Hi there,
Am interested in buying a capper and I was wondering about a few things before I decide which capper to buy.
Would be interested to hear others thoughts/opinions on the following questions.
1. Are the bench cappers worth the additional money over and above the twin leaver cappers?
2. What size caps does the average glass bottle take?
3. How long approximately do the caps stay good for? Is there any risk of the caps corroding after a period of time before being used?
4. Do people mount the bench cappers or can they be used just as effectively un-mounted?
Regards,
Shanna
1 - people who have them say they are, i've stuck with a twin lever capper
2 - 26mm
3 - It depends on where you keep them. I've had a few that began rusting after about a year. I still used them and they were fine, the bit that is on the inside of the bottle is plastic.
4 - you don't need to mount most bench cappers.
Thanks food for thought.
Shanna
Quote from: LordEoin on June 15, 2013, 07:07:14 PM
1 - people who have them say they are, i've stuck with a twin lever capper
2 - 26mm
3 - It depends on where you keep them. I've had a few that began rusting after about a year. I still used them and they were fine, the bit that is on the inside of the bottle is plastic.
4 - you don't need to mount most bench cappers.
Always screw the bench capper down!
Don't use the (Chippendale/Hepplewhite) dinning room table but a bit of 18mm ply on the bench/kitchen table will give you much greater stability - thats what its all about.
Can a bench capper be used as a corker ? I mean if you change out the bell?
Quote from: deadman1972 on June 16, 2013, 12:43:59 PM
Can a bench capper be used as a corker ? I mean if you change out the bell?
You can get a 29 mm (I think) bell that will do the champer bottles.
Will that 29mm bell do the normal wine bottles as well Rossa?
Quote from: deadman1972 on June 16, 2013, 07:12:18 PM
Will that 29mm bell do the normal wine bottles as well Rossa?
I'm not sure the lip on the wine bottle would hold a cap or pressure.
What i was asking was could you attach a piece to a bensh capper to turn it into a bench corker for inserting corks into wine bottles, without having to buy two seperate but very similar machines? ;D
They're actually very different machines.
The capper is designed to crimp the cap to the bottle.
The corker is designed to squeeze the cork into the bottle.
Like this (exaggerated for clarity):
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/Beer/cappercorker_zpsa18e2b9a.jpg)
But if you could fashion a corkerbody, you could use a bench capper for the downward force on the cork
It would just be easier and cheaper to buy a corker like this one for €5.25 (http://www.homebrewwest.ie/hand-corker-fiw-plastik-1759-p.asp).
Once the corks are well soaked they're easy to use.
This was asked before...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colonna-Bench-Capper-Corker-Home-Beer-Brewing-Bottling-/140933331459
Watch this guy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8QAQdSXC3U
Rats, there goes another million dollar idea..
Thanks Johnrm but did you see the shipping on that? Another 50 quid making it $130 total ??? Silly me i thought since both machines looked similar(to me ) on the HB store that it would just be a matter of changing out the headpiece the bottle goes up against, guess not. :'(
Scratch that, just watched the youtube clip. That looks like a quality bit of kit, looks like the body is cast iron so should be nice and solid on the table. Works out to 100 euro delivered from that ebay link Johnrm provided above. Definitely one for top of the wishlist ;D
You could always move to the US, shipping would be cheaper then! :o
True johnrm but sure who would ye have then to throw an auld hissy fit every so often ? ::)
Don't worry, theres plenty here that can provide that fun!
IMO, to save all the mucking about, 2 dedicated devices are better.
I've always had separate twin-handled capper and corkers with no issues.
I just picked up a bench capper as I cap more than cork. I've not lost a patient while capping, but want a better tool for the job.
One casualty - a wine bottle cracked while corking a batch of twist offs which is not really recommended anyway.