lever crown capper centre dents

[shocker]

My current lever crown capper leaves a circular dent in the middle of the cap . This never happened with my old stock of caps but since buying fresh caps recently its become a regular event . I have a batch of lager that I bottled with the last of my old caps and partly with the new . The ones with the old undented caps are carbonated fine while the ones with the newer dented ones are less so and taste a little less well conditioned .

I am thinking that the new type caps are not sealing as well . I will try different pressures with the lever capper to try lessen the denting as I will have to use it for a while until I perfect my pillar drill bench capping machine (currently half built) .

Thoughts ? :hmm:

 

[Fender Precision]

Hi, I use a youngs hand held capper and youngs caps. Some of the caps have a dent in the centre and others dont. This dosnt seem to affect carbonation for me. I think some bottles seal better than others and others like hobgoblin dont seal at all. I discard any bottles Im unsure about. I hope you get it sorted.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Maybe the amount of pressure you're exerting is too much try just enough to get the cap sealed instead of 'max' pressure

I was a bit heavy handed with my bench capper early on :!:

 

[Vossy1]

A spacer between cap and capper to get better pressure :hmm:

 

[Darcey]

All the caps I put on have a centre dents, no problems with carbonation however. If the seal was not fully secure surely there would be no fizz?

 

[prolix]

mine all have the circular dent I have the red 2 handed capper never had any carbonation isuses

 

[shocker]

Strange , most have been the same , old fullers bottles (that have never been a problem before) and the difference between the Youngs caps newly bought and the old St Austell brewery misprint caps all put on with the same capper is immense .

Last night I opened one of each cap style on the same bottles . The older cap had a good clear beer under it , a little wine-y tasting from the kit and sugars contents but adequate carbonation .Very slight centre dent . The new Youngs red cap bottle had an only-just-carbonated beer with fine floating particles that tasted just a little off compared to the other . A noticible centre dent .

What I think is going on is that with the thinner , softer metal of the new Youngs caps has its seal compromised by the pushing of the plunger of the capper . Thus the beer will condition but will lose gas gradually and in time once all the gas is gone admit air . I think .

So , in the meantime I shall try less pressure on the capper even though it appears to be the plunger that is doing the damage , and make up a disc to go in the device . This all adds to the drive to de-rust the pillar drill enough to get a manddrel sorted and so sidestep the issue . That or keg the lot I have in secondaries at the mo ......

 

[jebrug]

I have exactly the same problem, both with my cider and home brew bitter. I am using Youngs crown caps on "Nukie Brown" bottles and about 30% of the bottles are losing pressure. The beer is drinking OK but with greatly reduced head.
I am now going to try PET bottles as an alternative. (from Tesco at £7.50 for 24)

 

[31bb3]

my capper leaves cicular dents aswell never had an issue with losing fizz though :thumb: :hmm:

 

[Hirsty]

It is an issue with the plastic 2 handled capper. Doesn't effect the seal on my bottles though.