Well !&@%!

[homebrewdad]

Spoken like a true father of a bunch of kids! :rockin:

As a great philosopher one said: "I yam what I yam."

 

[Revvy]

Haha! I'm hoping to build a keezer by fall, but I'll always bottle, as well!

The ONLY reason I did it was that now that I've returned to at least part - time church ministry, the month of May was very "lucrative" for me. I had a couple weddings and a couple speaking fees, so I had some extra cash, and I wanted to spend the extra cash towards something regarding brewing. but living in a condo, where I can't brew here, building some fancy brewing system was really out of the question, and my brewing process is pretty dialed in, so there's no real brewing gear I need....so I thought what the heck, even though I CLEARLY don't have an issue with bottling, I thought it would be neat to have beer on tap. NOT as an alternative because I cant handle bottling. But that it would be fun to have beers on tap....And I thought the actual challenge of building the damn thing would be fun....It hasn't been, but that's a separate story (nightmare build)

And I STILL can't figure out why a certain segment of our population has to "educate" folks about kegging.....

Thanks on the avatar. So much made sense when I found out my family crest had a goblet on it!

WOW I thought you made it up...That's really cool!!!

 

[Revvy]

Y Stick to giving kegging advice in threads where such advice is sought.

THIS!!!!!

That's how I feel....give advice where it belongs. Now that I've been building my keezer I've actually contributed to some of the discussions on the topic... But I don't feel the need to "sell" one thing over the other. Or cross pollinate on topic over the other...

Of course I can't help showing off my build......so forgive me....

The "guts" I've been working on tonight.....And cold crashing the first beer I'm putting in a keg, AND you know, drinking some beer, in the bottle.

 

[Stauffbier]

The ONLY reason I did it was that now that I've returned to at least part - time church ministry, the month of May was very "lucrative" for me. I had a couple weddings and a couple speaking fees, so I had some extra cash, and I wanted to spend the extra cash towards something regarding brewing. but living in a condo, where I can't brew here, building some fancy brewing system was really out of the question, and my brewing process is pretty dialed in, so there's no real brewing gear I need....so I thought what the heck, even though I CLEARLY don't have an issue with bottling, I thought it would be neat to have beer on tap. NOT as an alternative because I cant handle bottling. But that it would be fun to have beers on tap....And I thought the actual challenge of building the damn thing would be fun....It hasn't been, but that's a separate story (nightmare build)
My situation is similar. I think it would be fun to have a couple taps, but I like bottles. I, too, hope to find myself in a lucrative situation within the next month. I'm a wood flooring contractor, and I'm bidding on a humongous job. There's a good chance I'll get the job, since it's a prior client. If so I can justify the purchase. Good luck on your build! Hopefully it will go more smoothly!
And I STILL can't figure out why a certain segment of our population has to "educate" folks about kegging.....




WOW I thought you made it up...That's really cool!!!

Nope! It's real! I just come from a long lineage of German beer drinkers!

 

[kh54s10]

Really???

Bottles = free
Priming sugar = maybe a dollar
caps = about 50 cents.

Kegging = Ice chest $100
kegs = about $40 each
Beer lines = ?
regulator
co2 tank
replacement o rings
keg lube
taps
wood for the zeezer
etc etc etc.

I can bottle for decades before I will pay as much.

Can't wait until I can get into kegging! Fermentation chamber first though.

Was it me or did you correct yourself at the end? I am known to sip..

NO, I did not correct myself. I don't know if the comment on kegging being cheaper was sarcasm or not.

I do think I could bottle cheaper than kegging for a very long time.

I would like to keg - not for the savings because I don't think there would be any - but for the convenience of it. I would be looking at at least a six tap keezer so unless I hit the Powerball it will be a long way in the future.

 

[shecky]

It never ceases to amaze how such innocuous topics go off the rails.

Keep it on topic and civil or the thread gets closed, and I'd hate to do that to the OP.

 

[fargo234]

Well crapsnacks. I had no idea my busted bottle would have such a response. It's the third such I've had in all 12 years I've been bottling. The first two were of New Belgian Brewing origin. This fine sample was from the very first brewing kit my wife bought me from our LHBS for our first anniversary! She might have a tiny regret in that...

In either case, I've only got a couple of other things to say.

1. The Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams) has the best bottles for reuse. I've got a cubic crap ton of them collected by eager friends. I've got a bottle for bottle program going on. You want more of my brews? Gimme my damn bottles back or replace them (Sam Adams, no labels please).

2. Kegging. I don't wanna. You can't take a six pack of kegs to a poker game (well, you shouldn't. Really.). You got yer buds over? It's easier to count bottles than glasses. It's already pretty tight in here, so adding a keezer would look odd in the living room. Cheaper? No it's not.

The keezer is in my future! But in the meantime I might just relax, maybe not worry...

 

[Stauffbier]

Wing cappers are finicky when it comes to bottle shape. Some bottles cap great and others don't. That's why I like my bench capper so much. It will literally cap any brand of bottle I throw at it. New Belgium bottles seem to be one of the easiest to cap for me. 12 years is a pretty good run. Maybe it's time for a new wing capper or an upgrade to a bench capper. It might even be that you just run across a stressed bottle every now and then..

 

[homebrewdad]

Wing cappers are finicky when it comes to bottle shape. Some bottles cap great and others don't. That's why I like my bench capper so much. It will literally cap any brand of bottle I throw at it. New Belgium bottles seem to be one of the easiest to cap for me. 12 years is a pretty good run. Maybe it's time for a new wing capper or an upgrade to a bench capper. It might even be that you just run across a stressed bottle every now and then..

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

 

[mike20793]

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

The phenomenon is known as creep in engineering. Constant use breaks down the material over time whether it's glass, steel, or wood.

 

[CBXBob]

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

And possibly had a hairline crack that occurred during cleaning/sanitizing. I try to look closer at each bottle now, because I found a tiny chip in the very top of the cap lip on one of my recycled bottles, may have sealed, may have not.

 

[emjay]

If that same bottle had been capped again and again for twelve years, it's not ridiculous that it may have finally just had too much.

This is true, but doesn't actually contradict the guy you quoted. The forces applied to the cap and bottle when using a wing capper are far more likely to result in this kind of failure than when using a bench capper. Using the bottle repeatedly for 12+ years probably did weaken it, but I can pretty much guarantee that it would not have broken like that (within the same timeframe, anyways) had he used a bench capper.

Not only that, but had he used a bench capper the entire time, I can also pretty much guarantee that it wouldn't have been so severely weakened; assuming the failure WAS the result of "built up" weakness due to repeated capping, then I can similarly assure you that even if he used a wing capper this one particular time anyways, it wouldn't have broken like that had he been using a bench capper up until then, as it wouldn't have been nearly so weakened.

 

[homebrewdad]

This is true, but doesn't actually contradict the guy you quoted. The forces applied to the cap and bottle when using a wing capper are far more likely to result in this kind of failure than when using a bench capper. Using the bottle repeatedly for 12+ years probably did weaken it, but I can pretty much guarantee that it would not have broken like that (within the same timeframe, anyways) had he used a bench capper.

Not only that, but had he used a bench capper the entire time, I can also pretty much guarantee that it wouldn't have been so severely weakened; assuming the failure WAS the result of "built up" weakness due to repeated capping, then I can similarly assure you that even if he used a wing capper this one particular time anyways, it wouldn't have broken like that had he been using a bench capper up until then, as it wouldn't have been nearly so weakened.

Be that as it may, I can personally deal with twelve years of use out of my bottles. I'm betting most of us, can, too.

 

[Saxomophone]

I used to have a metal wing style capper that broke off the top of every kind of bottle I tried it on. I named it The DeCapitator and chucked it.

 

[Wynne-R]

Here you go Revvy. This is a WWII era bottle.

Until 1980 or so, bottles were returnable. A particular buddy would always say “Do you know how old this bottle is?” He knew how to read the code on the bottom of the bottle. One day the answer was “I don’t know.” He said before 1945 they didn’t use date codes.

When I took it down to photograph it, I noticed it was heavy. It’s 330g, almost as much as the beer. I wonder how many times this bottle was capped.

Oh yeah, all the way with bench cappers. I hated bottling until I got rid of the wing capper and got a bottle filler. Also I use the dishwasher as a bottle tree and place to bottle over. No more sticky floors, just close the door.

Lately I have been using the filler without the spring. I end up spilling a half cup or so, but it’s faster and easier.

 

[SledgeH]

Straub in PA still has the old school returnable bottles. they are the sturdiest and most beat to hell things I've seen. they look identical to the bootless posted by revvy. for a 4 dollar deposit i don't mind using then for a while myself...

 

[Revvy]

Wynne, Sledge, I think those old bottles show a lot of character, don't you? I love seeing all the marks from the repeated runs through the bottling line.

 

[amandabab]

speaking of old Pabst bottles still in use.

its an easy-cap/growler, so its cheating.

 

[Golddiggie]

speaking of old Pabst bottles still in use.

its an easy-cap, so its cheating.

It's not cheating, it's just bottling without the need to crimp caps on top

I pull bottles of brew from the faucets, or directly off of a keg (Beer Gun) to bring places. I like that mostly because people can either drink directly from the bottle, or up-end it and get every last drop into glass. Unless bottle carbonating where you need to leave some behind. On the 4th of July, I brought a 1L and two 500ml bottles of my MO SMaSH brew to my sister/mother's place. Mom has one of the 500ml bottles still in her fridge (I keep her in good beer ) but we drank the rest. With splitting the bottles it was no issue from keg. Had these been bottle carbonated it would have been different. I do have some of the 375ml Belgian bottles that I plan on using for some BIG brews. I plan to carbonate those in keg first though, since I'll be pushing beyond the yeast's tolerance (or far enough to make bottle carbonating slow at best).

IMO, bottle, keg, or both, but do what YOU want. Me, I'm kegging each batch but also pulling bottles from keg to give away or bring to gatherings (or just keep mom supplied :rockin...

For the record, as much as I like kegging, I wouldn't have mentioned it as the solution for the OP... More likely time to get more/new bottles, or maybe a different capper.

 

[thepartsmancometh]

How about some pbr quarts?

 

[Revvy]

amandabab that's awesome.

One of my brew buddy's gave me 4 big bottles just like that that he got at some work party where a beer distributor was giving out big bottles like that of some Budweiser product. I'm going to use the for my saison. And when I don't have a saison going, probably to bring kegged beer to parties.

 

[SledgeH]

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

 

[pabloj13]

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

I agree. That look is cool as hell.

 

[stompbox]

Agreed, loads of character. The cases themselves are fantastic too. Not only to they look classic, but they're seriously reinforced. They're also 16s! It's kind of a mystery that they don't sell these at the LHBS.

I have 6 cases of hose straub and 2 cases of yuengling from that same era. Same build of box and bottles between the two brands, heavy duty stuff.

 

[rico567]

This. I broke so many bottles helping a friend bottle a couple of his batches with a wing capper. Granted, he was using twist- off bottles, but the point is that wing cappers put that kind of force on bottles. Bench cappers are so much nicer to use and don't have this problem.

This. Grandpa's old Prohibition era bench capper has yet to crack or break a bottle neck. My "red baron" wing capper destroyed a few.