Bottle cappers

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JamesF
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Bottle cappers

Post by JamesF » Wed May 23, 2018 11:00 pm

First post for a long time. Been busy with life and suchlike. Fortunately at no point have I run out of beer :)

For many years I've used one of these twin-lever things for capping bottles:

Image

It does a good job of crimping the cap on nice and tight.

But I always wanted to try a few of the single-arm cappers out, partly so I could palm the job off on an unsuspecting child who would otherwise probably just be lying on their bed glued to their mobile phone. So I bought one of these, a Brewferm TT if I recall correctly:

Image

It's easy enough to use, though a bit awkward if your bottles are not a uniform height. In my hands at least I don't think it crimps the caps on very well either. They always seem quite loose when I take them off:

Image

So unhappy with that I also thought I'd give this one a try. Can't recall where I got it at the moment:

Image

This one doesn't mind a bit of variation in the bottle sizes and does a good job of crimping on the caps, very similar to my "old faithful" and also holds them inside the crimper with a magnet which is handy.

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However, it regularly seems to get the caps wedged inside the crimper, either leaving the bottle requiring a sharp tug to release or in danger of dropping out as the lever is raised.

Are these common problems? Are there workarounds? Or should I just stick with the original capper?

James

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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by IPA » Thu May 24, 2018 6:50 am

A thin smear of vaseline on the inside of the bell will cure this problem. It is the one that The Malt Miller sells. Absolutely brilliant.
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JamesF
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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by JamesF » Thu May 24, 2018 8:56 am

I shall certainly give that a go.

James

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Meatymc
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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by Meatymc » Thu May 24, 2018 1:44 pm

s-l1600.jpg
Bought one of these - a Ferrari would you believe. Just bottled my 36th 5 gallon brew and never had a problem. You do have to adjust for different height bottles but no great effort required and the capper is magnetic. Not that weighty so should ideally be fixed down but I don't - just stand it on a damp cloth to stop any movement.

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Post by gaunt_paul » Fri May 25, 2018 8:24 am

Meatymc wrote:
s-l1600.jpg
Bought one of these - a Ferrari would you believe. Just bottled my 36th 5 gallon brew and never had a problem. You do have to adjust for different height bottles but no great effort required and the capper is magnetic. Not that weighty so should ideally be fixed down but I don't - just stand it on a damp cloth to stop any movement.
I've been using a ferrari bench capper for a few years too. Unfortunately not any more, a plastic part (the black threaded piece that the metal dome screws onto) snapped 5 bottlesinto my last batch, so i had to keg 19 litres of barleywine. Until then it was perfect though

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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by brewjohn » Sat May 26, 2018 10:30 am

Don't laugh at this but it works ! I had a black plastic 2 handled one (think it was a youngs ) but it soon became worn. I drilled out the rivets and removed the bit with the metal cup on that's all I used. This was screwed onto a 2 foot length of 3x2 about 6 inch from the end and a hinge was fasted to the other end of this wood. The other part of the hinge was screwed to the wall about 12 inch height from my workbench. The length of wood could now be worked up and down. I sit a bottle on my bench and place a cap on it. I now pull down the wood so the cup meets the cap and with extra pressure it seals the cap ! its a similar idea to the thing they used in chip shops for placing a potato on and making chips . I have plans some were an engineer gave me showing how to make a vey good capper but I don't think the forum allows attachments .if any one is interested I could send to them if they mail me

brewjohn
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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by brewjohn » Sat May 26, 2018 10:30 am

Don't laugh at this but it works ! I had a black plastic 2 handled one (think it was a youngs ) but it soon became worn. I drilled out the rivets and removed the bit with the metal cup on that's all I used. This was screwed onto a 2 foot length of 3x2 about 6 inch from the end and a hinge was fasted to the other end of this wood. The other part of the hinge was screwed to the wall about 12 inch height from my workbench. The length of wood could now be worked up and down. I sit a bottle on my bench and place a cap on it. I now pull down the wood so the cup meets the cap and with extra pressure it seals the cap ! its a similar idea to the thing they used in chip shops for placing a potato on and making chips . I have plans some were an engineer gave me showing how to make a vey good capper but I don't think the forum allows attachments .if any one is interested I could send to them if they mail me

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Re: Bottle cappers

Post by LeeH » Sat May 26, 2018 12:09 pm

I used a Dremel to grind/polish/smooth out the inside of the bell to cure the sticking cap issues.


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