For those of you who bottle with oxygen scavenging caps, how long do you leave them in your sanitizer for? Was having a discussion with a homebrew buddy about this today and was curious what everyone does.
Thanks!
I put the amount needed plus a couple into a bowl of sanitizer. I’d say the shortest time is couple of minutes, longest is 10. I throw left overs away.
Wouldn’t putting them in oxygen soaked water, use the oxygen absorbing in the caps?? :o
Maybe. I don’t know the mechanism used or how long it takes for the reaction to take place. I sanitize as I do other caps only difference is I toss the leftovers.
Purely speculation on my part.
I’ve never seen any proof they work anyway. They certainly might, but it would be nice to be certain.
I view them as cheap insurance - maybe an extra cent per cap?
James Spencer emailed Crown years ago and their reply was that the half-life for the reaction is on the order of hours, so there’s no problem soaking them in sanitizer while bottling.
Absolutely. I buy them when available because the price difference is pretty negligible.
When it comes to regular caps, does anybody still allow the filled bottles to “burp” a few times by placing the cap but waiting a half hour or so to crimp? I can’t remember if this was from Palmer, Miller, or Charlie P, but I know it’s in a book somewhere. The thought is similar to the cap on foam for counter pressure filling. I did this for a few batches ages ago, but stopped when I noticed the ping noise attracted my cats.
Kelsey McNair stressed in his presentation to use them dry. I know, no sanitizer. His thinking was that the O2 scavenging gets used up when wet, so use it up when the beer hits the cap. I’ve done it on hoppy beers and never picked up infection. Wouldn’t necessarily endorse it for most beers either. Assuming of course that they actually work.
This has been my thought which my buddy and I were discussing yesterday leading to my post on it.
But if the half-life is truly hrs, then soaking them in sanitizer for some time would not seem to make a difference.
I wish we could truly know if they are more effective.
I remember Kelsey saying that too, but I just can’t bring myself to not sanitize them for some anal reason… 
I have been told that if you get them wet (ei: sanitizer) they activate the o2 scavenging and won’t work when you put them on your bottle. I have also heard speculation that they will absorb hop aromas.
As an aside: After bottling hundreds of thousands of bottles of beers I find it cute that you guys think you need to sanitize bottle caps. Bottle caps can be considered sanitary right out of the bag/box.
I don’t think I’d call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.
Northern Brewer carriers oxygen absorbing caps, but the bag they came packaged in says oxygen barrier caps on it.
Are they the same product?
I’ve always sanitized them in an Iodophor solution, but I only bottle for the occasional competition.
Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those “bad” bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get’s tossed in the trash.
“James on Basic Brewing contacted the manufacturer to ask this very question to him. He said that sanitizing is absolutely no problem, because while the caps do absorb oxygen and are activated as soon as they get moist, it takes the caps several days to do their job, so a few minutes before getting crimped is OK.”
My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.
So Keith, you don’t ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?
Sadly then the damage has already been done. Cold beer can absorb much more oxygen, and in tests I have found as little as 6hrs with oxygen present, flavor losses occur.
They have to be dry or it would make a huge mess. It is an automatic system (we run a Meheen) and wet caps would be a huge problem since it is run by pneumatic/magnetic system. Technically the bottles are supposed to just be “rinsed” with deionized water but we do run a sanitizer cycle on them because we don’t have deionized water yet. So what I am saying is that bottles and bottle caps come presanitized direct from the factory. In fact, be careful with sanitizers because some sanitizers (such as peracetic acid) are oxidizers as well so you could be oxidizing your beer if you don’t dry your bottles or kegs completely (though star san, sani clean should be fine)
Unless your LHBS is grinding grain while they are packaging caps or the guy is picking his nose and running his hands through they can be considered sanitary. 100 bucks says he is just using a scoop to weigh them out into a bag.
THIS^^^^^
Ha! Yep, I bet that is exactly what he does.