# PVC Capsules



## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

How do you shrink them? Heater or Water? Do you add sulfites to your water? 







Right now I'm using boiling water. I'm thinking of adding sulfites for the water that gets trapped on the cork to keep any potential mold growth at bay.


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## fivebk (Dec 5, 2011)

I use a heat gun. Works great for me.

BOB


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## Wade E (Dec 5, 2011)

I use this. George sells it, its called a horizontal thermoencapsular. It literally takes 1 second to do a bottle.


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## grapeman (Dec 5, 2011)

If you are applying with boiling water, how can the trapped water have bacteria in it? The boiling kills bacteria.


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## ibglowin (Dec 5, 2011)

I found a heat gun (low) worked much better for me than the boiling water. Much smoother shrink.
+1 on what Rich said on the kmeta. Not needed as its boiling water!


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## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

appleman said:


> If you are applying with boiling water, how can the trapped water have bacteria in it? The boiling kills bacteria.



Well, that is something to think about. It really doesn't matter how clean the water if it stays wet for a while bacteria will start growing.


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## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> I found a heat gun (low) worked much better for me than the boiling water. Much smoother shrink.


Wow, I tried my heat gun and I sucked at it. I overheated about 3 of them then quit. Maybe I just need a little more practice.


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## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

Wade said:


> I use this. George sells it, its called a horizontal thermoencapsular. It literally takes 1 second to do a bottle.



You really like it?
2 bills for a heating element seems high.


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## ibglowin (Dec 5, 2011)

I have a small heat gun. Put it on low, hold the gun about 3" away with one hand, with the other hand, slowly rotate the bottle so the heat doesn't stay in one place more than a few seconds. If you melted 3 of em you either have one heck of a "Tim the Toolman" heat gun or you were just too close and perhaps not rotating the bottle. Try backing it way off and moving it in slowly until you see it start to shrink. 
I can promise you any trapped water will evaporate loonnnnggg before anything could even think about growing in there.


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## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> If you melted 3 of em you either have one heck of a "Tim the Toolman" heat gun or you were just too close and perhaps not rotating the bottle.



It's old and big ... with one setting 'hotter then hell'. I think it may be bad because the fan has that whine ... maybe it's turning slow. I think I'm going to Lowes tomorrow. They have a two stage Wagner for $30 bucks.


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## Wade E (Dec 5, 2011)

Dan (Runningwolf) has one also as do a few other people on WMT. If you make a lot of wine and capsule them all its worth it. I can do 30 bottle in under 1 minute! I have a bad back so this one 1 item that saved me big time. Any time not standing over something saves my back this makes me not dread some part of getting something done. I used to hate bottling wine. Crouching down waiting for the Boun Vino or even worse the filling wand and then trying to put capsules and labels on used to take hours. Now I can do everything from sanitizing the bottles to putting the capsules on in under 45 minutes per batch!!


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## RickC (Dec 5, 2011)

Let me know how well the Wagner works. I have been considering buying a heat gun as well. Lowes is right down the street.


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## rhoffart (Dec 5, 2011)

Wade, thanks it's on my list ... 30 under a minute is fast. Heck I don't think I can move that fast, 2 seconds per bottle.




Too close to Christmas, I going to start with the Wagner.


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## grapeman (Dec 6, 2011)

I have one of those myself, but it is a steel grey color. They are very fast indeed. It takes a couple minutes to heat up and then you just slide them in, rotate a bit and pull right back out.


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## fivebk (Dec 6, 2011)

I bought my heat gun from a hobby store when I built a radio controlled airplane. I used it to put the skin on the plane. It gets really hot but then It doesn't take long to shrink a cap. I melted a couple when I first used it, but once you find the right distance and speed you can zip right through them.

I never have had a problem since!!

BOB


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## PeterZ (Dec 6, 2011)

I use boiling water. Using the device George sells to hold the capsule, I slowly lower the bottle into the water and it shrinks from top down, keeping any water out. Takes about 1 sec per bottle, but to work well the water must be at a rolling boil. If you are very far above sea level it won't work because boiling water is &lt;212 F.


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## ibglowin (Dec 6, 2011)

That be me.....







PeterZ said:


> If you are very far above sea level it won't work because boiling water is &lt;212 F.


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## Runningwolf (Dec 6, 2011)

Yeap I use the same as Wade and Rich and its great. Other then that, the only way for me is a heat gun. Get a cheapo at Harbor Freigght and you won't regret it. 

Here is a video I took of my machine.


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## Wade E (Dec 6, 2011)

I dont think mine gets as hot as yours does Dan!!! Mine doesnt glow red hot like that. I wonder if thats why yours blew that fuse. Rich, yours is a little older then mine. I remember buying mine and it not looking like the one on the web page. It also didnt say anything about a very thin white plastic coating over the stainless steel heat shield. I thought it was painted until I was using it and it smelled up the whole room, thats when I realized it was a protective coating that should have been peeled off prior to use!!!!


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## grapeman (Dec 6, 2011)

I got mine after you did Wade and it looks just like Dan's. It also glows red and can heat up a whole room pretty quickly especially in the summer.


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## Wade E (Dec 6, 2011)

Huh. Mine works great but doesnt get screaming red like that but it sure does heat my room up nice!


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## Dean (Dec 6, 2011)

I've used a heat gun, as well as the boiling water method. The heat gun is easier, but I get best results from boiling water. Steam didn't do much for me, and is far more dangerous than a boiling water dip. There are MANY ways to skin this cat.


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## Wayne1 (Dec 7, 2011)

My thermoencapsular also looks like Dan's and glows red. It is sort of pricey for such a narrow use but after I had the carboys I needed, the floor corker, etc. it made its way to the top of the list!


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## Wade E (Dec 7, 2011)

I definitely admit the tool is expensive and for people who dont have bad backs and dont mind spending more time its not needed. For me its a godsend!!!!


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## rhoffart (Dec 7, 2011)

I ended up using a heat gun ...
It seems like it takes me forever to get the labels printed and applied. Also the capsules take time. But I finally got these ready for storage.


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## ibglowin (Dec 7, 2011)

Those are the smoothest gold shrink caps I have seen. I have done 3 or 4 batches with gold and they all crinkled up something horrible. Were those new bottles?
Fine job all the way around!


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## rhoffart (Dec 7, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> Those are the smoothest gold shrink caps I have seen. I have done 3 or 4 batches with gold and they all crinkled up something horrible. Were those new bottles?
> Fine job all the way around!



Well, I'm glad you posted that ... they are a PIA. I ended up doing about 10 twice. I thought George sent me some defects.


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## Wade E (Dec 7, 2011)

I dont have that problem!!!! LOL


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## Runningwolf (Dec 8, 2011)

I have had some issues with some colors more then others. This may be where the boiling meathod might be best but I'm not sure.


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## RickC (Dec 9, 2011)

The gold give me the most grief. I use the boiling water method and it sometimes leaves the lower edge slightly curled. Don't seem to have that with the other colors that I have used.


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## ibglowin (Dec 9, 2011)

Here is a perfect example of how the gold capsules turn out for me. All other colors have turned out much better than this. They are not babies ask smooth but they are very acceptable. Something very different about the gold ones for sure!


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## Wade E (Dec 9, 2011)

Huh, I have and use every color, even the clear ones and after figuring out it only needed to stay in there for about 1 second I havent had a problem since. I must admit though that the LD carlson Matte finish capsules work the absolute best!!! Thats fine with me as I think they look the best anyways.


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## Runningwolf (Dec 9, 2011)

WOW Mike. I have not had a problem like that. It almost seems like they needed another second in the heater. I wondering if there was a way to hook up a reostat to mine to turn the heat down by about 20%.


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## Runningwolf (Dec 9, 2011)

Hey Mike another thought. There are two type of capsules. For screw cap and for corks. Is it the capsule you have there is larger and meant for screw cap bottles?


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## ibglowin (Dec 9, 2011)

These were just the normal ones from FVW. Have used them on 3 batches with the exact same results on all three. I use a Heat Shrink Gun (on low). Works great for every other color in the world!



(confused, perplexed maybe some of both!)
Gold Shrink Capsules


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## Wade E (Dec 9, 2011)

Dan, not sure if the larger ones are just for screw caps. I have a few batches of bottles that are very thick on top and the smaller pvc's wont fit them so I have to but the large ones for them. I do recall having that exact problem with the heat gun on a lot of capsules, dont quite remember the color as it was a long time ago. I have not had tat problem since, just a few where if you leave it topped up in the machine the tops would burn exposing the top of the bottle bit Ive learned that you only need hit the top for a split second like as fast as you can hit the top to pull it back. that ensures that the capsule is all the way on before it starts to shrink.


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## RickC (Dec 10, 2011)

The boiling water does better than this on the gold for me but I am only 600' above sea level.


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## Gekko4321 (Apr 20, 2012)

So I managed to do the boiling method and heat gun on the gold capsules for the first time. Gold capsules are definitely more finicky than the one other I have done. I found boiling water method the better of the two and that is twice I have felt that way. I ended up dipping the bottle (slowly at first) for a full 5-6 seconds to maximize the shrink. With blue capsules they would be destroyed after 2 seconds! Even then I had many I had to redo. One thing I noted was the unevenness of the capsule. The top foil stamp was often not centered and the ring around the neck of the foil was often not level and some even swooped a few millimeters off the level line! This is one of the problems that may be haunting some of you. Look closely. I assumed they were all made identical.


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