Kit O' Beer #14 - Cascadian Blonde 2UP

Bottled last night this morning. Epic bottling session. I think I started prepping about 6 and finished at 2. Found myself asleep at one point. Tired catching up.

Other than that, all went smooth.
Primed with 165gms dextrose dissolved in ~ 1 cup/8oz boiling water

Smells great. Flavour follows aroma. This will be as nice as the first one. It is a simple flavour and I'm sure we will enjoy it but I'd like to get some other single hop beers done.

There was a bit of residual yeast and I think there is still a decent amount still suspended. the style is for a bit of a haze appearance. It looks on the money to me.

Capping experiment.
The idea is to use some glass twist tops and regular crown bottles. Compare for carbonation.

I don't know about the performance of the capper this time. Didn't seem to be sealing crowns as well. Last time I ran the bottles through twice. This time when I did them a 2nd time I found the crowns were depressed in the centre. The whole surface area of the cap where the bottle opening/mouth is underneath was sunken in. The cap didn't seem to be as well curled round. Don't have one from last batch to look at. will grab one tomorrow and see.

might need to replace the bell.

What type of capper do you have? I have the old stand up kind and had to modify it too, I found some magnets, cut them into circles, glued them together with super glue and then glued them into the bell. I don't know if this could work for you as well?

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Originally Posted by Libertytree

What type of capper do you have? I have the old stand up kind and had to modify it too, I found some magnets, cut them into circles, glued them together with super glue and then glued them into the bell. I don't know if this could work for you as well?

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The capper I have is a simple double level, and it came with a magnet in the bell. I didn't know there were any made without a magnet...

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Originally Posted by BrewTech

The capper I have is a simple double level, and it came with a magnet in the bell. I didn't know there were any made without a magnet...

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Mine was made in the 1920's, it might have had one initially, or not, IDK.

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Originally Posted by Libertytree

Mine was made in the 1920's, it might have had one initially, or not, IDK.

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I had forgotten that yours was an actual antique!

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Originally Posted by BrewTech

The capper I have is a simple double level, and it came with a magnet in the bell. I didn't know there were any made without a magnet...

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Did you mean "double lever"? Is your a stand up or a hand held with levers on each side?

I looked at the new modern cappers but they were disposable junk. The antique one caps better and will stand the test of time.

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Originally Posted by Libertytree

Did you mean "double lever"? Is your a stand up or a hand held with levers on each side?

I looked at the new modern cappers but they were disposable junk. The antique one caps better and will stand the test of time.

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I did mean double lever... hand held. Mrs. Brewtech does the actual cap installation so it's something I don't deal with much. Last time I used it was to bottle four beers for GABF. Wish me luck!

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Originally Posted by BrewTech

I did mean double lever... hand held. Mrs. Brewtech does the actual cap installation so it's something I don't deal with much. Last time I used it was to bottle four beers for GABF. Wish me luck!

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Hell yeah man, Good luck! Though with your artisanship and acuemen I doubt luck luck has anything to do with it :) You really should give Mrs BT a break and buy her an antique stand up bottler, lol.

ETA...I do have a hand capper and used it once for a 5gal batch. It was awkward and ineffecient, I could never really feel certain it was sealed properly and once I found and used the old stand up model I was sold. You can feel the cap set and can hear a little pop. I've only had one bad cap and it was on a screw top bottle that somehow found its way into my collection.

Its a single lever type. It has a magnet in it. fairly strong one. It could be the caps were a bit thinner than others so the indentation in the top occurred? I'll be bottling again tomorrow or Monday so I'll take a look at that. I have a different brand to try and I have a hand full of the other type left.

Then with of the cap wrapping around the crown I'm going to show someone some from this batch and some earlier ones just to make sure it's not my eyes. Or I might take some photos and see what they look to zoom in a bit. I was looking at them again today on the shelf and they don't look capped properly but when I pick them up and look, they look ok.

Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.