capper problems

[TheCollector]

My wife and I were bottling our third batch the other night and halfway through the capper started acting up. It didn't want to cap all the way down and we ended up breaking 3 bottles and then it started working ok again..... So what happened? Is it broken after only 3 uses? (emily capper btw)

 

[dmashl]

Are you using screw top bottles? Those are not recommended for capping.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

It sounds like you're using bottles you harvested instead of bought from a homebrew store. The Emily red is my favorite capper, but it's limited in the bottles it can cap. The most standard design which I call the Sam Adams bottle is the best one for that capper. If you look at a Sam Adams bottle, the distance from the top to the ridge at the top of the neck is crucial for an Emily to cap tightly.

 

[BandT]

After many uses, my capper no longer works with lagunitas bottles because the distance from the lip to that ridge is too short. I've never had a problem with screw-tops.

 

[grem135]

+1 on the gap to the ridge below the cap. Also the red wing cappers sometimes need a small shot of wd40 or something on its pivot points. I had that same problem on 2nd or 3rd batch but not since.

 

[Desvio]

I have a couple different cappers, and have noticed some bottles just don't work well. When I first started brewing I used bottle bought from from the brew supply, and many were very thin and broke, for many years now I have only been using Corona bottles and find they work flawless.

 

[ron,ar]

Those plastic cappers are actually cheap when you consider how important they are to the final process. I have a spare, just in case something happens to my main capper. I bought the spare for 4 bucks at a yard sale. Even new ones, Red Baron at $16 and a Black Beauty at $12 , is cheap insurance.....get a spare.

 

[BigFloyd]

I use a "wing" capper (the black one) as well and find that bottles which have a narrow "collar" below the capping ring are often a problem.

Last time I used it, I ran out of clean wide-collar bottles and had to use a few of the narrow ones (which also seem to be thinner glass). Even though I lubed the bell with cooking spray and was very gentle, I cracked three and had to pour some chocolate stout down the drain. I then went through my entire bottle collection and purged it of those problem bottles. Now when a friend or co-worker brings me a gift of empties, I don't even bother cleaning/de-labelling those kind. I just toss them. I'm seriously considering a bench capper even though I keg most of my brew.