bottles

[ianc]

Been brewing kits for a few years and using swingtop bottles, replace the seal every third batch, woul i be better switching to ordinary bottles and using a crown corker,,,,any ideas please,,,,thanks

[Eric]

I prefer swing tops.

[cwrw gwent]

I like crown corks as they're 100% airtight. By comparison, the tops I use for flagons (two pint bottles) - hard plastic screw-on lids with a rubber seal inside - sometimes let me down.

I've used swing tops before and had no problems. I'm not sure you need to change the seal so frequently - why don't you mark four or five bottles and only change them say every tenth bottle to see if the seal will perform equally as well after further usage?

[Jocky]

I stopped using swing tops a few years ago because I found the crown caps resisted oxidation better.

[MashBag]

Yeah. I prefer crown caps. Easier to clean and you can still reuse the caps.

[vacant]

My brews go into a collection of 24 Grolsch swing-tops and the rest into fresh 2 ltr PET bottles. I've never changed the seals on the Grolsch they all seem fine, and a few of the bottles are years old.

Maybe I'll ask Santa for a bottle capper just for fun.

[oldbloke]

If you go for crown caps, get a decent capper. One of the ones that are £25 and up

[JonB]

Even better idea, get a Bench Capper.

That was easily one of the best purchases I ever made as bottling is SO much easier and it's still going strong after ~10 years (it was a Youngs one I think? I've seen newers ones now that appear to be even more robust)

I wrote off at least two traditional cappers in my first two years as they just stopped fully sealing, and certain brands like Wychwood just wouldn't cap. All these problems evaporated with the bench capper...

EDIT:
Wow, even £30.00 gets you a reasonable one these days! I paid £40.00 for mine in ~2013...
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/benc ... pper-agata

[bitter_dave]

Or use Cooper's Pet bottles and no need for capper!

[vacant]

Wow, even £30.00 gets you a reasonable one these days! I paid £40.00 for mine in ~2013...
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/benc ... pper-agata

They're selling it for £24.95/free postage on ebay.

[clarets7]

Wow, even £30.00 gets you a reasonable one these days! I paid £40.00 for mine in ~2013...
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/benc ... pper-agata

They're selling it for £24.95/free postage on ebay.

That's their cheaper one...

[JamesF]

I've tried a couple of these cappers and never found that they do as good a job as the double-arm ones that I have. They never seem to crimp the cap as far around the top of the bottle.

James

[MashBag]

Do you mean these...
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/tapp ... 1ba00cee25

Is there a nack? cos I could never get a satisfactory result with it.

[JamesF]

Do you mean these...
https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/tapp ... 1ba00cee25

Is there a nack? cos I could never get a satisfactory result with it.

That's pretty much what I have, yes. Though mine are all metal other than the grips. I wasn't aware that there was a knack to it, I have to admit. My son seemed to pick it up pretty quickly.

I'll see if I can get some photos over the next few days. After a brewing session yesterday and bottling the previous batch today the brewery is a bit packed at the moment

James

[Trefoyl]

I’ve broken the tops off bottles with my first cheap wing capper. I bought an improved model with a spring inside and used it for years before finally getting a high end Grifo bench capper.