I’m confident there have been threads here covering this topic but I’m gonna take the easier way out and solicit thoughts from current participants here. It’s been years since I’ve bottled my batches -I keg. When I do bottle it’s a few here and there to give to family and friends or for club meetings so not ones that will be hanging around for long. I will in the near future have more beer than keg space (brewing spree coming up) so will need to bottle some for longer term storage. Are oxygen scavenging bottle caps worth using? I understand the theoretical utility of them but wonder if there is objective data out there for dissolved oxygen levels in beers using those caps versus regular caps in the same beers, and also what folks here can tell me about any personal experience beyond “I use them as insurance but can’t really say if they make a difference.” I will likely be storing these beers for several months, storing them in a fridge at 35-ish degrees in order to preserve them. Thanks!
I have never seen data about them. Experiential refereneces say maybe, which has been my experience. I tend to use them if I’m bottling for long term storage because it couldn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t hesitate to bottle the same batch if I didn’t have them.
The work … in theory! 
Another thing to consider is the quality of the cap. If you plan to store your beer for a long time, don’t cut corners and use cheap caps. If you buy a quality cap it will probably be oxygen absorbing. I have had a whole batch come out flat because I used caps that didn’t seal well enough. Not worth it to save a few pennies.
Absolutely true! Bottle conditioned beer is different than filtered and Pasteurized bottled beer. Bottle conditioned beer has a live culture that will naturally scavenge O2 while conditioning.
what about homebrewers who bottle from the keg or breweries who force carb?? It is neither bottle conditioned, nor filtered and pasteurized.
How old is the beer when it is bottled from the keg? Is it still slightly turbid or is it crystal clear?
For me, crystal clear and young.
Per Kunze, the scavenger compound used in oxygen absorbing crown caps can bind 2-4 mg of oxygen. That’s all the technical data I’ve ever seen on them (though I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some real world experimental data on the lowoxygen forum).
Given that you can get 100 of them for $3.79, I don’t know why you wouldn’t use them.
From the Morebeer website: “These caps activate once you get them wet. Do not wet or sanitize caps in advance of your bottling session or they will not work correctly. They’ll still close the bottle like any other cap, but the oxygen-absorbing function will be used up.”
This can be an issue depending on your bottling procedure.
FTR there is no need to sanitize bottle caps unless you have contaminated them somehow. I have shipped tens of thousands of bottles bottled from a Meheen and the caps are just scooped out and dumped in the hopper. Can lids are never sanitized either.
If my LHBS buys in bulk and repackages would you say the same? I’ve never been able to decide and sanitize them anyway.
Caps need to be wet to be activated.
I dip cap in star-san just before crimping each bottle.
Kill two birds with one stone, sanitize & activate.
I don’t turn bottles upside down any more.
Just checked MB and NB, oxy caps are same price as regular ones
,so why would one even bother. NB logo on oxy caps
are actually cheaper.
If they are dumb enough to keep em next to the grain grinder maybe. I personally think homebrewers sanitize a lot of stuff unnecessarily out of caution. Certainly doesn’t hurt - unless in the case of o2 scavenging caps them maybe it does!
Most manufacturers for bottling and canning equipment recommend rinsing the package with deaerated water as opposed to sanitizer since sanitizers like PAA can increase DO pick up in package. So often a lot of times the package isn’t even sanitized, only rinsed to remove any dust/etc. from storage.
Bottle caps are skanky looking. I don’t know whats touched or crawled on them.
Rumor has it they get around, so I use star-san protection.
I can honestly say I have never used a “skanky” bottle cap. ??? If I saw one it would get pitched.
I have only ever seen the come sealed. If yer diggin ‘em out of a communal bin with boody pickin’ fingers - yeah. Then I see your point. ;D
LOL
Thanks all for the input here - much appreciated. It sounds like there’s some consensus that using them if kind of a “they may provide some benefit so why not given there is no or little additional cost” while we may be a little sparse on the actual empirical proof of efficacy. Certainly there are other things I do at points in my beer generating process that are more for insurance than because I probably absolutely need to. I’m comfortable with that.
I guess the point I was making about the sanitizer if if you are going to sanitize the caps do it as soon as you cap them. It seems like letting the sit in sanitizer defeats the purpose.
Point taken - I would sanitize last minute.