Heat Shink Foils ??

[Wade E]

"Hard to justify the close to $200 for a thermocapsular machine when I am still trying to save money to purchase a pump from Wade. "

I know but let me tell you that I have a bad back and leaning over a pot of hot water with a bottle and spoon for extended periods of time killed me. I used the heat gun method shortly also and even though it was much easier on my back it still aggravated it quite a bit. This tool makes doing the shrink wraps painless and soooo much faster! One of the best tools have in my arsenal! I would like to try the vertical one in comparison to this horizontal one though.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Wade, mount it on the wall!

 

[Wade E]

Hmmmmm, you might just have a great idea there but Ill have to put up some kind of heat shield because these things throw off some serious heat. Really, after doing about 30 bottles in my wine room which is about 10' x 10' the temp can go up about 4*-5*!

 

[Runningwolf]

There is a vertical one that looks kind of cool. It is hand held, so you could place the caps on all of the bottles and then just go from bottle to bottle shrinking them. I have seen the prices all over the place on these but I can't tell you what the differance is. Presque Isle is close to $400.00 for them and here is a place for $about $200.00

http://www.napafermentation.com/catalog_i7898706.html?catId=127267

 

[BobF]

The boiling water method is quick and easy. No need to have a tool for holding, just use your finger to hold the bottom of the capsule - once it's submerged about a 1/2" you can move your finger out of the way.

What I don't like about boiling water is that everything ends up wet AND I have to cart the bottles upstairs to the kitchen as I don't have a stove in the winery.

I bought a heat gun at Lowe's and it works great.

Some day when I have enough carboys and other stuff, and I have the unlimited funds Wade has, I'll get a $200 shrinker and pay somebody else to do the capsules for me!::

 

[Runningwolf]

Some day when I have enough carboys and other stuff, and I have the unlimited funds Wade has, I'll get a $200 shrinker and pay somebody else to do the capsules for me!::

 

[Wade E]

Unlimited funds!!!!! Bwaaaahaaaahaaa, yeah right!

 

[Russ]

Heat shrink foil caps

Just tried the hot water method works great must be almost boiling though . Beat the heck out of the hair drier method .

 

[Tom]

Boil water. I been doing this for years. Cheapest way... FAST !

 

[Flem]

The boiling water method is quick and easy. No need to have a tool for holding, just use your finger to hold the bottom of the capsule - once it's submerged about a 1/2" you can move your finger out of the way.

What I don't like about boiling water is that everything ends up wet AND I have to cart the bottles upstairs to the kitchen as I don't have a stove in the winery.

I bought a heat gun at Lowe's and it works great.

Some day when I have enough carboys and other stuff, and I have the unlimited funds Wade has, I'll get a $200 shrinker and pay somebody else to do the capsules for me!::

Bob,
Since you have both, which one do you like best? Which gives the best/smoothest results?

 

[BobF]

Bob,
Since you have both, which one do you like best? Which gives the best/smoothest results?

The end result is identical - nice, smooth capsules. The difference is getting it done.

These are my pros/cons:

Boiling Water:
+ VERY fast!
- Water is wet and drippy
- I have to take full bottles upstairs to add capsules
- I have to take finished bottles back downstairs for storage

Heat Gun:
+ VERY portable - move the gun, not the wine!
+ Dry process - you *could* label first w/o fear of ruining labels
- It takes a bit longer per capsule; 30 secs vs 15 sec

I switched to the heat gun ...

 

[ibglowin]

I have tried both, and got much better (smoother) results with the heat gun vs water.

That said, I live at altitude and water boils at a lower temp which may have been the culprit. Water is not as hot (yet boiling).

 

[ibglowin]

Thanks for that link Dan,

Nice collection of stuff and the prices are pretty good as well.

There is a vertical one that looks kind of cool. It is hand held, so you could place the caps on all of the bottles and then just go from bottle to bottle shrinking them. I have seen the prices all over the place on these but I can't tell you what the differance is. Presque Isle is close to $400.00 for them and here is a place for $about $200.00

http://www.napafermentation.com/catalog_i7898706.html?catId=127267

 

[Runningwolf]

Mike I just took a look at the web site. I thought a lot of the prices were kind of high. Thats just for things that I know about though. Like any place they will be up and down on different things. They sure had a lot of misc items for barrels I never saw before though.

 

[sly22guy]

I also use the boiling water method. I use a large pot on top of my wood stove in the winter, I use the loop end on my bottle brush bent at a 90 degree angle. I would like to make a 4-6 bottle rack that way I could dip a bunch at a time.

 

[ibglowin]

My eyes were drawn to the White 20G Brutes and Lids. They are the Unicorns of the wine making world it seems. You can find the Grey ones everywhere but not the Whites ones! I mail ordered mine from Home Depot and had to get white lids from US Plastics...... I need to pick up a few more for next Summer.

Looks like they also had pretty fair prices on Presses. I have my eye on a Bladder press for next Summer as well. (Shhhh don't tell the Mrs IBGlowin!)

Mike I just took a look at the web site. I thought a lot of the prices were kind of high. Thats just for things that I know about though. Like any place they will be up and down on different things. They sure had a lot of misc items for barrels I never saw before though.

 

[larlad]

Dang. I want some blue berries. Wife just looked at frozen at sam's and GFS. She called me about them and then didn't get them.

I just looked in the freezer, looks like I may start another batch as I got some wild blueberries ,enough from 2008 to do another 3 gallons.

 

[Runningwolf]

Looks like they also had pretty fair prices on Presses. I have my eye on a Bladder press for next Summer as well. (Shhhh don't tell the Mrs IBGlowin!)

I see bladder issues in your future when the misses finds out!

 

[Lurker]

Heat gun, fast & easy. Gun hangs from the ceiling in work area. No trips to the kitchen to heat water, No carrying wine up to the kitchen or water down to the cellar.