Capper recommendations?

GHW · Nov 16, 2015

A husband of a work mate is getting into brewing and needs a capper. I use an old boots the chemist 1970s antiques roadshow special I nicked off my dad. Works on every bottle it's had to handle so far, but you it seems you can't buy them in that style anymore.

So I ain't got a clue what to recommend. What models work well?

Twin lever rather than bench would be easier for him I think.

I'm going to tell him to sign up to the forum. It's the cheapest and quickest way to improve your brewing!

Niman · Nov 16, 2015

a Bench capper makes life a lot easier IMO one I got was from the maltmiller

GHW · Nov 16, 2015

Niman said:
a Bench capper makes life a lot easier IMO one I got was from the maltmiller

Yeah they have a small flat so while easier to use, less easy to store and install.

clibit · Nov 16, 2015

I've got a bench capper heading my way, bargain Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½ÃÂ£17 ish from geterbrewed.

I believe these are good, though never owned one myself...

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/bottle-capper-steel-red-p-2487.html

And that's a great price for it.

MyQul · Nov 16, 2015

I've got a Ã¯Â¿Â½ÃÂ£10 wilko twinl lever capper that I originally bought as a stop gap to possibly buying a bench capper but seeing as it's still going strong after nearly a year I have no intention of replacing it

dad_of_jon · Nov 16, 2015

clibit said:
I've got a bench capper heading my way, bargain Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½ÃÂ£17 ish from geterbrewed.

I believe these are good, though never owned one myself...

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/bottle-capper-steel-red-p-2487.html

And that's a great price for it.

I had one of those did 550+ bottles then mis-aligned and couldn't rectify so I ditched it. the wychwood bottles most likley killed it :-(

bought one from lakeland but not sure it's working correctly. caps/capper not sitting correctly - looks like the plastic moulding around the metal capper is hampering it from a level capping :-(

GHW · Nov 17, 2015

Cheers chaps. Tricky area, this. I reckon that metal HBC one looks good. Will recommend that. I've not used a plastic one but read that they aren't the most reliable.

fourbob · Nov 17, 2015

I use a ferrari! Its a "ferrari emily", works well enough for me, must've done well over 2000 bottles by now and still going strong. Doesn't like wychwood bottles though.

wheazy_joe · Nov 17, 2015

I got a twin lever handle a while back and had some real issues in getting used to it, managed to snap the neck off a few bottles. Which was messy, and a real waste of beer! I was fully intending to get a bench capper until I had a eureka moment! I was lining up to cap a bottle and applied a bit more pressure than normal, and realised there was a slight spring action to the capper, meaning it could mold round the different bottle necks perfectly. Without being too dramatic this has totally changed my outlook to bottling, I used to hate it but this has made it so much easier.

Put it like this, after cleaning my bottles on Saturday, it took me well less than an hour to fill & cap 45 bottles, which is much quicker than it used to be.

TartanSpecial · Nov 17, 2015

My wilko once gave up after about 600 bottles so I bought a metal one like the homebrew company one and it's been fine for over a year now, though I am careful not to use hobgoblin type bottles or fullers ones....am sure they somehow 'stretched' the wilko one eventually making it fail.

clibit · Nov 17, 2015

Yes I reckon if you use bottles that require you to force the cap on it leads to the capper getting out of alignment. I'm replacing my Young's one, suspect this is what happened. I suspect a bench capper will avoid this issue. But you could avoid bottles that the capper isn't too keen to deal with.

wheazy_joe · Nov 17, 2015

TartanSpecial said:
My wilko once gave up after about 600 bottles so I bought a metal one like the homebrew company one and it's been fine for over a year now, though I am careful not to use hobgoblin type bottles or fullers ones....am sure they somehow 'stretched' the wilko one eventually making it fail.

Did it fail mid bottling? That would be a nightmare! I might buy a second capper as back up just in case that ever happens.

keat64 · Nov 17, 2015

clibit said:
I've got a bench capper heading my way, bargain Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½ÃÂ£17 ish from geterbrewed.

I believe these are good, though never owned one myself...

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/bottle-capper-steel-red-p-2487.html

And that's a great price for it.

I have one (somewhere) which i purchased 20 years ago, much the same style as the twin lever one mentioned here. It works well with minimal effort.

TartanSpecial · Nov 17, 2015

wheazy_joe said:
Did it fail mid bottling? That would be a nightmare! I might buy a second capper as back up just in case that ever happens.

Luckily it was near the end...but it was progressive in that it had started to play up on the previous brew and I hadn't realised it could fail..last few bottles needed multiple attempts.

dad_of_jon · Nov 17, 2015

wheazy_joe said:
Did it fail mid bottling? That would be a nightmare! I might buy a second capper as back up just in case that ever happens.

I got my backup capper before the original failed - phew! fortunatly the last bottle or two on the last batch give me a bit of a warning!

MikeK117 · Nov 17, 2015

I wanted to throw my twin handle Wilko capper out of the window earlier. It's dying a death, will certainly be upgrading to the bench style.

Chippy_Tea · Nov 18, 2015

Capper thread here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52993&highlight=bench+capper

clibit · Nov 18, 2015

This is the bargain I just got delivered, with my mixed bag of grains...

http://www.geterbrewed.com/table-top-capper/

Spapro · Nov 18, 2015

I've used a couple of manglers (2 handled cappers) including the chrome/red italian one. Neither lasted more than 6 or 8 brews and both were a pain to use with some bottles (whychwood particularly).

Got a benchtop one from the malt miller and wouldn't go back to anything else now.

The benchtop capper from geterbrewed clibit linked to looks like a steal

Mrcwcb89 · Dec 8, 2015

clibit said:
I've got a bench capper heading my way, bargain Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½ÃÂ£17 ish from geterbrewed.

I believe these are good, though never owned one myself...

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/bottle-capper-steel-red-p-2487.html

And that's a great price for it.

Hey clibit

Did you get your capper ? How was it for the money ?

I'm looking to pick that one up if it's okay quality [emoji106] how much was your postage to the uk ?

Capper recommendations?

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