How to Seal Beer Caps
Home brewing beer requires several carefully timed stages, culminating in the bottling of the beer for a final aging of at least six weeks for most varieties, especially heavier beers such as stout, bock and porter. Essential to this finishing stage is a sealed, sanitized bottle with a secure-fitting cap. Serious home brewers use a capper to seal their beer bottles with single-use caps. These are more resistant to pressure than bottles with screw-on caps, which may let carbonation seep out if not sealed precisely. Using a capper with a supply of caps is a virtually fool-proof way to seal bottles, locking in flavor, fermentation and carbonation. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Bottle caps
- Metal saucepan and water
- Metal tongs
- Beer-filled bottles
- Bottle capper
Instructions
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Place as many bottle caps as required in a saucepan filled with water and boil for 10 minutes to sanitize the caps. This prevents bacteria from creeping into and spoiling the beer.
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2
Use metal tongs to remove the caps one at a time from the water, placing a cap on the lip of each bottle filled with beer. Place the sanitized caps on the bottles as quickly as possible after filling each bottle with home brew.
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3
Center the bottle capper over the top of the bottle and lower the round lip onto the cap.
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4
Grasp both handles of the bottle capper and pull them outward and down in one smooth movement to crimp the cap securely to the lip of the beer bottle.
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5
Check each bottle to be sure the cap is seated all the way around the neck of the bottle for an air-tight seal.
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Tips & Warnings
Boil a few extra caps in case one or more becomes bent during the capping process.
Keep the caps in boiling water until ready for use.
Cap beer bottles on a wide, steady surface. A slipping bottle can shatter at the neck if struck by the capper and cause serious injury.
