Hey guys! I hope someone can give me some advice. I had everything setup to bottle the day before yesterday. I started and immediately noticed that the caps we not sealing properly. They would crimp but could be easily twisted. I tried several different types of bottles all with the same result. I had about 5 caps from the last batch I brewed and all of those worked perfectly. In all I got about 10 beers done. So what should I do with all of the beer in the bottling bucket? Should I wait for the priming sugar to ferment out and retry? Is the beer ruined? I put the top on the bottling bucket with an airlock. Any idea what's up with the caps? Any advice would be great. Thanks!!
these aren't twist off bottles are they? i think your problem is the capper. not being able to see it though makes it hard to diagnose. could be the metal cup that grabs the cap is loose or too flat. you are probably going to have to let the priming sugar ferment in the bottling bucket and then re-dose. use your hydrometer to be sure your garvity has stabilized. otherwise if you re-prime nit knowing how much residual fermentable is in the beer you will over prime. the beer is not ruined. be sure to be gentle, don't splash it around. patience. Cheers.
No they aren't twist offs. Most of them are the bottles I used last time with the same capper I used last time. I was thinking it was the capper as well. The thing that threw me off was that the old caps I had all worked fine. Maybe I should get a new one just in case.
I am sorry to hear about your bottling woes. This has never happened to me but some suggestions: “So what should I do with all of the beer in the bottling bucket? Should I wait for the priming sugar to ferment out and retry? I put the top on the bottling bucket with an airlock.” I think you did a smart thing. I would recommend that you permit the priming sugar to ferment out for your ‘round 2’ of bottling. “Is the beer ruined?” As long as you practiced good sanitation during your bottling phase your beer should be just fine. Once the beer is beer it should be fairly ‘resilient’ to infection. There is a slight concern about this beer oxidizing but I suspect that this is a minor risk. It would be a good idea to conduct your second round of bottling as soon as the priming sugar is ‘processed’. Maybe 1-2 weeks from now? “Any idea what's up with the caps?” I really don’t know the answer to this. I have personally never run into this problem. The only guess I could make is that you received a defective batch of caps? Did you buy these caps from your LHBS? If so, I would take them back. I would also bring along a bottle that you intend to use and do a ‘practice’ capping with the new caps you get to ensure that they work properly. Cheers! Edit: “The thing that threw me off was that the old caps I had all worked fine.” This is the part that makes me suspect that your new caps are the problem (defective caps). If your capper worked just fine with the ‘old’ caps then it seems to me that your capper is working properly.
I concur. At least it will be easy to pull off samples from the spigot, hehe. As noted, be gentle with it, your biggest concern now is oxidation but I suppose the priming sugar will help generate an new Co2 blanket, so that's a plus.
Will the additional sugar from the failed bottling attempt and the sugar from the next bottling attempt up the alcohol content? This was already going to be an 8% Belgian black ale. :-)
yes, but not so much to be a concern. and almost not enough to meaningful. if you have been accurately recording your gravity, you can compare the first FG (not really a fianl then is it?) to the final FG. Cheers.
“Will the additional sugar from the failed bottling attempt and the sugar from the next bottling attempt up the alcohol content?” Four ounces (or 4 X 2 = 8 ounces) of priming sugar will have minimal impact of your alcohol content. Cheers!
