Benchtop Capper Vs Handhammer Capper

[KarolF]

Hi everyone, I've been reading the forums for months to get answers to all my brewing questions, but this is my first post.

I recently invested in a Superautomatica benchtop capper. Before that, I've been using a hand-held capper+hammer to bottle all my beer. I made half a dozen beers and had absolutely no dramas with breakages. The reason I decided to make the switch to a benchtop is the noise that the hammering makes (I like to do my bottling at night, that ain't too good on the ears of sleeping people!).

So I bought the Superautomatica and tested it out on some empty bottles. Now I'm unsure what to think.

I tested it out using Coopers crown seals and a twist-top longneck. I tried a bunch of things, but the result seems to be the same: I push down on the handle, push it harder hard past the resistance, then the bottle gets stuck in the machine but I can take it out fairly easily. The seal looks very good - the ridge is bent all the way in.

However, the cap is very easy to twist off. When hammering, I always got the seals on very tight so that they wouldn't come off with a gentle twist. But on the Superautomatica, no matter how much I try, the seal doesn't seem to be on very tight at all. I can easily twist it off. I can untwist it, then twist it back on and get it into the same position.

I started thinking - maybe this is what a normal seal should be like? Or am I doing something wrong? Is my machine faulty?

I could really use some advice. I don't want to destroy my next batch of beer with bad capping.

 

[matti]

If the capper is a nice fit it should hug the top an put them real tight as you apply pressure.
You should be able to to verify this by a visual check. Put a cap in without bottle.
When you take out the bottle ensure you don't twist it.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Do a little test.

Take a bottle of already carbonated beer, open it and pour out just a little to give it an inch or so headspace, then run it through your new capper to re-cap.

Take one regulation kiddies balloon and put it over the cap end of the bottle, take it all outside and shake the hell out of it. Balloon inflates - bad seals. Let it warm up to ambient temps and do it again (this will make the inside pressure higher)

If it holds up with no leaks, then you are probably OK.

Also, when you use the superautomica, if you press down too hard, the bit in the center presses a little circular shaped dent into the lid - if you aren't seeing that, do some tests, press harder each time till you see the dent, then just back off a little. That way you will know that you are are pressing hard enough and if you aren't getting a good seal, then its equipment rather than technique.

If all else fails - you might be able to take the bell off you hammer capper and screw it onto the superautomica - you know the bell on your hand capper gives you a good result so see how it goes in the bench capper. I'm not actually certain you can do this, but it might be worth a look.

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[Batz]

If all else fails - you might be able to take the bell off you hammer capper and screw it onto the superautomica - you know the bell on your hand capper gives you a good result so see how it goes in the bench capper. I'm not actually certain you can do this, but it might be worth a look.

Cheers

Thirsty

Yep do that it's just a screw.
The new bells can be a bit tight for a while.

Batz

 

[Lobsta]

move to crown seals... my superautomatica has had gread seals for all my (3) brews (2 of which were in stubbies, so thats a total of around 150 bottles) on either heineken stubbies, or xxxx crownies bought from my lhbs. there is always some debate as to how effective re-sealing twist tops is.

my 2c

Lobby

 

[pablo_h]

Yeah, but you always need more bottles.
Twist tops are a pain with new cappers, they need to get worn in a bit. Either swap the bells as suggested or spray some canola oil into the bell before use. Someone in another thread suggested that to me as I had heaps of problems with the brigalow capper on twistops, it worked a treat and after 3 batches it's getting easier.

 

[souths1968]

I normally use standard Plain Gold caps found at most Homebrew shops. Once I was stuck, on a Sunday, and purchased a pack of Coopers caps. I had quite a high failure rate over 2 batches, with caps bending, or leaking that I ended up tossing them out when I purchased some more gold caps. The Superautomatica is a well built unit, that will last you for years, but you can replace the cap if need be.
I have mainly used these over the years with twist tops, and rarely had any gold caps fail.

 

[amiddler]

I too use gold caps from my local supermarket. I got a Superautomatica capper from a mate who moved up in the world to kegs. He had it for 2-3 years and I have capped 30+ brews with it and had no troubles with the twist top bottles. I'm unsure whether he had troubles wearing it in but after 6 or 7 years it is still working a treat. Stick with the Super capper, IMO it will only get easier to use.



Drew

 

[KarolF]

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

I tried to change the bell, but can't find a way to unscrew it from the superautomatica - it looks like its all in one piece... though maybe there's something I've missed?

I used up some 15 crown caps testing the capper on more empty bottles - I had the same problem again, though I've started thinking that perhaps the caps only appear to be poorly sealed because the bottles are empty. I read on another thread that the pressure buildup in the bottle can aid in making the cap stay on more tightly. When I was capping my beer previously with the hand capper, the beer would always fizz a little, so maybe that initial amount of pressure inside the bottle was enough to secure the seal on tight.

So I'm going to bottle my beer tomorrow with the benchtop and see, but I'll have the hand capper on standby just in case...

I also tried smearing a small amount of canola oil on the bell - the bottles no longer get stuck inside the machine.


Thanks again for the help... I'll report on how it goes.

 

[ausdb]

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

I tried to change the bell, but can't find a way to unscrew it from the superautomatica - it looks like its all in one piece... though maybe there's something I've missed?

The bell may just be screwed in a bit tight, try pulling on the lever so the bell pushes downwards then grabbing the shaft that stick out with a pair of multigrips or similar, preferably with some tape or something on the jaws so you don't make the shaft of the capper all munted from gripping it too tight. That will stop it spinning and you should be able to unscrew the bell without too much hassle that way. They are removable as you can get a large bell to cap chamers bottles.