Glass v PET Bottles

[GrahamR]

mine is the same as that one also, no one seems to use a counter capper, I thought they were fairly popular

[Hop Bomb]

I borrowed one of those cappers from HBW while I was waiting for the bench capper to come in & yes it breaks bottles. Love my bench capper. HBW have them in stock now.

I think plastic bottles are ugly as hell. Another way to cheapen the view of homebrew beer when you hand one to a friend.

[Chris]

I have had a crown capper for the past 3 years and never had a broken bottle. A friend of mine who just started brewing rang me because his capper was breaking bottles. I went over and asked him to demonstrate how he was capping the bottles. It turned out that he was pushing down the levers and then pulling the capper off the bottle this was causing the bottles to break. I told him to pull up and release the levers before removing the capper. I know this sounds obvious but it may be some people's trouble.

[Damien M]

[/quote]
Generally stubbys although have found that it is impossible to cap Wychwood bottles, anyone else find this.
[/quote]

Yeah! The Wychwood bottles are harder to cap with a hand capper, because the collar is deeper, but the glass is thicker and so stronger  so I take that as a good thing and they look good!   

[brenmurph]

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/amber-swing-top-bottles-brown-500ml-20pack-p-920.html

[Damien M]

Himm! very convenient reduction in price, its a bargain! I'll take all you have !!!

Hang on a sec! Dam Google profiling got me again!! 

[GrahamR]

I have had a crown capper for the past 3 years and never had a broken bottle. A friend of mine who just started brewing rang me because his capper was breaking bottles. I went over and asked him to demonstrate how he was capping the bottles. It turned out that he was pushing down the levers and then pulling the capper off the bottle this was causing the bottles to break. I told him to pull up and release the levers before removing the capper. I know this sounds obvious but it may be some people's trouble.

Mine are breaking as I'm pushing the lever down so its not that problem

[Bubbles]

I gave up on the PET bottles after a year or so as I found I was getting inconsistent carbonation with them. I don't know whether the seals were starting to wear out, or whether I just wasn't tightening them enough - but I found the glass/crown cap combinationa lot more reliable. I started phasing them out as I built up my collection of glass bottles.

After several years of using the glass bottles, I can say that my twin-lever capper has never broken one. It's the same "Young's" capper in the photographs above. You should try loking at the quality of the glass bottles you're trying to cap. I re-use only three styles of bottle:

- Erdinger urweisse
- O'Haras
- Commercial "Brewery" glass bottles available in packs of 12 from HBW. I know some people think it's bonkers to pay for glass bottles, but the weight and quality in these bottles is really good and I view them as a good investment.

[irish_goat]

O'Hara's bottles are the same as a lot of micro ones e.g. Hilden, Hooker.

Sturdiest bottles we sell at work are Tiger bottles.

[Bubbles]

O'Hara's bottles are the same as a lot of micro ones e.g. Hilden, Hooker.

Worth noting that O'Haras have the advantage of the label simply floating away after a few hours soaking in cold water. No scrubbing necessary. Wish I could say the same for the other Irish micros.

[johnrm]

I would really love to know why some breweries use permanent/semi-permanent.
Whos Brewery Liaison?

[irish_goat]

I'd say it's down to whatever bottling machine they have. Some are designed to take labels that already have glue on them and some are designed to just take paper labels and then glue is added to the machine.

I'll see if I can ask a few next time they're in the B&C.

[Bubbles]

I love those White Gypsy bottles! But those labels are feckin impossible to remove. So I don't bother.

And as sad as it sounds, I'd be buying a lot more White Gypsy if I could remove those labels. Brewers take note!

[Greg2013]

Can those bench cappers also be adapted to cork wine bottles or are they two totally different machines? I have heard of a few people having inconsistent carbonation with the coopers bottles though i don't know why.

[johnrm]

Generally no, but...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colonna-Bench-Capper-Corker-Home-Beer-Brewing-Bottling-/140933331459