off and soak them in a glass dish and push them on when I'm ready to seal the bottle...

and just found out to tonight Trader Joes will not be carrying these at 1.99 a bottle any more "discontinued" this blows

 

[JohnRoss]

I have read several threads on different sites with people complaining about swing top bottles not holding carbination. My take on it was that most complaints came from people who bought them new from lhbs. The fix there seemed to be to tune up the wire to make it fit tighter. Some put new rubbers on their new bottles but I don't know how that worked for them. People using Grolsch bottles seem to be doing what the other poster said, wetting the mouth of the bottle and the rubber to get a good seal. That may work for you.

 

[sutepan]

How tight is the seal, and by that I mean difficulty in closing/opening? It should be an effort to snap them closed. It's a little strange that you would be having this problem with new bottles. With mine, when it got to the point that I didn't need to 'force' the closure, I changed the gasket or adjusted the pivot. The pivot can be adjusted by using a hammer to bend the metal wires, not difficult to do, but not something you should have to do on new bottles.

There's really no reason that a new snap-top should be losing carbonation. Are you batch priming, bottle priming with sugar, or using carb tabs? Could it be an issue with consistency per bottle?

 

[Thegreatestgray]

I use swing tops and have notice you have the ability to put the caps on crooked so watch that also if you "pop" them open you get more head and more carb loss if you open them slowly it doesn't happen.

 

[nztayls]

Thanks all. These were brand new bottles from my LHBS made by Copper Tun. On closer investigation I believe this is due to them not snapping closed tight enough. They close down tight and then seem to loosen up as they have some give in them. Might resort to drinking Grolsch for the next month to get a reliable stock!