Swing-top bottles leaking carbonation

I purchased a 12 pack of swing-top bottles at a decent price. I only now noticed that over time as I drank through the batch, the bottles were less and less carbonated, ranging from perfect carbonation in the early bottles to virtually no carbonation in the later bottles. I've never had an issue with losing carbonation in previous batches in capped bottles, so I can rule out my technique for carbonating. In hindsight I'm starting to think the bottles were a great price because, well, they're cheap bottles.

I'd like to avoid buying a more expensive set of bottles (and risking the same results). Is there anything I can do to strengthen the seal of the gaskets or upgrade the seals with a better option for my next batch?

Topic shelf-life carbonation bottling homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

I agree that replacing the seals is good because they compress with time, but only after using them for some time. I usually flip the seal once, before changing it.

Another thing you can do to get a better seal is to verify the wire mechanism. I use a pair of plyers and bend the wire a little to tighten the seal.

1
answered at

Even though I liked the idea of swing-top bottles, I have found that they don't seem as effective and my friend's crown sealers.

But having invested in swing tops, here are ways I've found to help with carbonation:

  • Replace the seals - specifically with the full covers, not the o-ring seals.
  • Don't over fill bottles - leave a good thumb's length of air gap - gas compresses better with more gas space.
  • Store full bottles inverted or lay weights on top of them (e.g. books)- the extra weight helps seal a bit tighter through the combination of weight and liquid around the inside of the seal (if you invert, you'll also know which bottles have serious seal issues by seeing the presence of beer/bubbles on the outside of the bottle).
  • Carbonate slightly more - I carbonate with table sugar so give each 750ml bottle about 2-4 grams extra. The good news about swing tops is the glass is often thicker and the bottles can take quite a bit more pressure.
  • Store empties unsealed - helps relax both the swing top mechanism and seal for more effective use later.
1
answered at

Replace the seals. Buying 100 seals from eBay should cost you something like US$10.

I also use swing-top bottles, and my protocol is to replace a seal immediately after opening a bottle that turned out to be undercarbed.

About

Geeks Mental is a community that publishes articles and tutorials about Web, Android, Data Science, new techniques and Linux security.