homebrewandbeer.com

I know this will sound strange but none of my local supermarkets in Brisbane that sell bottle caps have any in stock!! Has anyone else been affected by this very strange phenomena?

I assume you mean crown seals? If so then yes there has been several posts lately about the lack of supply of crown seals at the supermarkets/BigW etc...

I noticed that my local BigW now has restocked the crown seals - not many packs but better than the totally empty shelves they have had for the past few weeks.

cliffo

Yeah, I've got the same issue here in Wollongong

Coles all out
Kmart all out
Woolworths doesn't stock 'em

I need to bottle in the next couple of days and am gonna have to head out to the home brew suppliers - even though its a bit out of my way.

Finally tracked some down at a Coles about 12k's away from home.

I have the same problem. All the supermarkets (Coles, Woolies, Big W and Kmart) here in Lismore are totally bereft of crown seals. However they seem to be into PET bottle tops in a big way! Had to bite the bullet and pay almost double the price from the local HBS. What's going on is there an embargo on crown seals?

I just got caught in a big way like that, 2 caps short for my Amber. Foodland doesnt have them, Woolworths dropped them since my last visit, luckily Bi-Lo still had bags of their homebrand ones.

Friend of a friend makes 'em, so I asked if I could get a few. He sends me a box of 8,000!!! Think I won't need to buy any for a bit......

I've been using twist top bottles and have saved all the caps to seal them while they sit in the dusty basement clean for the next brew. I ended up with hundreds of old caps so I decided to use them on the last brew.
Has anyone else used used caps?
It seems fine so far. They were sanitised and just twisted back on. I did check them and a couple of them I gave them a quick tap.
That'll save you in a pinch Mikey...

I would be a bit nervous at recycling bottle caps.

Even the premium ones at the HBS are only $23.50 per thousand. It is not a big investment to get a supply sent up.

Cheers,
Greg

porridgewog wrote:I have the same problem. All the supermarkets (Coles, Woolies, Big W and Kmart) here in Lismore are totally bereft of crown seals. However they seem to be into PET bottle tops in a big way! Had to bite the bullet and pay almost double the price from the local HBS. What's going on is there an embargo on crown seals?

Big W here have got rid of their 640ml glass bottles and are stocking twice as many PET. I wonder if Coopers has done a deal with them?

gregb wrote:I would be a bit nervous at recycling bottle caps.

Even the premium ones at the HBS are only $23.50 per thousand. It is not a big investment to get a supply sent up.

Cheers,
Greg

Yes I'd have to agree - cheep enough. I used them in a pinch but also found them to be very easy and quicker to cap (than by hand).

Why would you be nervous about using them if they were sanitised?

I was more thinking about the seal becoming compromised.

Cheers,
Greg

No problems so far. I checked them last night and all looks good at 10 days. I'll crack one on the weekend to make sure...
I thought about that and turned them and listened for leaking a couple of them needed a tap to make sure...