Blinking Koppaberg Bottles!

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Please excuse the vent.

It's just taken me nearly two hours to cap my latest brew, Geordie Winter Warmer, into Koppaberg bottles because my twin lever capper wouldn't grip them properly. I ended up cracking two and breaking one completely losing three pints of my lovely beer (which is like losing £12 at pub prices round here - thank Christ it doesn't cost me that to brew!)

Not sure that the ones I managed not to break are sealed properly as I was frightened to death of breaking another one; they seem tight enough but some are 'more sealed' than others.

Maybe it's not the bottles that are the problem but my capper and I should invest in a bench capper, but I don't have this problem with any other bottles. It even does Wychwood bottles with no dramas.

What makes it worse is that I actually paid for these bottles (not much, I grant you) and they were bloody filthy; I did my back in getting the thick of the muck off them and it took me hours to clean and sanitise the 46 I got ready for today.

On a completely unrelated note...does anyone want about 80 Koppaberg bottles?

[jmc]

From pictures online it looks like Kopparberg bottles dont have much of a lip to grip on.


compared to Fullers & TT



Your bottles might be OK to someone with a bench capper

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Yes, and they would be more than welcome to them. However, the general quality of the glass does seem to be less good than beer bottles - last bottling session, I broke one of them with the bottle brush!

[Monkeybrew]

These bottles do seem a bit thinner than certain brown beer bottles, but I have reused mine on many occasions and they seem fine.

I do have a bench capper though, but believe that it is small lip and the fact that is very close to the top of the bottle that makes them hard to cap.

Bench capers seems relatively expensive, but are worth every penny IMO, and speed up the bottling process.

Cheers

MB

[RobWalker]

They're also green so probably not capable of protecting against light damage. For that reason you'll want to keep them in the dark. Shame because they're so easily available and the labels slip right off in water!

[AnthonyUK]

I mentioned this a while back but was shot down as others hadn't any issues. I will not use them now.

[Manngold]

I also had one crack whilst washing it! Haven't used them since.

[liamtmt7]

I find them harder to cap, but they do cap - with my hand capper.

Those and the other cider bottles. Recordilig or something like that

[Exiled Bradfordian]

When you say hand capper do you mean one of the hammer ones? I could very easily envisage glass being shot all over if I tried using one of them on these bottles!

[aamcle]

I've had trouble with those bottles I managed but it was difficult.

I'm after a bench capper for Christmas .

Aamcle

[poolking]

I`ve got loads of Koppaberg bottles and others I had trouble capping, tried several cappers. This one caps them all easily in one go !

Used to have to spin bottles and press down again to make sure I had a seal, never had any problems with this type and it will cap many different bottles inc Koppaberg, Dave.

[jmc]

I`ve got loads of Koppaberg bottles and others I had trouble capping, tried several cappers. This one caps them all easily in one go !

Used to have to spin bottles and press down again to make sure I had a seal, never had any problems with this type and it will cap many different bottles inc Koppaberg, Dave.

I've got a bench capper but I got one like yours a while back to handle capping plastic bottles, which I use when mailing beer.
Plastic capped bottles like these

Mine is an old-school Boots one, made in Italy

Initial go at capping plastic bottles was a nightmare with the Youngs hand capper.
It felt like it was on the point of breaking for each cap. It took ages.

After this I bought a very old Boots metal hand capper off eBay
What a difference. Proper engineering. All the force is applied at the right place and you could cap in mid-air as three metal prongs hold bottle neck, so minimal down-force on bottle base. Would thoroughly recommend. Branded INART on yellow handle USA No 228672. Made in Italy

[poolking]

Yes mate there the one`s . Put cap on magnet, onto bottle, pull down handles, Done. And as said I find these old type (metal) are stronger than the newer plastic types and will cap all bottles I have used ~~ inc Kopperberg. I put a drop of 3 in 1 oil on the capper joints and it`s very smooth to use. HTH, Dave.

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Something to look out for. Thanks.

[Exiled Bradfordian]

Is one of you b@$t4rds competing with me for the Boots Crown corker I found on eBay? Haha...