# Who Uses One Of These Bottle Cappers



## wyatt_girth (11/5/09)

I am just looking for a cheap capper as I only do a couple of bottles here and there. Anyone use one of these two handed cappers? Any good?


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## Bribie G (11/5/09)

I have heard that because they grip the underside of the bottle lip as the essential part of their action, they can crunch the modern twist top tallies. They were invented about thirty years ago when all bottles were proper crown seals. I used to sell them in the HB shop I ran in the late 70s but wouldn't recommend them nowadays. If you don't mind running the risk of the odd breakage you would probably be best using the hammer on variety, sitting in a large plastic bowl.


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## marlow_coates (11/5/09)

I had one of those when I started.

I wouldn't recommend it. It levers off any ring structure on the neck of the bottle. And in my experience this wore thin, leading to cracked bottle tops after a couple uses of a bottle.

There was a thread on it recently but can't find it now.

If your only doing a few, get a hand held capper, that you hammer/mallet. They are about $6, piece of wood handle, with the same attachment a bench capper has. Put cap on, then hammer down with this.

Bottles can be re-used as the force is from above, and it is small to store, and cheap.

Hope this helps

Marlow


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## b_thomas (11/5/09)

wyatt_girth said:


> I am just looking for a cheap capper as I only do a couple of bottles here and there. Anyone use one of these two handed cappers? Any good?



I use a bench capper, definitely worth the investment (though not really all that expensive and you can always change the bells incase you end up with larger (champagne) bottles). The one in the pic looks like one of the ones I've head stories of decapitated bottles. I guess not as bad as the cap and hammer jobs.


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## jonocarroll (11/5/09)

wyatt_girth said:


> I am just looking for a cheap capper as I only do a couple of bottles here and there. Anyone use one of these two handed cappers? Any good?


I've used one of those (similar) for over 1000 bottles. Not a problem. Easy to use and very portable. As for cheap... well, the extra $30 you might spend to get a bench capper (superautomatica) may well be worth it. They're much better value than the hammer and bell deal - that's just asking for trouble.

This style works great for crown seals, not so well for twist tops.


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## Kai (11/5/09)

They work but they're a pain in the ass.


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## bradsbrew (11/5/09)

Now that I am kegging I have sold my 2 superautomatica bench cappers and kept this stylle one for the few bottles I cap for aging. I have found this one easier to use because I dont have to move the bottles around once they are filled. They work great on old style 4X crown seals and new coopers. Havnt tried on screw tops though. And I did break the top clean off a murrays 330ml bottle though.

Brad


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## geoffi (11/5/09)

I had one of those cappers many years ago.

Broke a lot of bottles.

Now have a bench capper.

Never broke one.

(I think I'd even use one of the ultra-cheap hammer jobbies before a lever capper.)


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## manticle (11/5/09)

Hammer cappers are fine. I break maybe 1 in every 100 bottles and that's usually due to not concentrating.


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## Kai (11/5/09)

What sort of bottles, manticle? I used a bell capper for a while, broke none on the first batch then found I was breaking more every re-use. Modern 330's.


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## manticle (11/5/09)

Kai said:


> What sort of bottles, manticle? I used a bell capper for a while, broke none on the first batch then found I was breaking more every re-use. Modern 330's.



Mine are a mixture of coopers longnecks, old style crown CUB longnecks I got from my dad (he brewed kits about 20 years ago) and 500 mL european (schofferhoffer, Sambor Brok, Erdinger etc).

I think the necks do get weaker over time but it takes a while (the ones I got from my dad were capped that way that long ago) and the loss is minimal. Eventually I'll invest in a better capper but I'm concentrating on things to make brew day and mash time work better at the moment.

It does make a difference what kind of hammer you use (wooden mallets are way better than metal nail hammers/claw hammers and rubber mallets just don't seem to work) and what your surface is (needs adequate cushioning) but I've been using one for several years now with relatively little upset.

At one point I misplaced mine and was in the middle of bottling. The next few brews I utilised the end clamp from a set of weight/barbells I use. Perfect size, took a bit longer but saved my brews nonetheless. Lateral thinking and DIY are just as important as having custom built three tiered super microbrewery set-up.


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## pdilley (11/5/09)

+1 for the bench capper.

You can do beers, meads, wines, just about anything and be able to get away with it. 

If you think a bench capper is costly, check out how much a wine corker will set you back 

Grab yourself that super automatica and never look back.

EDIT: And bottle on the floor, easier leverage than on a bench. I am always sitting down anyway while bottling with the bottling vessel on the bench. Its an easy fill, cap deal for me.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## Verbyla (11/5/09)

I started off with one off those cappers and found that they were breaking way to many bottles. 

Tried the hammer capper and that worked just fine. Didn't break a single bottle but i heard that when you reuse the bottle after using them they will be more likely to break.

I bought a bench capper and its soooo easy and efficient to use, plus i've never had a single breakage that was due to the capper. I'll never look back on that investment!


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## wyatt_girth (11/5/09)

Thanks for the info - though mixed opinions. I guess I will keep my eye out for a bench capper on the cheap. I'm not a tight arse but as I said it will only get used for a couple of bottles from each brew. Up til now I have used the coopers plastic bottles for leftover after filling a keg. If I drink one and it's good I am torn between giving the second to a mate as a sample or keeping it to age a little more. For this reason I am gonna use stubbies and get a few extra samples from a brew. Might give ebay a look.
Thanks again
wyatt


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## Pollux (11/5/09)

I started with a simply hand capper (STOP: Hammer time!) and I must have bottled at least 200 bottles with it, all reused (either monteiths or malt shovel) many times....Never broke one, it's called being attentive....

I now have a bench capper and it makes life ALOT easier....That said, every time I find myself sitting on the garage floor sanitising bottles I keep thinking "If I kegged, I'd be done by now...." I think I know where the tax return will go..


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## Kai (11/5/09)

manticle said:


> Mine are a mixture of coopers longnecks, old style crown CUB longnecks I got from my dad (he brewed kits about 20 years ago) and 500 mL european (schofferhoffer, Sambor Brok, Erdinger etc).
> 
> I think the necks do get weaker over time but it takes a while (the ones I got from my dad were capped that way that long ago) and the loss is minimal. Eventually I'll invest in a better capper but I'm concentrating on things to make brew day and mash time work better at the moment.
> 
> ...



Cheers for that, FWIW I was using a rubber mallet on a thick mat on the laundry floor. Should have used the weights maybe.


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## HoppingMad (11/5/09)

Geez, dunno about hand cappers with a hammer h34r: - but I guess you have to start somewhere. 

Started on one of those myself and lost count of the times I almost cut my wrist open shattering bottles. Got to the point where I used to cap with a towel wrapped around the arm holding the hand capper just in case. Might have been because I was using a standard metal hammer and too much force, but when it's late at night and you're 30 bottles into a capping session I think you're asking for trouble. One tap too hard or the wrong angle and you're doing damage to flesh and veins.

I actually bought one of the ones Wyatt featured in his OP (but mine was black - think it was a brigalow from Kmart). The posts above are correct, if you squeeze too hard you will split a twist top bottle, but using them gently they do fine. You actually learn pretty quick what works, and I found rarely cracked any.

Mind you, I'm now on the bench cap myself and would never go back - but adjusting the height does get annoying and those two handed cappers are handy from that regard.

Plenty of 2c views, but thought I'd throw mine in the ring too for what it's worth.

Hopper.


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## manticle (11/5/09)

HoppingMad said:


> Might have been because I was using a standard metal hammer and too much force,



That would be it. Technique and tools are important in all things.


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## DUANNE (12/5/09)

i had one of the lever types when i started but found that with certain bottles it would just chew the lids. I never had a broken bottle but since going to the bench capper i can put lids on any bottle. much easier to imo.


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## alexbrand (12/5/09)

Hi,

I used to use the red capper on the picture above. It never failed and seems to be a heavy duty device. Later I extracted the bell and now I use this bell in my pneumatic capper.

I can recommand this handy tool.

Alex


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## cdbrown (12/5/09)

I have one of those red hand cappers and works great. Occassionaly I'll get a clean break of the top of the bottle, but it's more to do with the bottles have been in circulation for a while and most likely got the hammer cap at some stage which has weakened the glass in the bottle neck. Out of a 23L batch using mainly 375ml bottles, only 1 broke so it wasn't a huge loss.


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