My brew kit came with 750mL plastic (PET) bottles screw-on caps, which I've used. The "safety seals" are broken, but I thought they were more an indicator of product tampering than a functional device.
Am I able to re-use the plastic caps in future brews if I sanitise properly?
Yes you can! Just make sure that he threads and inner seal of each cap is good before you sanitize them and pop them onto your brand new fresh brew! A good thing to watch out for is overtightening just like simone above mentioned, the pressure bulges the cap up and can compromise the airtight and beer tight seal.
Sure can. I have been re-using the plastic caps on PET bottles for 10 years now.
One thing I do is inspect each cap for signs of overtightening. Usually the cap will "bulge up" slightly round the top if this has occured.
I have had failures in the past where the pressure of the carbonation leads to the cap splitting round the top, hence why I now check them. That said, it has only happened to about 5 bottles over the 10 years.
Yes, they're fine to reuse, if:
Just make sure to rinse them asap, sanitize them before use, and inspect and toss any worn out ones regularly.
The safety seals don't matter, but you may want to consider replacing the caps if you're transporting the beer--there's the chance an officer could claim that the broken seal == open beer, but that's a pretty small concern.
Absolutely you can. I've been doing it for years.
Geeks Mental is a community that publishes articles and tutorials about Web, Android, Data Science, new techniques and Linux security.