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Bottle submission for a comp

  • Thread starter Devin Petry-Johnson
  • Start date
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Devin Petry-Johnson

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My state fair is doing a beer/mead/cider competition this summer and the instructions say they are only accepting crown-cap bottles this year. I am not really interested in going out to buy bottles, caps, and a capper instrument just for this purpose. Does anyone have any advice?

Is it unreasonable to ask my LHBS to let me use a cepper on site. Should I try to make friends with a homebrewer that has one? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy the stuff and look at it as an investment in future comp entries?
 

Squatchy

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The gear is really not very expensive. You could probably ask to burrow the capper if you purchased bottles and caps. If you're going to get involved in comps. I would just bite the bullet.
 

piojo

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Aug 12, 2017
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How do you currently bottle? If you have a workbench, you can bolt a capper to (or clamp it to a table for a temporary capping station), crown-capped beer bottles are pretty nice. (If no space, you can bolt it to a piece of wood and step on the wood when you crimp a cap.) Caps and bottles are cheap. They make a good seal. You can reuse your bottles or get free bottles from friends. You will likely be able to make larger batches than you currently make, and bigger batches can be easier than small ones. Crown caps are more sanitary than flip top bottles.

I suggest that unless you already have a great workflow, this would be an investment in easier brewing rather than an investment for competitions.
 

Squatchy

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A beer bottle is cheaper than a wine bottle. A cap is cheaper than a cork. A capper is cheaper than a corker. A beer bottle is cheaper to ship than a wine bottle. A hand capper doesn't need a bench at all
 
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Devin Petry-Johnson

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How do you currently bottle?

I currently use wine bottles and corks.

A beer bottle is cheaper than a wine bottle. A cap is cheaper than a cork. A capper is cheaper than a corker. A beer bottle is cheaper to ship than a wine bottle. A hand capper doesn't need a bench at all

These are all good points. When you put it like that it makes sense. My only issue is that for my own consumption, I would rather use larger bottles because it's a pain to wash, sanitize, fill, and cap that many smaller bottles. But now that I think about it maybe I can find larger crown cap bottles for my own uses and then use 12 ounce bottles for comps. They make 22 ounce bottles that are compatible with crown caps, right?
 

darigoni

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Yes, they make 22 oz “bomber” bottles, which are approx 3 oz less than a standard 750 ml wine bottle.

Check out Craigslist for beer brewing equipment. People are always looking to sell cappers. If you only want to cap a few bottles for competition, you can get away with the swing type ($17 on Amazon), but if you are going to start using it regularly, I would definitely get a floor/bench capper (anywhere from $30 to $200 on Amazon).
 

Squatchy

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Dave is correct Cl is a great place to buy all kinds of related stuff.
 
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