Switching to regular beer caps.

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Chadwick

Chadwick

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I've been using the oxygen absorbing beer caps for as long as I can remember. It was one of those things I just always did. If asked if they are better I would never be able to give an opinion because, I just always used them.

Today I was putting together an order for the usual stuff, base malts, star san, some lactose for a future mild stout, just normal stuff. I noticed I was running low on caps and decided to order more of those too. I realize that I can order caps in different colors. Wow, that is cool. It sure would make labeling batches so much simpler if I color coded my batches by the color of the cap.

So I order a bunch of different colors. The more I think about it, the less rational reason I can think of for using oxygen absorbing caps anyhow. They cost twice as much, and for what? Will what little oxygen they manage to absorb really make a noticeable difference in the taste of my beer? I think not. But I could be mistaken.

What say ye?
 
jekeane said:
colors are fun... that being said my lhbs only charges $.25 more for the bag of oxygen caps.
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I wish I had a lhbs. Where I live, I wouldn't be able to brew if it wasn't for the online retailers. And for them I am grateful. The closest thing to a lhbs is 60 miles away. It is the home brew section of a Liqueur Barn.
 
Basically, not worth it unless it's a brew you're planning on keeping around for several months or more. That's my experience anyhow.
 
lowtones84 said:
Basically, not worth it unless it's a brew you're planning on keeping around for several months or more. That's my experience anyhow.
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I brew a great number of barleywines and other high gravity ales. Just about all my beers require long periods of aging. I still have a couple hundred of the oxygen absorbing caps. I'm thinking about just using them on the brews I'm planning on keeping and aging for over a year.

Of course, my father just used regular caps too. I still have an unopened beer of his that is now almost 30 years old. Regular cap on it. As far as I know the seal is still solid.
 
The o2 barrier caps are only about a dollar more around here. They do help a little in my experiences, so I consider them cheap insurance.
 
Is there any evidence at all that these things work? You’d think if this were real they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Have you ever seen one on a commercial bottle?
 
Chadwick said:
I brew a great number of barleywines and other high gravity ales. Just about all my beers require long periods of aging. I still have a couple hundred of the oxygen absorbing caps. I'm thinking about just using them on the brews I'm planning on keeping and aging for over a year.

Of course, my father just used regular caps too. I still have an unopened beer of his that is now almost 30 years old. Regular cap on it. As far as I know the seal is still solid.
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Beer thats 30 years old? Its going to be gross. beer doesnt last that long, not even sours or barelywines.

Also there will be oxygen in the beer if it really is that old. Caps don't seal 100%. there will be oxygen exchange over long periods of time.
 
Pretty sure we wouldn't know if they used them on the commercial level. Oxy absorbing come in bright orange, which I have decided will be my trademark cap. $4.50 a gross at my LHBS. 3 pennies a beer is fine with me.
 
I never used them. I'm sure I got some oxidization as a result. Perhaps it was part of the aging that made certain batches better with time? I'll never know. What I do know is that I never went back to a cellared beer up to about 11 months old at this point and said "I need to check brew notes, I don't remember the corrugated cardboard addition."

Keg mostly now so what caps to use doesn't really matter much anymore.
 
Wynne-R said:
Is there any evidence at all that these things work? You’d think if this were real they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Have you ever seen one on a commercial bottle?
Click to expand...

I think every commercial beer I've tried that I can think of has the O2 barrier thing under the cap. Firestone, SN, Pipeworks, 3 Floyds, Lagunitas, etc
 
How do you tell them apart?

I pulled some out of the trash and they all look the same to me.

I just talked to a commercial brewer and he said they didn't do much, if anything.
 
Wynne-R said:
How do you tell them apart?

I pulled some out of the trash and they all look the same to me.

I just talked to a commercial brewer and he said they didn't do much, if anything.
Click to expand...

How in the world would you tell them apart? The difference is in the seal that's there no matter what.

Chadwick's dad's beer is probably cork lined too. Which would be a really coool aesthetic choice if they still make them.
 
I believe the O2 barrier part is the rubbery-feeling material under the cap. It's very thin, and honestly, I don't know how much benefit it serves. Like the OP, I've just always used them

I've also read somewhere that this O2 barrier material absorbs some of the hop aroma as well as O2 but I have a hard time believing that.
 
1977Brewer said:
How in the world would you tell them apart? The difference is in the seal that's there no matter what.
Click to expand...

Unless I'm just totally wrong in thinking that rubbery material under the cap was what made it an O2 barrier..? If that's the case, my bad
 
Its a very hard thing to prove if it does any good at all. I use them on the portion of the bigger beers I mean to keep around. Gold caps, drink. Silver caps, age and drink. At $1 more for a bag its hardly adding any cost.

I have had beers oxidize after a few years with the O2 barrier caps on them. I have had beers with non 02 barrier caps on them that are still good after 2 years. Do they help, maybe. Do they prevent against all oxidation, certainly not. You can't reverse the O2 a beer has already been exposed to prior to bottling.

Now I am interested in a trial of that 30 year old beer. Are you waiting for it to turn 40?
 
You can buy 144 O2 obsorbing caps online for $4. That's almost 15 gallons of beer bottled for $4 worth of caps. I consider it cheap insurance though it's only 25% more expensive for the caps.
 
What I have always wanted to know was when does this oxygen absorption occur? In my experience the package never come vacuum sealed, and I have never vacuumed sealed package after using a few for bottling. Does this mean that the caps are compromised? It all seems a little vague to me.
 
solbes said:
Its a very hard thing to prove if it does any good at all. I use them on the portion of the bigger beers I mean to keep around. Gold caps, drink. Silver caps, age and drink. At $1 more for a bag its hardly adding any cost.

I have had beers oxidize after a few years with the O2 barrier caps on them. I have had beers with non 02 barrier caps on them that are still good after 2 years. Do they help, maybe. Do they prevent against all oxidation, certainly not. You can't reverse the O2 a beer has already been exposed to prior to bottling.

Now I am interested in a trial of that 30 year old beer. Are you waiting for it to turn 40?
Click to expand...

I don't know what I'm actually going to do with it. I've been thinking about that for almost 15 years now. I'm just sort of glad I have it. It's kind of an heirloom at this point. To be honest, I don't expect it to be very good. I doubt it was very good 15 years ago. If it was, it wouldn't be around now. ;)
 
My LHBS sells oxygen absorbing caps in all different colors. I can get the normal silver and gold colored ones, but also yellow, orange, red, green, blue, white, black, pink and some with hops on them, and a few others with designs that I can't think of off the top of my head.

It is great, just bottle different brews with different colors. Easy to identify the different brews when reaching into the beer fridge.
 
Wynne-R said:
Is there any evidence at all that these things work? You’d think if this were real they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Have you ever seen one on a commercial bottle?
Click to expand...

Commercial beers are probably not expected to sit around for months. But I'll bet if one of the BMCs started using and advertising them, some people would be drawn to that product for that reason.
 
Pete_WNY said:
But I'll bet if one of the BMCs started using and advertising them, some people would be drawn to that product for that reason.
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Soitanly! Remember those vented Coors Cans? And the Vortex Miller Lites? And the mountain that turns blue when the beer turns to icy slush? Look at all the innovation in packaging there :fro:
 
j1n said:
Beer thats 30 years old? Its going to be gross. beer doesnt last that long, not even sours or barelywines.

Also there will be oxygen in the beer if it really is that old. Caps don't seal 100%. there will be oxygen exchange over long periods of time.
Click to expand...

I've had 25 year old corked and capped Cantillon. Its amazing. I think the cork and side storage is key though.
 
Yup, just like corked wine bottles, champagne in particular. I remember when my to-be bro in law & I were picking up the liquor, wash, etc we ordered for our reception, I found a lone bottle of Moet & chandon brut imperial 1962 for 16 bucks or so! Stored it at an angle till our 1st anniversary. Oh man, smooth!
 
Baja_Brewer said:
What I have always wanted to know was when does this oxygen absorption occur? In my experience the package never come vacuum sealed, and I have never vacuumed sealed package after using a few for bottling. Does this mean that the caps are compromised? It all seems a little vague to me.
Click to expand...

That's what I've been curious about as well. Exactly how much oxygen can these things absorb before they're bad? Seems like all the time sitting in unsealed containers is just wasting their ability.

Anyway, I guess the only real way to tell if they do any good is for someone to brew a batch of beer and bottle half with regular caps and half with oxy caps, and do a side-by-side test at various intervals and see if there's any noticeable difference.
 
They have to be wetted to activate. So after crimping the cap on the bottle, I tip it once to wet it. I've noticed hoppy beers keep a couple weeks longer with the o2 caps versus regular ones. I used up my regular caps when switching to the o2 ones on a pale ale & they worked out as described.
 
unionrdr said:
They have to be wetted to activate. So after crimping the cap on the bottle, I tip it once to wet it. I've noticed hoppy beers keep a couple weeks longer with the o2 caps versus regular ones. I used up my regular caps when switching to the o2 ones on a pale ale & they worked out as described.
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I put a batch of crowns in a bowl of StarSan immediately before bottling. My understanding is that if they are wetted too soon before using, it will de-activate the O2 feature.
 
Does anyone have any links to some data that O2 absorbing caps actually make any sort of difference? I haven't been able to find any good studies on this.
 
When I was a kid, the premium imports (Beck's, Heineken et. al.) were sold with cork caps and foil covers. Domestics and lesser imports were moving toward twist-off technology, but it hadn't become mainstream yet. Many people would return the bottles in the sturdy cardboard cases for credit in the absence of a $0.05 government-mandated deposit. Brewers would get their bottles back and the customers would just pay for the beer (think keg deposits now) it may have been $0.10/bottle surcharge IIRC.

When I was really young, I witnessed the transition from Church-key to pop-top canned beverages, although I was drinking soda then. I remember being disappointed when Beck's stopped using corked caps. I have no idea if O2 absorbing caps work either, but thought I'd take this stroll down memory lane.
 
I just dunk'em in starsan right before placing on the bottle. Then crimp the cap, tip the bottle once & into the box. I found this PDF y'all might like to read; http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/38354.pdf
****Here's a kicker, an excerpt from the PDF I listed. " The
increasing popularity of oxygen scavenging polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, bottle
caps and crowns for beers and other beverages has greatly contributed to this impressive
growth (Anon., 2005).
Overall, oxygen absorbing technology is based on oxidation or combination of one of the
following components: iron powder, ascorbic acid, photosensitive polymers, enzymes, etc.
These compounds are able to reduce the levels of oxygen to below 0.01%, which is lower
than the levels typically found (0.3-3%) in the conventional systems of modified atmosphere,
vacuum or substitution of internal atmosphere for inert gas (Cruz et al., 2007). A summary
of the most important trademarks of oxygen scavenger systems and their manufacturers is
 
Chadwick said:
I wish I had a lhbs. Where I live, I wouldn't be able to brew if it wasn't for the online retailers. And for them I am grateful. The closest thing to a lhbs is 60 miles away. It is the home brew section of a Liqueur Barn.
Click to expand...

Lexington also has a LHBS, Lexington Beerworks. The store is above a bar, and is open anytime the bar is open! It's a small store, but they carry the essentials. If you are making the trip, I would suggest calling first to make sure they have what you need. If they don't, they will order it for you. The Liquor Barn home brew section is ok, but I wouldn't personally buy my grains there, as I don't see them selling a lot of it, so what they have is probably pretty old. If you go there, make sure you go to the Beaumont Centre location... for some reason they are the only one out of, I think, 4 Lex locations with home brew supplies.
 
Chadwick said:
I wish I had a lhbs. Where I live, I wouldn't be able to brew if it wasn't for the online retailers. And for them I am grateful. The closest thing to a lhbs is 60 miles away. It is the home brew section of a Liqueur Barn.
Click to expand...

I have to drive about 36 miles to the only one on the island. Given the traffic on this little rock it's like an hour each way.

Back to topic, I've only use regular gold colored caps.
 
I've received my order of colored caps. It's final, I'm making the switch. At least for the next 6-7 batches. Can't remember how many colors I ordered. I think one of each plus the ones that looked like flags. I figured each bag of 50 would just about do one full 5 gallon batch. There may be some left over, eh. I'll use them somewhere eventually.

I'll still be wetting them with star san before I cap them on the bottle, so the process I have will remain unchanged. It will be nice to not have to hunt the sharpie to mark all the bottles before I put them away. I can color code it now! :rockin:
 

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