I use a pocket knife to score the wax all the way around just under the cap. Two cuts into the wax to expose the cap. Then a bottle opener or something that can fit under the cap and it'll come off.
I will do no such thing, thank you I heard they did tests and the wax doesn't actually provide any extra protection from oxidation on top of the bottle cap. So it's totally for Aesthetics
I wonder how much the wax and process of waxing the bottle raises the price.. Any bottle waxing experts on here?
Reading through this thread, it isn't a will issue, but a skill issue. Know when you've had enough, know the correct tools for the job, learn the best ways to use them. Bunch of monkeys trying to fuck a football around here.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214289424001327?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The results demonstrated that waxes and resins have oxygen barrier properties which differ according to their chemical composition. For their application as overcapping materials, whatever the type of stopper considered, if the stopper has a lower permeability to oxygen than the wax and a surface treatment that effectively limits the transfer at the glass/cork interface, the wax will play a more aesthetic than functional role." I heard it from a beer geek 15 years ago and had always wondered if it was true. Couldn't find anything for beer, but there's a study involving wine. I guess the answer is, if it does help, it's only just a little bit
If it works, go for it. The end product is what's important. Just had a 2016 Tweak . Foil, not wax, but whatever they did to seal it, was very well done. That beer was ~perfect. I have had a few oldsters like that with wax, & it wasn't that hard. The end result was well worth an extra step.
That study considered the oxygen permeability of cork and compared that to wax. Even in that scenario, wax likely had minimal effect. Now think about a beer cap that has a better seal (i.e., lower oxygen permeability) than cork. Probably does absolutely nothing.
I would have taken a wild-ass guess that was the brewery's cost per bottle, and the brewery converts that cost to around $5 extra per bottle at retail.
In the poll at the beginning of this thread I voted to keep the waxing process available. IF the beer is good enough to deserve it, an extra 5 bucks is okay with me.
I have had bottled homebrew that were capped with new crowns using a sturdy capper in the 80s. Carbonation from refermentation in the bottle was (apparently completely) retained. I conclude that a competently applied crown has to be better than any wax cover.
I couldn't tell you the last time I drank a beer that came from a waxed bottle. Usually wax is used for styles in which I'm not interested. But, when it comes to beer in general, I'm of the mind that presentation matters. Wax is part of the presentation, if you ask me. I say keep it.
