Surrendered to a Bench Capper

[MyQul]

Discovered my newish £10 wilko capper is partially fecked today. It was taking 4,5 and sometimes more goes to properly cap each bottle. As I use 330ml bottle and decided to not use any mini kegs It took me forever to to cap the 57 bottles. I was thoroughly bored by the end of whole execise.
I've only just bought that capper, it was a replacement for an identical youngs one that lasted about a year and was finally killed by a wynchwood bottle. I figured I could either buy another £10 lever capper and hope it lasts a year again before I have to replace it (rather than the 3 brews r so the current one lasted), or invest in a bench capper. So I decided for option two in the hopes it lasts a good few years
I bought this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001V28KRG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Sbond10]

Same one I have to sometimes snap the bottles out of the bell but it's no biggy.

To set up place bottle on stand slide the bell housing up and down the main shaft until your pretty ontop of the bottle and pull the handle down. You'll feel summat move and you'll get use to this feeling. Try firing the cap back off with your finger nails. The first few times I used it I didn't get the bell far enough into the bottle so it only have capped .

I normally do 9 at a time so ill fill 9 cap 9 and repeat if im on my own

 

[MyQul]

Thanks for the tip :hat:

I prefer to fill all the bottles then cap them

 

[Lesinge]

Yep, had the same issue, again and again..I have now 3 partially working Wilco cappers tucked away!. So my wife (who was helping me with the bottling and found out the pain of it) bought me the same one as you have got. Its great, although as mentioned above, occasionally the capped bottle gets a bit stuck - not an issue really. The only thing I have to do is to sort my bottles into sizes to stop me having to adjust up and down.

 

[MyQul]

Yep, had the same issue, again and again..I have now 3 partially working Wilco cappers tucked away!. So my wife (who was helping me with the bottling and found out the pain of it) bought me the same one as you have got. Its great, although as mentioned above, occasionally the capped bottle gets a bit stuck - not an issue really. The only thing I have to do is to sort my bottles into sizes to stop me having to adjust up and down.

Fortunatley, I think, all my 330ml bottles are all the same height despite a few being slightly different (or in the case of the meantime ones I've got, very different) in shape. I have some 500ml bottles but not that many

 

[Sbond10]

Thanks for the tip :hat:

I prefer to fill all the bottles then cap them

I'm getting old I can't be on my knees too long plus it breaks down bottling for me as I just empty the bottling tree a layer at a time so I know where I'm upto.

Think I must of done at least 500 bottles with this capper and still going strong

 

[SkyStar]

my local homebrew shop sells italian lever cappers like yours, i've done more than 300 750bottles and its a very solid and reliable insturment paid 25euros

 

[klaus]

Well worth spending the extra money - had a Boots capper until two years ago but it needed constant adjustment. Now it's a doddle. Probably paid a bit more that the one on Amazon, but it's red!

 

[F00b4r]

I never did understand how you thought a hand capper was a good idea when you had already replaced at least one of them, the Italian bench cappers should last forever.

 

[Mickeywheelspin]

Same as the one I've got, it works really well.

The only advice I'd give would be to sort bottles into common heights to save adjusting it too often. Mine came with no instructions but pretty simple really - to adjust the height lift the leaver up to raise the crown holder, place a bottle under and a crown in the holder. Then pull the trigger and lower the crown onto the bottle (leaver still up) then lower the leaver gently till there's a clunk and the height adjuster is set on the column. Sounds a faff but only takes a couple of seconds to do.

Anything that makes bottling quicker gets a thumbs up in my book!

 

[MyQul]

I never did understand how you thought a hand capper was a good idea when you had already replaced at least one of them, the Italian bench cappers should last forever.

The firstI had capper was really good. I could cap bottles with it really quickly, it didn't take up much storage space and lasted a year. So when it was killed by a wynchwood bottle I though I'd get another one thinking it'd last as long. Unforetunately I was wrong :-(

Glad the bench capper should last forever, as I figured even if I was guarenteed a year out of the £10 hand capper that's still only 3 years of capping, whereas for the £33 I paid for the bench capper, the price of 3 hand cappers, it should last me a lifetime of capping. Makes sense really doesn't it

 

[hoptoit]

I bought a hand capper as I only started brewing late December. Only used it once on a batch of 330ml bottles for a brewferm diabolo. Didn't realise they didn't like wychwood bottles, and they where the kind I had been collecting for my other brews. Tried to do one as a practice, it did it eventually! Next day a trip to the labs,and luckily enough they had them on offer at £23. Great investment.

 

[Lesinge]

I never did understand how you thought a hand capper was a good idea when you had already replaced at least one of them, the Italian bench cappers should last forever.

False economy...I thought that if I spent big on a capper I would have less beer ingredients to make lovely beer...and every time they failed I went through the same process...then my wife did the capping and made an executive decision!

 

[Cwrw666]

Well worth spending the extra money - had a Boots capper until two years ago but it needed constant adjustment. Now it's a doddle. Probably paid a bit more that the one on Amazon, but it's red!

I use a Boots capper - which is at least, gulp, 30 years old. It's got a big wing nut adjuster thing on the top but where I eventually set it it works on all the bottles I've got without further adjustment, though the point at which it caps (how low the levers have to be swung) varies for different makes of bottle.
Doesn't like wychwood bottles though, the only ones I've ever had problems with.

 

[Richie_asg1]

That is exactly the same one as I managed to get free because it had broken. The thread of the piston had snapped off as it is only very thin plastic at this point. I contacted "The Homebrew Shop" online and had a couple of very good Emails with them trying to get a replacement. The result was that the manufacturer had changed the design! The new versions now have a turned steel capper instead of the pressed one, and the piston is now all metal. But they have also changed the plastic body.

Even in it's broken state it did 40 bottles easily as fast as I could fill'em with my son doing the capping as I did the filling. I'm just waiting on a steel insert to repair the threaded part.

 

[AdamSon]

What breaks on the hand held wilko ones? Are they fixable if you have the tools? For example, a 3D printer and a lathe to name a couple?

 

[MyQul]

What breaks on the hand held wilko ones? Are they fixable if you have the tools? For example, a 3D printer and a lathe to name a couple?

It's not like anything is actually broken on my wilko one. It's like the bell bit has stretched or something and is only crimping down half/part of the cap

3D printer? Lathe? I've got a spanner and a couple of allen keys and that's about the limit of my 'tool box' :lol:

 

[TartanSpecial]

good move MyQul. I moved to a metal framed hand lever capper after my wilko one seem to get stretched and stopped working, and the new one has been ok for the last year, but if it does stop working I'll go down the bench capper route too.

 

[AdamSon]

It's not like anything is actually broken on my wilko one. It's like the bell bit has stretched or something and is only crimping down half/part of the cap

3D printer? Lathe? I've got a spanner and a couple of allen keys and that's about the limit of my 'tool box' :lol:

Is the bell bit metal or plastic? I will be getting one next week as funds won't allow anything more expensive just yet (MOT due and lots of work needed ) but my brother has many many "tools" including a 3D printer he's just got so I'm hoping it can be repaired if needs be.

 

[MyQul]

Is the bell bit metal or plastic? I will be getting one next week as funds won't allow anything more expensive just yet (MOT due and lots of work needed ) but my brother has many many "tools" including a 3D printer he's just got so I'm hoping it can be repaired if needs be.

It metal. Looks like perhaps aluminium. Looks soft