National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => Equipment & Chemicals => Topic started by: rje66 on March 03, 2014, 08:15:02 PM

Title: which capper?
Post by: rje66 on March 03, 2014, 08:15:02 PM
am ordering a capper and caps ,can  anyone recommend one or are they pretty much all the same
also

is it ok to order yeast now for cider season next oct or better to wait till then, as i will group all into one delivery to save hassel
thanks
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: delzep on March 03, 2014, 08:18:25 PM
Get a bench capper. Its expensive but well worth it
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: brenmurph on March 03, 2014, 09:13:31 PM
dpends how much capping ur doin.. i have mine since 1985...dey dont make them like mine anymore :)  some are rubbish and some are great quality so best if u can make it to your HBS to see the quality. Bench capper is more expensive so depends on volume.. one brew a month will take 20 minutes of capping u may not need anything snazzy just durable.
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: LordEoin on March 04, 2014, 11:26:45 AM
If you're looking at twin handle cappers, I'd recommend one with metal levers instead of plastic.
They look a bit more agricultural but they seem to last longer, especially if you have some odd size bottles.

Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: Rats on March 04, 2014, 12:13:59 PM
Quote from: delzep on March 03, 2014, 08:18:25 PM
Get a bench capper. Its expensive but well worth it
+1
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: rje66 on March 04, 2014, 12:16:10 PM
thanks for replies, just the type of info im after. bench capper sounds like what im after. will def be doing lots of different type of bottles.
is homebrewwest a good place to start looking?
ta
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: JD on March 04, 2014, 12:46:02 PM
Butterfly cappers will break the necks off some bottles. Specifically I remember usin one on a hobgoblin bottle and it snapped it right off. Bench capper is your only man. Hang the expense.  :D

/JD
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: brenmurph on March 04, 2014, 02:01:58 PM
old capper from early 80's. I agree the necks can break, largely due to the nature of some of the cappers on the market, A steel grab that smashes the necks,
Note the plastic moveable grabbers on this old first pic.
Glad I found it in the attic after gathering dust a few years

the next 2 pics are 'heavy duty' capper and the black one a cheap duty version of the heavy duty one. look closely and you can see why necks are smashing...its not related to whether the capper is bench or not...its about the design and quality of the device
Title: Re: which capper?
Post by: irish_goat on March 04, 2014, 02:20:14 PM
I have one of the cheapo ones and they're a nightmare I find. Grand if you're only bottling a handful here and there, which is often the case as I use flip tops but I find it doesn't even cap about 20% of bottles properly. Have a bench capper as well that I intend to get drilled down and use for bottling stronger beers that I want to age.

If anyone is in the Fran Well in 2 weeks you should get a look at their bottler, probably even older than most the old fogies on here.  :P