Oxygen scavenging caps

[reverseapachemaster]

I spray with sanitizer. Works fine, does not seem to negatively affect the caps. I like the insurance of sanitizing because I store my caps in open bags around my other equipment, some of which has grain dust and has been around my mixed fermentations.

I have no idea whether they definitely work better at avoiding oxygen reactions with the beer but the liner inside seems thicker and creates a better seal. That’s the main selling point for me.

[brewinhard]

@reverseapachemaster

I have no idea whether they definitely work better at avoiding oxygen reactions with the beer but the liner inside seems thicker and creates a better seal. That’s the main selling point for me.

I find this to be true as well.

[bayareabrewer]

@brewinhard

@majorvices

I don’t think I’d call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

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.

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?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

[brewinhard]

@bayareabrewer

@brewinhard

@majorvices

I don’t think I’d call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

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.

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?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

Good anecdote. Thank you. I bet my guy uses the same scale for grains as he does for his caps.

[bayareabrewer]

@brewinhard

@bayareabrewer

@brewinhard

@majorvices

I don’t think I’d call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

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.

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?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

Good anecdote. Thank you. I bet my guy uses the same scale for grains as he does for his caps.

yeah, we certainly used the same scale for everything except big orders, we had a larger floor scale for that. I’ll be bottling a saison tomorrow and have about a dozen of the oxygen bottle caps sitting around, Ill use those and then some normal ones and see if I can tell a difference.

[Lazy_Ant_Brewing]

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.

I think majorvices is probably right.  When I first started brewing, I  brewed several batches before I realized that I was supposed to be sanitizing the bottles after cleaning them.  How many infected bottles did I end up with? Zero!  Maybe I was lucky or maybe  six or so brewing sessions  didn’t allow enough generations for the nasty mutations to become established.