Could someone give me some answers?

[gl0ckage]

Right i made a previous post about my bottle capper not capping and i then bought a bench capper which didn't work either and it broke, i then replaced it with a different model and this doesn't seal bottles either, all my bottles are flat and it's pissing me off!


I dont want the answers your doing it wrong.

Can people please put some lemonade or fizzy pop in a bottle, seal it with a bottle cap, shake it around then put the cap to their ear and tell me what they hear.

I have spun the bottle and recrimped it 10 times and it still makes a fizzing noise.

I have pressed the crimper down extra hard and broke this one aswell, well not fully the handle came out, no biggie.

The bottle stays stuck to the crimping cup when i crimp it, i have used wilkinsons bottle caps, and some caps from Rob.

I have used efes bottles, kopparberg, rokordolig, staropramen, alahmbra, hooch, brothers.

I haven't changed anything in what i do, i use a tsp of sugar in each bottle and they are flat as, i left them in perfect conditions, like normal.

I opened my old batches and they are fizzy like normal. the new batches are flat, but the same brew put in a polypin bag conditions fine. and they are stored in the same place.

Im at my wits end with this, i cannot store everything in polypins dispensing from my engine.

Im going to submerge the bottles in a FV to see if i can see bubbles coming from the cap.

I haven't tried a homemade capper because my girlfriend wanted to buy it for christmas for me, but the tested show this is a piece of junk too.

 

[droche]

I've heard of people having trouble with Hobgoblin bottles but not any you are using. My only thoughts are could you have a bad batch of crown caps ? if all your problems come from the same pack then I'd get some more caps and try them.

:

 

[gl0ckage]

it's why i bought some from rob,

Is there anything to seal caps i can use to grease them with anyone know?

 

[nobyipa]

unusual this one
cannot see it been a bad batch of caps i have used both types you mentioned
the caps are quite tough to seat and take quite a weight before sealing properly
on retrieving the bottles from the capper i always shake the bottle so as to check for leaks, caps not set right etc
do your caps when you've put them on look like commercial caps the way they are on the bottles same height for example?

mystery

good luck
:?

 

[Jeltz]

How odd! Are there any other brewers nearby that you could meet up with to go through it or to try and get to the root of the problem be it the equipment or method?

 

[Cononthebarber]

This is really weird, it seems you have tried everything I could have thought of...this may be an obvious question but you're not over priming are you? The only other thing I can think of would be the cap's but it seems you have tried different ones? I'm stumped!

 

[pittsy]

some pictures of your capper would help , it is possible you have just had bad luck and had a couple of dodgy cappers . Mine's old so is made from good solid metal , is yours plastic by chance . My also has some screw threads on it which if wrong would either brake a bottle or not cap correctly , is this your problem ?

 

[iceo]

is there any forum member close to you that you can borrow a capper or caps or bottles to see if it still happens. iv used a wilko capper and caps on a good range of bottles with out a problem. could you be over cripping the caps causing the cap to weaken or deform?

 

[GavH]

Some pictures may be of real use here. You're not using the wrong size caps are you?

 

[jonnymorris]

I've heard of people having trouble with Hobgoblin bottles...

I have many Hobgoblin bottles and have no problems with them. Sorry can't help, sounds odd.

 

[oldbloke]

I'll tell you what, the first time I used my bench capper I was surprised how hard you need to press, there's a bit where you feel the cap first start to grip, but then a much harder bit where it actually makes the seal. When it's sealed there's a definite "done it" feel through the handle. And if you don't have the height set right it's tricky - the rest position of the capper shouldn't be more than 1cm above the bottle, preferably less. The cup on mine is asymmetrically flared so you can lever the bottle out without disturbing the seal, they don't just drop out.
I reckon you need somebody to come and watch you do it, there's summat odd going on.

 

[jonnymorris]

...there's a bit where you feel the cap first start to grip, but then a much harder bit where it actually makes the seal.

Fair point. Are you giving it enough wellie?

 

[winnywood]

Your not using these are you?

Sorry couldn't resist

 

[foxy]

Do you think you might be cracking the seal of the cap when you are removing the bottle from the crimper? I put a smear of Vaseline inside the crimper to make it easier to remove the bottles.
If you try the lemonade in the bottle see if you can hear the Co2 escaping before you remove it from the crimper.

 

[gl0ckage]

I will video me bottling using it, theres alot of replies here so a video i think will be more use.

Also, the cup has some lube on it but the video will show more.

 

[oldbloke]

You're not all that far from me, but then again the last time I was in Hudds was when my wife was donating milk to the special care baby unit 8 years ago...
If you fancied bringing your kit over to mine sometime (Todmorden) I'd be happy to check it and your technique, but then again I'm not a great expert myself really.

 

[steve963]

prob not got it low enough, mine get stuck in the capper if not low enough, usually they just fall out

 

[gl0ckage]

FInally fixed my phone camera so video will be up tonight. I might take you up on the offer, bring it down to you.

Video inc

 

[Swiller]

Just a thought, in case no one has mentioned it; most cappers will take different sized ....(don't know what they're called!) the bell shaped bit that presses the cap on to the bottle, usually 26mm for beer bottles and 29mm for cider/champagne bottles. Is it possible you are trying to seal beer bottles with a 29mm one?

 

[oldbloke]

I think it did get mentioned somewhere above.