It has been several years since I last brewed a batch of beer but I started the program again. I am naturally carbonating the beer in the Blue Tap-a-Draft bottles using new (white) lids… One week into the carbonating process, the lids are starting to drip…I tightened them but even touching them makes them leak more. I have removed one of the lids and used teflon tape on the threads but now it is starting to slowly drip again… The bottles are on stored their side as I have done in the past for this phase of the brewing process. I don’t want to lose this batch of ale… will it hurt to finish the process with the bottles upright? or should I just let them leak ever so slowly and not worry? There will be more carbonization available when the co2 cartridges are used for dispensing the liquid… Unless this is resolved with this batch of beer, I will be using some other method for the next batch…
I would turn them upright so they don’t leak. However, if you’re losing liquid right now, you will lose pressure when they are upright. Is there a gasket that’s missing? Something that would go inside the lid and seal against the lip of the bottle?
All the lids are new with gaskets in them…I’m not sure the gaskets built into the lids are the best as they were not Tap-a-Draft provided but came from a local wine/beer supply store… might be sub-standard caps??? Will let them drip for now… very small drops…
I used tap a draft when I first got back into brewing. I sat them upright during carb then of course turned them on their sides to dispense. I never experienced a leak using the regular caps. I don’t believe they had a gasket though
With that type of system I’d always err in favor of using the manufacturer’s lids or choice of lids. I seem to think there was always a problem using other caps that were the right size but for whatever reason didn’t seal perfectly. I’ve never personally used TAD but that’s what I recall reading about it.
I’ve been using T-A-D for quite a few years and never had a problem.