Oxygen

The problem with oxygen absorbing caps is that 99% of the folks using them don't understand what they are designed to do. Most of those folks are wasting their money using them because of this lack of understanding.

No matter how good a seal you get with a regular crown cap, a small amount of oxygen will seep in over time. A long time. They oxygen absorbing caps are designed to trap that seepage. You only need these caps for beers that are going to be aged many months or even years, basically strong ales and barleywines.

Many folks use these thinking these will take care of any extra oxygen that may have gotten into their beer during the bottling process (splashing the beer, air bubbles in the siphon line, etc.). These caps will not do anything for that kind of volume of O2. You still need to be careful not to introduce any more air than absolutely necessary during bottling.

Most of the time, these bottles are drunk quick enough that oxidation is not an issue. People mistakenly think that the oxygen absorbing caps are responsible when it is actually the fact that the cardboardy taste from oxidation takes time to form. When they do keep a beer around long enough for the taste to form and they are using those caps, they think the caps are not working when in fact the problem was with their bottling process.

In short, the oxygen absorbing caps are worth the money IF you are planning long term storage of a high alcohol beer AND you have good bottling procedures that keep introduction of oxygen to a minimum. For the most part, you can use regular caps and have no problems at all.

Wayne Bugeater Brewing Company

Wayne's got it right. I've got several OA caps that I only use for big beers that are cellared 2 or more years. For all others, use the regular caps.

Wild

Out of interest, what do you think to corking strong ales and barley wines which will be kept for long periods. Thanks Greg

I'm all for it. Just be sure to use bottles that can stand the carbonation pressure, i.e., champagne, sparkling wine, and previously corked beer bottles. Aging beer will also give you a chance to hone your cellaring skills.

Wild