[brewinhard]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

[The Beerery]

"James on Basic Brewing contacted the manufacturer to ask this very question to him. He said that sanitizing is absolutely no problem, because while the caps do absorb oxygen and are activated as soon as they get moist, it takes the caps several days to do their job, so a few minutes before getting crimped is OK."

Sadly then the damage has already been done. Cold beer can absorb much more oxygen, and in tests I have found as little as 6hrs with oxygen present, flavor losses occur.

[majorvices]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

They have to be dry or it would make a huge mess. It is an automatic system (we run a Meheen) and wet caps would be a huge problem since it is run by pneumatic/magnetic system. Technically the bottles are supposed to just be "rinsed" with deionized water but we do run a sanitizer cycle on them because we don't have deionized water yet. So what I am saying is that bottles and bottle caps come presanitized direct from the factory. In fact, be careful with sanitizers because some sanitizers (such as peracetic acid) are oxidizers as well so you could be oxidizing your beer if you don't dry your bottles or kegs completely (though star san, sani clean should be fine)

Unless your LHBS is grinding grain while they are packaging caps or the guy is picking his nose and running his hands through they can be considered sanitary. 100 bucks says he is just using a scoop to weigh them out into a bag.

[denny]

"James on Basic Brewing contacted the manufacturer to ask this very question to him. He said that sanitizing is absolutely no problem, because while the caps do absorb oxygen and are activated as soon as they get moist, it takes the caps several days to do their job, so a few minutes before getting crimped is OK."

THIS^^^^^

[brewinhard]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

Unless your LHBS is grinding grain while they are packaging caps or the guy is picking his nose and running his hands through they can be considered sanitary. 100 bucks says he is just using a scoop to weigh them out into a bag.

Ha! Yep, I bet that is exactly what he does.

[reverseapachemaster]

I spray with sanitizer. Works fine, does not seem to negatively affect the caps. I like the insurance of sanitizing because I store my caps in open bags around my other equipment, some of which has grain dust and has been around my mixed fermentations.

I have no idea whether they definitely work better at avoiding oxygen reactions with the beer but the liner inside seems thicker and creates a better seal. That's the main selling point for me.

[brewinhard]

I have no idea whether they definitely work better at avoiding oxygen reactions with the beer but the liner inside seems thicker and creates a better seal. That's the main selling point for me.

I find this to be true as well.

[bayareabrewer]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

[brewinhard]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

Good anecdote. Thank you. I bet my guy uses the same scale for grains as he does for his caps.

[bayareabrewer]

I don't think I'd call caps that are repacked by an LHBS sanitary.

Bet you they are though. They are just pouring them from one bag to another. You guy are aware that beer spoilage organisms are actually very rare, right? The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing. 10 bucks says that a bottle cap never ruined a beer unless it was dropped on the floor or left open when you were milling your grain. If I drop a bottle cap on the floor it get's tossed in the trash.

My local owner does repackage them and I am unsure how he does it. Not sure if he pours them from one bag to another as he does sell them by the gross. I have also heard that as soon as moisture hits those caps that they start absorbing oxygen too.

So Keith, you don't ever sanitize your caps prior to bottling then?

I worked at my lhbs about 10 years ago or so, and we packaged the bottle caps by weight in the same room we milled grain and what not. I imagine there was copious amounts of grain dust lacto and what not floating around everywhere. I think its such an easy step to sanitize.

Good anecdote. Thank you. I bet my guy uses the same scale for grains as he does for his caps.

yeah, we certainly used the same scale for everything except big orders, we had a larger floor scale for that. I'll be bottling a saison tomorrow and have about a dozen of the oxygen bottle caps sitting around, Ill use those and then some normal ones and see if I can tell a difference.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

The problem with sanitation in and around the brewery is that we are actually growing and selecting those "bad" bugs because of the very nature of brewing.

I think majorvices is probably right.  When I first started brewing, I  brewed several batches before I realized that I was supposed to be sanitizing the bottles after cleaning them.  How many infected bottles did I end up with? Zero!  Maybe I was lucky or maybe  six or so brewing sessions  didn't allow enough generations for the nasty mutations to become established.