My wife got me some bottle caps from garagemonk.com with some labels. Using these, I have found that some of the bottles have no carbonation, and others are perfectly fine.
Has anyone used these caps before? Im using a standard bottle capper. I have never had an issue like this before, but its only with these caps that im seeing the problem.
Anyone have any recommendations for salvaging the uncarbonated beer?
Bottle type?
The problem could be due to the caps. The problem could also be with the style lip on some of your bottles. By standard capper you mean a wing capper. The style of bottle can be a problem with wing cappers. The performance of a bench capper is not affected by the bottle style.
Check your remaining bottles. Can you twist any of the caps which would indicate a loose seal? Anything different with this batch with the priming sugar? How long of time and what temperature did you condition your bottles at??
You could reprime and recap uncarbonated bottles if you have given your beer plenty of time to carbonate in a warm place before chilling. There is some risk of oxidation doing this but I suppose the risk is better than flat beer. Drink quick if you go this route.
As far as I know, caps is caps. I’ve had problems with wing cappers and certain bottle types, as flars notes. Or it’s possible your priming sugar was not well mixed and some bottles have more.
Here’s a method for re-priming the flat bottles.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=23215.msg296546#msg296546
As flars said, make sure the original prime sugar is used up by the yeast.
The bottle types were all different bottles, as I just recycle bottles of beer I have purchased from the store. which I have used them all before with standard caps, without issue.
I waited 2 weeks for the bottles to prime and so far most of them have been carbonated. the sugar was well mixed in to the beer, and the bottles that were flat had zero carbonation, so im thinking these beers may get oxidated too if there isn’t a good seal.
Im considering throwing out all of my recycled bottles and just buying all the same standard bottles to not have this issue again… maybe look at getting a bench capper too since I hate the wing capper anyway. I would love to keg but I don’t have the space right now to do so.
Ill look into the link about repriming the flat ones.
Thanks!
Compare the bottles that are flat to bottles that aren’t. Is there any difference in the shape below the mouth?
Wing cappers don’t do a great job short neck bottles (Sierra, Founders, Firestone, Boulevard). I’d avoid those unless you have a bench capper.
Yea seem, I use a lot of red hook and sierra Nevada bottles… that could be why…
does anyone have a recommendation for a good bench capper that’s modestly priced?
super agata bench capper runs around 40 dollars and has good reviews.
$34.00 in my part of the country. Mine cost less when purchased 10 to 12 years ago.
Maybe not cheap, but I use a Colona. Any bottle, any size cap, and it corks Belgians. Never had an issue and it has capped over a thousand bottles.
A good bench capper will save you many a headache. I have a colona, and I love it. Does standard and belgian caps as well as corks.
I might look into one then. First time having this issue but it’s definitely frustrating.
I have an Agata bench capper that I picked up from my LHBS. There is one thing I’ve found with mine that I thought was a problem but now think is a feature. Occasionally my bottles will get stuck in the bell. At first, I just muscled them loose only to realize later that they weren’t fully sealed. Eventually I realized that when a bottle got stuck like this, I need to lower the arm a bit and try again. Once the cap is fully sealed, then the bottle would come free of the bell easily. Like I said, I think this is probably by design, given my experiences. Not sure if this is common to any other bench cappers.
I’ve use a wing capper and sometimes have had some problems with Fermenter’s Favorite caps. Some colors seem like they take more force or want to bend to one side before sealing. The orange color seemed like the worst. However, all the bottles did get sealed okay as far as I know. It just seems some colors seal more easily than others.
I am beginning to think its just those caps don’t travel well… all of the ones I have had at home have been fine, but about half of the ones I gave out were flat. Its weird.