Cap with gadget or without? Small guide to bottle home brewed beer

The capping of home brewed beer bottle is a joy and a torment for any amateur in this world who wants to obtain a professional result with his handcrafted and homemade product.

Nowadays, craft beer is a hobby highly prized by all enthusiasts of this drink and many online stores sell production equipment dedicated to amateurs. With the ingredients sold in a fermentation kit, it is possible to obtain an excellent result from the first try, but the problem arises during bottling, or better yet, capping.

It is essential to thoroughly wash and sterilise both the bottles and the corks used to bottle beer. This will help to avoid a series of contamination problems that could compromise the taste and quality of the product.
Having followed the production process and having taken the appropriate precautions, we now come to the age-old problem: how to (well) cap the house brewed beer.

Cork stopper or crown cap: the main differences

In general, three types of caps are used to stop homemade beer: the cork stopper, the crown cap (for wine or beer) in its variants with bidule or the classic.

The traditional cork stopper is aesthetically beautiful and it is a way to highlight the traditional and artisanal feature of the product, The cork stopper is made from the tree called cork oak,, it is possible, and even not too rare, that a particular fungus forms there and that the “corked taste” is present in the final product; this happens very often for wines.

The crown cap with or without bidule makes it possible to remedy this problem,, because it is made of metallic material. This large difference therefore makes it possible to affirm that the crown caps are certainly the best choice for the production and bottling of house brewed beer, unless they are products which are improved by ageing.

In addition, it should be noted that the crown caps have greater resistance in terms of closure and they retain the content better inside the bottle.

Not all crown caps are the same

If you’ve made your own homemade beer and you want to learn how to buy the most suitable stopper, don’t trust those who tell you that all crown caps are the same.

The classic crown caps have an inner lining in synthetic material, very useful to avoid the contact of beer with aluminum, but the crown caps with bidule are easier to handle especially for those who are newbies in the process of corking.

The caps with bidule have a convex plastic inside which improves the closing of the bottle and ensures better internal pressure compared to the classic crown caps. Sure, they cost a few cents more, but they are the best choice for anyone who wants to make an excellent home brew.