wing-type capper technique.

[Pezman1]

Newbie here. Been trying out my red "Emily" style capper on empty bottles, and I have a question.

Do you;

1. Place the cap on the bottle, Place the capper on top of the bottle/cap. Press down on the capper arms causing the metal C-brackets of the capper lower arms to slide up the neck until contacting the lip of the bottle, causing the bell to come down and crimp the cap.

2. Place the cap on the capper magnet. Position the capper so the metal C-brackets are just below the lip of the bottle, then squeeze the arms together and push down to crimp.


Both of these mothods seem to work, except method 1 is pretty hard to do on bottles like those from Sierra Nevada, with its sloping style neck.

Thanks! Pez.

 

[weirdboy]

I use method #2. The problem I have with method #1 is that the caps are prone to slip off from time to time either before I can get the capper in place, or as I'm placing the capper.

 

[hamiltont]

Tried #2 initially but I seem to have better luck placing the cap in the bottle & then the capper. I guess the best way is whatever works best for you..

 

[bull8042]

The best way is whichever works best for you. However, I prefer to put the caps on the bottles first, 1/2 dozen or so at a time. Then pass the capper from bottle to bottle. With time you will develop a technique that will be efficient and fluid. Just takes a little practice to develop a "feel" for it.

 

[Pezman1]

Thanks for all the replies. Although both techniques work for me, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something completely obvious. Think I'll stick with method #2 for now.

Pez.

 

[greenbirds]

If I'm bottling alone, I like to fill the bottles one after the other, resting a sanitized cap on each one as I go along, to minimize the time the mouth is open to any uninvited, airborne guests. Then go around and cap them all at once. I quickly got a good feel for setting the capper down just right every time, capping about 10/minute.

 

[Revvy]

I do cap on bottle.....Actually Papazian and I think palmer talk about letting the co2 void out any oxygen in the bottle...you do that by placing the cap loosely on, then silling a bunch of bottles (now that i have my system down I do an entire case) then you start from the first one and use the wing capper, til you get to the last one filled...what happens is that you give the co2 time to begin to form and that will push the air out of the headspace.

You could prolly leave them open for the 5-10 minutes it takes to fill the case of bottles. Then cap them..but all matter of stuff could end up in the bottles thenl like fruitflies.

I've actually had a few caps pop off the bottles in that time, which means that it must be working, kicking all that nasty oxygen out of the headspace and away from my beer.

Plus I've ruind a couple caps tryubg ro do the cap o magnet way for the heck of it....you can't really see if it is seated or not...I've crimped one in half and never know till I lifted the capper off.

 

[bull8042]

....Plus I've ruind a couple caps tryubg ro do the cap o magnet way.....

Jeez Revvy, I was with you up to this point. Little druck are we?

 

[ottobrew]

+1 for cap on bottle. Like to keep unwanted stuff out while filling other bottles. Hadn't thought about CO2 pushing oxygen out of bottles before, but makes perfect sense. Will probably fill and cap in sequence to allow ample pushing time from now on.

 

[Revvy]

Jeez Revvy, I was with you up to this point. Little druck are we?

I have been having keyboard issues all niigfh....I am not 100% convinced that it is becasie I am druck.....But all night I have had typos...even before I started drinking....Either my fingers are acting funkk, or I have a virus....

It is weired.

 

[ChshreCat]

I'm a cap on the bottle kind of guy.

 

[Pezman1]

I actually settled on a combination. Cap on botle directly after filling to keep out bugs, then using the magnet to pick up the cap and crimp per method #2.

Thanks again! Pez.

 

[Homercidal]

I have my daughter take my filled bottles and set them on the table with a cap on them. Then I just go to each one and cap it with the capper, and slide it over to her, and she takes it to the sink to rinse the excess beer off it.

That is when I used the wing capper. I normally use the bench capper. The wing capper was bought just to be able to recap a large or strong beer that I don't want to finish in that sitting (weird, I know.)

Bench capper FTW!!!