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How often do people reuse bottlecaps, if at all? Given the slight crease that's introduced when removing the cap, I'm a little nervous about reusing them -- though it seems that there shouldn't be a problem if they're washed and sanitized, and if there's no leakage when the bottle is held upside-down after capping.

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  • This desire was at least in part a result of the problems I had with my capper, which had the bad habit of snapping the necks of bottles I was trying to cap. The failure rate was lower with pre-used bottlecaps, probably because less force was required to apply the cap.
    – Curt Hagenlocher
    Jan 30, 2012 at 16:10
  • I'm going to continue to reuse caps for kombucha, which differs from beer by having much lower (non-cap) COGS and far less sensitivity to infection.
    – Curt Hagenlocher
    Jan 30, 2012 at 16:11
  • In the late 1960's my dad sealed his home-brew beer bottles with firm plastic (propathene?) re-usable beer bottle caps. If he'd overdone the priming sugar the bottles would still explode. These caps had a 3/8" lever moulded into them so you could pry off the cap with your thumb. Child-proof as kid's thumbs weren't strong enough to push the plastic caps off. He used these caps for several years without them losing their ability to hold pressure. I believe the patent on these has been bought out so that crown caps are not replaced ... like when gas mantle factories went bust as electric light gl
    – John Smith
    Oct 12, 2022 at 8:21

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I've never done it, and I wouldn't recommend it. I suspect that the seals inside the caps are really only good for one use.

It doesn't make sense to me to try to save money there. You just spent a bunch of time and energy making a tasty beer: you don't want to ruin it by using faulty or contaminated caps. Even if they don't leak beer, they may still leak CO2 once they're under pressure.

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    +1: bottle caps are one-time-use consumables. Your beer is worth the $0.02 for a new cap (assuming the $2.99 for 144 caps at Brewmasterswarehouse).
    – JoeFish
    Jan 23, 2012 at 19:18
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Or you could go with swing-top bottles. Although after some time you will have to replace the red rubber seals on those as well. But much less waste than with caps.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ez-cap-bottles-brown-16-oz-with-flip-tops.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ez-cap-bottles-brown-1-liter-with-flip-tops.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/wire-bales-for-flip-tops.html

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If you want "recyclable" caps, you could consider bottling to 1/2 gallon growlers... 38mm "polyseal" caps are machine washable and make a decent seal.

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    I'm not sure I'd trust a growler cap to hold up to the pressure required for carbonating in the bottle.
    – Mattress
    Jan 26, 2012 at 22:13
  • I do it all the time, it works great and really cuts down on bottling time.
    – Jeremy Holovacs
    Jan 30, 2012 at 16:57
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There are also twist close plastic bottles and caps, the kind that come with the "Mr. Beer" kit, that are reusable.

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I have reused them with NO troubles! Just re-sanitize. I don't make it a regular practice though. Only when I run out of caps when bottling!!!!

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