Is there a problem if one forgets to sanitize caps?

I bottle about a third of my batches in longnecks with crown caps. On my most recent brew (that's carbing up now) I forgot to sanitize the caps. Didn't realize this until I had bottled everything and was getting ready to cap the bottles and reached into my bucket of sanitized gear to grab a few caps and... oops!

I normally sanitize more than the needed number of caps, and had enough caps that were sanitized months ago to cap everything up.

My question is that if the beer stays upright (in cases/crates) and the beer doesn't sit on the caps, do I need to worry about infection, or should I just meditate to the mantra Charlie Papazian gave us all?

Topic caps bottle-conditioning sanitation homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

I think a factor in whether/whether-not is how your caps are packaged when you buy them.

I buy from a bulk bin at the local homebrew--you stick your hand in and grab them fistful at a time. Since there's been who-knows-how-many other hands in that bin I insist on sanitizing.

If your caps are pre-packaged when you buy them then there's likely less risk they're contaminated.

1
answered at

Unlikely to be a problem. In an earlier question I found that some pro-brewers don't sanitize their caps at all. Neither do some home brewers.

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