Do Crown Seals Need To Be Steralised?

[stewills]

hi.

i was just wondering if the crown seals need to be steralised?

i usually keep them in a cupboard so i assume that they are generally clean when i use them... first time i steralised them.. second brew i didn't ( turned out alright didnt have any off taste) third brew i was just wondering if i should.. should i steralise them in bleach or just pour boiling water over it?

thanks..

 

[Batz]

I don't bottle to often anymore , but when I do I soak in bleach then rinse

 

[Darren]

Hey Stewills,
It is always advisable to sanitise the lids. Try to use an iodine based or a quarternary ammonia sanitiser though. I found after long term storage bleached lids tend to rust quite rapidly
chhers
Darren

 

[devilsaltarboy]

I use 70% ethanol to sanitise lids, no probs with infections yet.
Bottles are far the more likely source of infection in bottling though, particularly solid matter not cleaned out properly

 

[Goat]

DAB - where do you get hold of ethanol ? From all reports it sounds like a very good sanitiser ....

 

[Kai]

I do similar, I squirt mine with methylated spirits then rinse with boiling water.

Whether it's absolutely necessary I can't say, but I do it every time anyway.

 

[jgriffin]

When i bottle, i take the left-over sanitiser (phos acid solution), and throw the lids in. Take each one out, give it a shake, and bottle.

This way they don't have a chance to get infected, and i'm sorta sanitising my hand each time i retrieve one.

I find as long as they are not in there for too long (like over 20 mins) they dry out and don't rust. If i leave them in for an hour or so they tend to rust up.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I di the same as jgriffin, icecream container or similar of Terminater solution, add the caps, take out, shake.

No muss, no fuss no rinsing etc


Jovial Monk

 

[big d]

dont bottle that often but have used bleach solution,ortophosporic, nothing at all and lately bottling a few long necks didnt bother then remembered to sterilise when i found some caps with ants in them.
this time round just boiled them up and from what ive drunk so far the risk of infection is minimal.read no infection.

cheers
big d

 

[johnno]

Gotta say that the 6 stubbies per brew I usually bottle for my dad I just use them as is.
They have all been ok so far. I know because I usually end up drinking most of them when I'm around there.If I was going to cap a whole batch i might sanitise them.
My dad by the way reckons it shite beer. I keep telling him all the preservatives in megaswill have pickled his brain.

cheers

 

[MCWB]

Same as jgriffin and JM: bottle caps at the bottom of my bottle washer filled with iodophor solution; drip dry on paper towel until ready to cap.

 

[pint of lager]

Every surface that comes in contact with your beer should be cleaned and sanitised.

Caps come out of a machine, into big boxes, then repackaged by someone to end up on your brew bench. They should be already clean, but there is always the chance that the person who repackaged them coughed, touched them, the bench was dirty, a bird got into the warehouse where they were packed and crapped in the machine, etc etc etc.

Maybe 1 in a 100 has a bug on it, maybe 1 out of 10 bugs will infect your beer, that is 1 bottle in a 1,000 that will taste awful or explode. These are stab in the dark figures.

Use your favourite sanitiser, or boil in some water for a few minutes on the stove. When bottling, try and pop a cap on a bottle as soon as it is filled, no need to run it through the capper straight away, just place the cap over the opening and move onto filling the rest of the bottles.

 

[Guest Lurker]

I reckon probably lower odds than guessed by POL. Just based on the fact that I have bottled about 3,000 bottles, never sterilised a cap, and havent developed gushers or nasty flavours that I could pick. Had one suspected slight lactic infection but that was the whole batch not individual bottles. But the logic still holds, even if the odds are lower, and you guys have now convinced me to add a quick cap sterilising step to bottling day.

 

[deebee]

It only takes 20 seconds because on bottling day I already have handy:
a jug
ample sanitiser
a kettle of boiled water
a funnel

I put the caps in the jug and cover with sanitiser. Swish around, let stand for a few minutes while doing something else. Swish again.

Tip out the sanitiser using the funnel as a strainer. Caps back in jug and rinsed with boiled water. Tip out water using funnel as strainer. Done.

 

[PostModern]

When i bottle, i take the left-over sanitiser (phos acid solution), and throw the lids in. Take each one out, give it a shake, and bottle.

This way they don't have a chance to get infected, and i'm sorta sanitising my hand each time i retrieve one.

I find as long as they are not in there for too long (like over 20 mins) they dry out and don't rust. If i leave them in for an hour or so they tend to rust up.

Exactly the process at PoMo's brauhaus (except I use iodophor).

I see no reason not to sanitise, low infection risk included. If I can halve my chances of an infection from bugger all risk to half of bugger all risk, and it costs nothing (in money or time), then why not? I mean you have to have your caps sitting in something when you're bottling, so why not have them sitting in a small tub with some sterilising solution and you get the bonus of sanitising your fingers at the same time.

 

[frog71]

hi all,
i have been brewing for about 18 years and have never sterilised my caps and have never detected an off beer. Maybe I have been lucky. However, it does make sense to add this to the process as everything else is sterilised. Why have a weak point in the process.

 

[Tyred]

I normally sanitise all lids going onto my bottles. It's no great drama to use a jug with some starsan in it and leave the lids in there when I start bottling. I put a lid on every bottle immediately after it is filled.

 

[reVoxAHB]

However, it does make sense to add this to the process as everything else is sterilised. Why have a weak point in the process.

exactly. and it's not a whole hell of a lot of extra work.

when bottling, i always chuck my crown seals into a small jug of diluted iodophor for 10 mins. no need to rinse, just pull em out * cap.

reVox

 

[akroplane1]

+1 Tyred, i don't use starsan or anything else, just boil caps in the microwave for 5 minutes or so then allow to cool

 

[reVoxAHB]

+1 Tyred, i don't use starsan or anything else, just boil caps in the microwave for 5 minutes or so then allow to cool

Boil caps in the microwave? :blink: