We’ve all been there, standing around at a laid-back summer barbeque. Everyone is gathered together catching up when your friend hands you a beer. Just what the occasion calls for. You look down and notice that the bottle is firmly capped. You are surrounded by people and don’t want to look foolish. You fashion yourself as a beer connoisseur, and surely you should be able to tell what kind of cap is on the bottle. Do you reach down and try to twist off the cap? What if it’s a pop-off cap? Should you ask your host for a bottle opener? How exactly do you tell if a bottle has a twist-off cap without looking clueless?
Of course, that beer bottle is bound to have either a twist-off or pop-off cap. At first glance, these types of bottle caps may look identical, but I’m sure that you realize they are very different. Thankfully there are a few sure-fire ways to tell the difference between the two types. I’ve found that the absolute easiest way to know if a bottle has a twist-off cap is to just take a look at the cap. Many twist-off bottles will have the word “twist” printed somewhere on the top or side of the cap.
So, let’s discuss bottle caps. As a homebrewer, the right kind of cap can make or break your brew, so it is important that you know all the details when it’s time to bottle and cap your beer.
How Do I Know if my Bottle Is a Twist Top?
As I’ve already mentioned, many commercial brewers will make it super easy for you to tell when your bottle is a twist-off. What could be easier than the word “twist” written right there on the cap? But, unfortunately, it’s not always quite so easy. Thankfully, there are some other ways you can tell if your bottle is a twist-off or not.
Instead of looking for a word, look at the edges of the cap. I’m talking about the crimping on the edges. If the crimping is equally spaced and pretty perfectly uniform, you have a pop-off top. On the other hand, the crimping on a twist-off bottle will look uneven because of the threads on the glass beneath the cap.
You can also take a look at the bottle just beneath the cap. It’s not just the caps that are different. The bottles are also quite different. To be honest, until someone pointed that out to me, I’d never noticed. The top of a twist-off bottle has threading on it that lets the cap screw on. With the cap on the bottle, this might not be so obvious. Both types will have a ring just underneath the cap. But on a twist-off bottle, you will find that the ring underneath the cap is pretty skinny. I can even see a little bit of the threading when I look at this part of the bottle most of the time. If you have a pry-off cap, the bottle is going to look quite a bit different. The ring that is underneath the pop cap will be easily twice the size. It also has a more bubble-like shape than the thin raised line that we saw beneath the twist-top bottle.
Which Beers Are Twist-off?
If I grab a case of mass-produced bulk manufactured big-name beer at my local grocery store, I’m expecting that top to be a twist-off. But when I’m trying a new craft beer or drinking something my friend brewed at home? In that case, I’m expecting to need a bottle opener. Why is that? Well, it’s because most large-scale major breweries tend to use twist caps. Their consumers tend to prefer them. Unfortunately, the equipment necessary to put twist-off caps on a bottle in mass is quite pricey (i.e., well out of the budget for most home or craft brewers). Homebrewers can use standard capping equipment, but you may not consistently get a good seal on every bottle.
The big guys like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, etc., can afford to spend the money on this relatively easy to use but expensive setup. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have this luxury. The thing is, though, I wouldn’t want to use a twist-off bottle cap even if I could. Why? Because twist-off caps don’t work as well at protecting the seal. I mean, when you are mass producing beer, who cares, right? It’s not sitting on the shelf for a long time, and it’s going to be drank before it has a chance to age much. So, if that subpar twist-off cap lets some air in (or carbonation out), it’s not going to make too much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.
Microbreweries and homebrewers want their beer to stay fresh-tasting for as long as possible. The numbers game doesn’t work as well for us. The pop-off top cap keeps everything sealed exceptionally well, which gives me more of a guarantee that the small-batch craft beer I just opened still tastes pretty much like it did the day I bottled it.
Can you recap a twist-off bottle?
If you are a homebrewer, chances are you are also a beer drinker who buys beer. Most of us likely have twist bottles lying around waiting on the recycling truck. So, no doubt you might be thinking, “Why throw these out? Can I clean them up and reuse them? Will I be able to recap them?” Is it possible? In theory, yes, you can recap a twist-off bottle. Honestly, I think every homebrewer has been tempted to try this out at least once. I’ve even heard from a few who have successfully recapped twist-off bottles, but it’s not generally recommended.
Why? Remember when I told you how the bottle’s neck beneath the cap was different on the two types of bottles? That thin edge and threading make the neck of the bottle weaker. The glass itself is thinner on the twist-off bottle than it would be on the pop-top bottles. Of course, you can recap the bottle. But the bottle very well might break because of that weak point. The bottle has already been stressed once (the first time a cap was put on), and every time you recap it, you add more stress to the weakest point of the glass. Every time you apply pressure to the bottleneck, you risk breaking it. You have to use some pressure because your beer might not seal up if you don’t use enough pressure.
How to Cap Twist-off Beer Bottles
The actual process of capping the twist-off beer bottles isn’t too different than capping a pop-top bottle. I can (in theory) do it with just my regular capper. Now, I’ve never actually tried using a twist-off bottle for my beer. I’ve been told that all you really need is a capper that doesn’t grab the neck of the bottle. This means that those handheld cappers that you can buy on Amazon for under $20 are not going to work. When you use something that grabs the bottle’s neck, that bottle becomes more likely to shatter. Now there is plenty of capping equipment out there that even homebrewers can use for twist-off bottles, but you will quickly notice a steep price difference between it and the more traditional cappers. If I haven’t convinced you to avoid twist-off caps for your homebrew, you will likely want to invest in a capper designed specifically for twist-off caps. Otherwise, you will have a harder time getting the threads to line up, and some bottles might not seal.
Related Questions:
1. Can you reuse twist-off bottles for homebrew?
No one is going to tell you not to, and it is possible. Okay, okay, I’m lying. There are plenty of people who will tell you not to reuse twist-off bottles. Reusing or recapping the bottle can be dangerous like I’ve already said. But, of course, if you are absolutely determined to reuse your bottles, no one will stop you. It is possible, and sometimes it might work. Just don’t say you weren’t warned.
2. Can pop-off caps be capped onto twist-off bottles?
Is this possible? Yes. Will it properly seal every single beer? Most likely not. For the most part, the pop-top caps will go onto the twist-off bottles. But they also might not stay on. Why on earth would you do that to your beer? Now there are plenty of homebrewers who swear that you can use any type of crown on the bottle. As for me? Well, it’s not a lesson I’d prefer to learn weeks later when I find my beer has gone flat on the shelf.
3. Can you use a pry-off bottle opener on a twist-off?
Look, it’s usually easier to just twist if you have a twist-off cap. However, when you use the bottle opener on that twist-off, you will not get that smooth, satisfying pop you might be expecting because you have to manhandle it over the grooves on the thread. I don’t understand why it would be necessary but if you would rather open a twist-off bottle with the bottle opener, have at it.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, what type of bottle and cap you use for your homebrew will come down to your personal preference. There are both pros and cons to using twist-off bottles and caps, so you just have to decide for yourself which one you prefer. I, for one, am going to stick with the tried and true pop-off caps that I’ve always used. But the next time your friend hands you a beer, you won’t have to worry about looking like a bumbling idiot. Instead, you can open that bottle confident that you know exactly how to tell what kind of cap is on that bottle.