Sanitizing Your Caps
Please read the following suggestions about sanitizing caps you’ve purchased from Crafty Caps LLC. To download all instructions, please click here (PDF). Thank you.
- **DO NOT** boil your caps. These caps are sealed with a type of finish that will degrade if boiled. Boiling metal caps can harm the seal, resulting in a faulty cap.
Crafty Caps LLC is not responsible for caps that have been destroyed due to boiling. - **RECOMMENDED** If you aren’t comfortable not sanitizing your caps, another option would be to lay the caps out upside down and spray them with a sanitizing solution. Shake the excess off before capping your bottle.
- Another RECOMMENDED option: Germ Eliminator Lamp: A unique tool to help sanitize wort, hydrometers, spoons, and other items used in brewing. Ordering Information: Williams Brewing Germ Eliminator Lamp
- If you wish to use a sanitizing liquid, we suggest first trying Iodophor, Iodine or I-O-Safe. See below for more information about Iodine. Caps should be sterilized in a preferred solution for 2 minutes, too much longer and you run the risk of destroying the design. If your solution calls for more than 2 minutes, please test a cap for the desired time to make sure your sealant is holding up against the solution. (If you can't find these products at your local distributor, feel free to contact us and ask for more information on purchasing from us.)
- The oxygen-absorbing caps absorb the oxygen left in the headspace of the bottle, reducing the chance of oxidation. Oxy-caps are activated when wetted, this will render the caps useless in terms of absorbing oxygen for any batch after the current batch being bottled. The industry standard on these appears to be “don’t sterilize”.
- It is suggested not to use Hydrogen Peroxide based sterilizers, such as One-Step or B-Bright. These types of solutions can leave a white residue on the caps, but worse yet, they might degrade the sealant and ruin your design. If this is what you use for other sterilizing, feel free to TEST a cap, however too long in any solution may start to wear off the sealant.
- For more information on sterilizing solutions, please visit:
A Complete Guide to Cleaning and Sanitation.
- Research about the sterilizing process has shown that many microbreweries do NOT sterilize their caps before capping their bottles.
*Quote from micro employee – “We do not sanitize our caps. We dump the caps straight into the hopper from the box. Just rinsing the caps in clean water would be more than most microbreweries. No bother boiling your caps either, the chance of infection from a new cap is ridiculously low. Infections tend to come from sediment due to poor cleaning of previous batches.”*
Sanitizing with Iodine
The complexing of Iodine with the polymeric carrier serves three basic functions. First, the solubility of the iodine is increased. Elemental iodine has limited solubility and combining it with a polymeric molecule greatly improves this. Second, the iodine-carrier complex provides a sustained-release reservoir of iodine because the iodine stays bound to the carrier until the free iodine concentration in solution falls below an equilibrium level. And finally, the equilibrium between the free form and the complexed form keeps the amount of free iodine low, yet at a level that kills microorganisms. Thus, the otherwise highly toxic iodine can be used safely in food and beverage applications.
An Iodophor is a preparation containing iodine complexed with a solubilizing agent, such as a surfactant or povidone (forming povidone-iodine). The result is a water-soluble material that releases free iodine when in solution. Make only as much iodophor sanitizing solution as you need for each use. Iodine is volatile and will outgas from the solution with time, losing its sanitizing ability.
It is often supplied in different concentrations and is further diluted with water before use. ALWAYS read the instruction label before using Iodophors! Caps to be sanitized should be thoroughly clean and left in contact with the solution for 2 minutes. (Too much longer and the sealant will start to degrade.)
If you're using another type of solution that works well, please contact a specialist so we can add it to our instructions! Thank you! Crafty Caps LLC is always working hard to give you the best customer service possible, including researching solutions for unknown problems with the caps.