# 1st time using Shrink caps



## gamble (Jul 29, 2021)

I have yet to use shrink caps, but making daughters wedding wine so I want the presentation to look better. Any hints/tips/suggestions would be helpful. Brands to buy/avoid?, heat gun/ steam? Thanks in advance


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## mainshipfred (Jul 29, 2021)

I've not found a brand that works better than others and they all seem to work fine. I use a heat gun but some use the boiling water, never heard of steam unless that's the boiling water method. With the heat gun you just have to get used to what temperature and how far away you have to be. I always start at the top and work my way down. Sometimes I hold the capsule down with a wooden coffee stirrer until it forms around the top. You may ruin a few getting started but they're cheap.


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## toadie (Jul 29, 2021)

Other than looks do you think they serve much of a purpose? I have never used them but wonder if I should?


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## mainshipfred (Jul 29, 2021)

toadie said:


> Other than looks do you think they serve much of a purpose? I have never used them but wonder if I should?



Personally I don't think they serve any other purpose.


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## StFrancis (Jul 29, 2021)

I always use them. When bottling a red and white at the same time , it's easier for my simple mind to keep them separate. Slip one on hold down w/slotted spoon and invert into small pot of boiling water, water deep enuf to cover cap. 
Can be trimmed if using beer bottles as I did for my daughter's wedding give aways.


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## Raptor99 (Jul 29, 2021)

Dipping them in boiling water works well, as @StFrancis describes. It takes 3-4 seconds per bottle.

I've noticed that the shrink caps I buy as well as the ones on commercial wines have 2 or 3 tiny holes in the top. I suppose that if you use natural corks that lets the wine breath a little bit while aging. In that case, I wonder if the shrink cap reduces the amount a bottle of wine breathes. Would that decrease the danger of oxidation when aging a long time? I've never seen anyone comment on this. Just wondering...


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## Jovimaple (Jul 30, 2021)

I don't use them on quick drinkers (SP and DB) but I do for wines I intend to age for a while.

I use the boiling water method, too, although I turn off the burner after the water is boiling, before I start dipping the bottles. If I have a lot and the water gets too cool, I just bring it back to a boil then turn it off again and continue dipping.


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## David Violante (Jul 30, 2021)

Raptor99 said:


> Dipping them in boiling water works well, as @StFrancis describes. It takes 3-4 seconds per bottle.
> 
> I've noticed that the shrink caps I buy as well as the ones on commercial wines have 2 or 3 tiny holes in the top. I suppose that if you use natural corks that lets the wine breath a little bit while aging. In that case, I wonder if the shrink cap reduces the amount a bottle of wine breathes. Would that decrease the danger of oxidation when aging a long time? I've never seen anyone comment on this. Just wondering...


I haven’t used shrink caps yet but I think they do look nice for special occasions. Here’s a link to a *thread* about shrink caps and mold, but in that case it was a cork problem. The hole in the caps may serve the purpose of allowing some breathing and at the same time not trapping moisture.


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## jumby (Jul 30, 2021)

I put shrink caps on all my bottles. I use boiling water to shrink mine. If you're going to use boiling water, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these. It also doubles as decapper for wine kit juice bags.






Heat-Shrink Capsule Tool: Kitchen Aprons: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific


Heat-Shrink Capsule Tool: Kitchen Aprons: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific



www.amazon.com


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## Jim Welch (Jul 30, 2021)

I use them on all my wines too, just for the aesthetics, that’s all they’re good for. We humans are naturally visual creatures, everyone of us that can see make nearly instantly decisions based on how something looks I hate to say. I’m ugly enough so whatever I make I try to make it pretty!


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## Jim Welch (Jul 30, 2021)

jumby said:


> I put shrink caps on all my bottles. I use boiling water to shrink mine. If you're going to use boiling water, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these. It also doubles as decapper for wine kit juice bags.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like that tool, since I use boiling water I think I’m going to get one.


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## bstnh1 (Jul 30, 2021)

mainshipfred said:


> Personally I don't think they serve any other purpose.


I agree. I gave up using them couple of years ago.


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## mainshipfred (Jul 30, 2021)

bstnh1 said:


> I agree. I gave up using them couple of years ago.



I still do use them though, strictly for presentation.


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## bluecrab (Jul 30, 2021)

I use shrink caps as a label replacement. Each batch of wine gets a unique shrink cap color. I label only one bottle with the information for the batch, but all of the bottles get a shrink cap. When I want to drink a bottle, I go to my wine rack and look through the collection of labeled bottles. I note the color of the shrink cap and then go to the wine cellar to fetch a bottle from the batch.


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## franc1969 (Jul 30, 2021)

Yeah, the bottles don't all get labels right away, and the shrink tops help with differentiation in low light. Keeps the bottle tops cleaner as well, but doesn't do anything to help seal.


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## Ajmassa (Jul 30, 2021)

toadie said:


> Other than looks do you think they serve much of a purpose? I have never used them but wonder if I should?



Slash can field this question for ya


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## DizzyIzzy (Jul 30, 2021)

gamble said:


> I have yet to use shrink caps, but making daughters wedding wine so I want the presentation to look better. Any hints/tips/suggestions would be helpful. Brands to buy/avoid?, heat gun/ steam? Thanks in advance


I use shrink caps on all bottles I am going to give away. The technique I use is to use a hair dryer and I blow it from the top of the bottle to the bottom of the shrink cap. Using my fingers I press it into place as I am guiding the hairdryer. (You will see it mold to the configuration of the bottle). I have found this method to be quite successful. If you have any further questions, I am at your disposal....................................................DizzyIzzy


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## wpt-me (Jul 30, 2021)

I use a tea kettle and a fork to hold a cap in place over a stream of steam.


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## Rice_Guy (Jul 31, 2021)

Synthetic corks are rated at 5 to 7 mg oxygen per year
Natural corks are typically rated up to 10 but some grades leak more
Compared to the oxygen transmission rate of the cork, a capsule isn’t even there.


Raptor99 said:


> I've noticed that the shrink caps I buy as well as the ones on commercial wines have 2 or 3 tiny holes in the top. I suppose that if you use natural corks that lets the wine breath a little bit while aging. In that case, I wonder if the shrink cap reduces the amount a bottle of wine breathes. Would that decrease the danger of oxidation when aging a long time? I've never seen anyone comment on this. Just wondering...


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## TurkeyHollow (Jul 31, 2021)

We use the boiling water method holding the seal with a dinner fork while dipping. We also label our bottles. If you print your own labels as we do, you may want to label after dipping to avoid any label wrinkling (or ink running if you use ink not toner).


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## JustJoe (Jul 31, 2021)

I use caps and labels to make it easy to pick out the wine I am looking for. Black cap is grape, red is cherry, yellow is rhubarb, etc. I pull out a bottle by the color of the cap and check the label for the year. Also the caps look nice on the wine I give away.


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## balatonwine (Jul 31, 2021)

A bit off topic, but for that good look I prefer dipping the bottle top in sealing wax.

To simply ID wines in similar looking bottles stored in my cellar, I will use just a drop or two of different colored wax on the cork rather than doing a full end dip.


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## glennwing (Jul 31, 2021)

I use them on all my wine bottles. I bottle each batch in 2 different size bottles. Half in regular wine bottles and half in clear 12ounce soda bottles. I usually give people a sampler of small bottles to try and if they like a certain wine I give them a regular sized bottle. The shrink top really improves the look on the small bottles with bottle caps. My wife also likes the small bottles. Enough for a couple glasses and she can switch wines every day and not have large bottles in the fridge. 
I make, almost exclusively, fruit wines and bottles caps work fine for wines that are consumed over a year or two.


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## winemaker81 (Aug 1, 2021)

I use a blow dryer to shrink the capsules and get mixed results. Most of the time the capsules look really good, but on occasion they are distorted. Especially irritating is one bright red capsule where I can't get it to shrink evenly. That wouldn't be bad except I purchased a lot of 500 ...

Next batch I'm trying the boiling water. If it works well, I'll purchase that tool for holding the bottles.

Why use capsules? I apply capsules to keep the cork and the top of the bottle clean. My "cellar" is very clean, but bottles setting for a year+ develop dust and stuff. I'm in central NC, so spiders are a foundation of existence -- webs on the bottles irritates me and require washing the top of the bottle before opening.

Plus the presentation is much nicer.

Side note -- I'm not fond of spiders (insects don't bother me) and I only like 1 species of spider -- the flat ones. Those are ok. Sometimes messy, but ok.


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## DizzyIzzy (Aug 1, 2021)

winemaker81 said:


> I use a blow dryer to shrink the capsules and get mixed results. Most of the time the capsules look really good, but on occasion they are distorted. Especially irritating is one bright red capsule where I can't get it to shrink evenly. That wouldn't be bad except I purchased a lot of 500 ...
> 
> Next batch I'm trying the boiling water. If it works well, I'll purchase that tool for holding the bottles.
> 
> ...


I use a blow dryer as well. I have had good success drying *from the top down *with the dryer. I can see the shrink wrap conform to the bottle, then with my fingers I flatten the wrap further all while the dryer is on. I hope this helps..................................................DizzyIzzy


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## DizzyIzzy (Aug 1, 2021)

JustJoe said:


> I use caps and labels to make it easy to pick out the wine I am looking for. Black cap is grape, red is cherry, yellow is rhubarb, etc. I pull out a bottle by the color of the cap and check the label for the year. Also the caps look nice on the wine I give away.


I make too many combinations of fruit wines for your system to work for me. Instead, I have a coding system that I write on the top of the cork i.e., Raspberry/Peach I will code RP, or Pomegranate Plum, PP..........You get the picture. When I want to give a bottle away is when I apply a label and a shrink cap. This system has worked quite well for me for the 20+ types of wine that I have made, and when I make a second bath of the same wine I will code it RP2 or PP2, etc....................................Hope you, or others, find this useful........................................................DizzyIzzy


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## Fencepost (Aug 1, 2021)

I use the boiling water method and made a wire holder, that holds the shrink cap in place and rests agains the bottle as I pick it up... works great, took about 5 minuets to make, had the wire on hand.


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## winemaker81 (Aug 1, 2021)

I tried the boiling water method tonight on shiny red capsules that consistently fail to shrink evenly with a blowdryer, often having bubbles and even being discolored. This was an improvement, as the 5 bottles I did had no discoloration, but while they shrank more consistently, I had to "adjust" them with a blowdryer. IMO the problem is the capsules -- the boiling water did a better job. I'm going to experiment with other capsules to see how it works.

Unfortunately I have a LOT of the red capsules, so they'll be used with wines I care less about.


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## JustJoe (Aug 2, 2021)

I use a heat gun which is like a blow dryer on steroids. It has worked on every cap I have tried, including some pretty lousy ones I got on Amazon.


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## Bmd2k1 (Aug 5, 2021)

jumby said:


> I put shrink caps on all my bottles. I use boiling water to shrink mine. If you're going to use boiling water, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these. It also doubles as decapper for wine kit juice bags.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very cool....gonna snag one of those gadgets! Thanks for posting it.

Cheers!


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## Jim Welch (Aug 5, 2021)

jumby said:


> I put shrink caps on all my bottles. I use boiling water to shrink mine. If you're going to use boiling water, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these. It also doubles as decapper for wine kit juice bags.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Received mine yesterday, Have 2 batches ready to bottle as soon as I find time. Can't wait to use it...


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## winemaker81 (Aug 5, 2021)

Bmd2k1 said:


> Very cool....gonna snag one of those gadgets! Thanks for posting it.


I'm debating is I want one. When I did my test with 5 bottles, I held the bottom of the capsule with a finger and slowly lowered it into the water. Once the bottom part (from my POV, it was the actually the top of the bottle) shrank I moved my finger up and submerged the bottle so the capsule was completely submerged. This took only a few seconds.


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## VinesnBines (Aug 5, 2021)

winemaker81 said:


> I'm debating is I want one. When I did my test with 5 bottles, I held the bottom of the capsule with a finger and slowly lowered it into the water. Once the bottom part (from my POV, it was the actually the top of the bottle) shrank I moved my finger up and submerged the bottle so the capsule was completely submerged. This took only a few seconds.


I use the boiling water method, just as winemaker 81 described (finger holding the capsule until the top molds to the bottle). If a shrink cap seems distorted, I reheat the water and dip again. I was worried about the heat on the bottle neck but no problems so far. A blow dryer never worked for the cheap capsules I bought.


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## cmason1957 (Aug 5, 2021)

When I have put capsules on, which isn't all that often. The tool shown above really makes it trivial. None are ever distorted.


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## Ajmassa (Aug 5, 2021)

I just use a heat gun and a piece of metal I bent up to keep the cap in place. Works perfect every time. Just don’t burn it!

Tool was actually the handle to a cheap strainer that broke off. Living a good 2nd life as cap holder thing.


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