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my first attempt at brewing is going well. Everything was going well, I went to check the amount of sediment in the bottles beer. With a gentle turn, the beer was leaking out the top. I noticed this in 10 or 11 of 67 bottles. This was 5 days after brewing. I am curious if I should be re-capping my beer or are those bottles toast? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Mat

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  • I would look into getting a new crimper for your capper. In time these things can wear out and not crimp the caps as tight as they should be. Seeing how things are made so cheaply these days, you might want to consider that the root of the problem.
    – brewchez
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 18:06
  • Thanks a million, this one was a loaner from the local supply shop. The threading on the twist top too was a little sketchy. Thanks for the advice... It is great to know that there are serious and dedicated people to help with their knowledge. A great resource...
    – Mat Sabinski
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 21:27
  • Ah, it was a loaner! I thought it was maybe a worn-out capper at first, but you said this was your first attempt at brewing. I had a capper that was great for about 8 years, and then I started getting all these non-sealed bottles. I got a new capper and everything's fine again.
    – Jeff Roe
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 22:12

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I would recap and hope for the best. Worst case scenario your beer tastes bad- possibly doesn't carbonate and you use it as snail bait in the garden.

On to your larger problem though. You need to figure out your capping issue. Some caps have a liquid activated seal. After crimping, you need to tip the bottle to wet the seal. You would also have problems if you're trying to cap twist-off bottles or trying to reuse old caps. Hopefully you just missed the mark on one or two bottles and the rest will turn out.

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  • I agree Paul, I am going to give it another try. I have purchased some non-twist off bottles to see if this has an impact on them and trying to cap and rotate and clamp again. I think I was not careful with the centering and solid clamping, or so I hope. Thank you
    – Mat Sabinski
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 11:10
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    So the leaking bottles were twist-offs? That will do it. I would recommend buying a bunch of 22oz bottles (with the beer in them) and just recycling those.
    – Paul
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 14:38
  • Excellent, will do Paul. I figure that was my issue. Darn twist-off Nova Scotia bottles got me. I am going to try and reprime them and see what happens but have already gone out and purchased 60 700mL non twist bottles to remedy this problem. Thanks again for the quick assistance.
    – Matthew Sabinski
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 19:35
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You should be able to re-cap, perhaps after adding some more priming sugar. When you said, "5 days after brewing" did you mean "5 days after bottling"? Over-carbonating can be dangerous because of exploding bottles. From what I know right now, I'd say just re-cap, preferably with a new capper.

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  • Thank a million, I am going to give that a try for sure. I meant 5 days after bottling. It was not from over carbonation. I think I was not carefully centering and clamping them and then rotating the bottle to ensure a uniform cap.
    – Mat Sabinski
    Commented May 9, 2011 at 11:09
  • Reprimed and re capped. Hope Hope, if not, no worries. A few to learn a few lessons and stumble upon this website with the direction I've been introduced to is well worth it. (Though I'd rather not sacrifice any beer to learn.. Hehe) Thank you for the advice, I'm sure I'll have some more as I learn
    – Mat Sabinski
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 0:03

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