Shrink Capsules......educate me.

[UBB]

I know what they are

Who uses them? How do you apply them?? Are they worth the investment???


Thanks.

 

[rhoffart]

I know what they are

Who uses them? How do you apply them?? Are they worth the investment???


Thanks.

I do. Heat gun, boiling water or thermo thingy.

Yes ... your bottle would be naked without them.

 

[UBB]

I do. Heat gun, boiling water or thermo thingy.

Yes ... your bottle would be naked without them.

using listed equipment, would you mind walking me through how use go about it?

 

[jet]

When I use them, I just set the bottle upright and put the capsule on top. I pinch the very bottom of the capsule and use a heat gun from directly above the bottle. As soon as the capsule starts to shrink, I let go with my off hand because it will get hot. If you don't hold it at the begining, the capsules tend to crawl up.

 

[rhoffart]

Here is boiling water ... but DON'T use your finger to hold it. They make a tool or just bend you a coat hanger to hold it on as you dip it.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47T4cbw0rMc[/ame]

 

[rhoffart]

This is made just for the caps.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9qq2rbVh_s[/ame]

 

[Runningwolf]

I like using capsules for the reason above plus it makes identiying my wine a lot easier when they are laying on their sides in the racks.

 

[wvbrewer]

My wife uses a hair drier to do it. As long as you take your time they turn out pretty good..

 

[Flem]

I use a heat gun. It looks like the pistol shaped hair dryer only it gets much hotter. I just start from the top of the bottle and rotate it until I reach the bottom of the shrink cap. I feel they just give it a "finished" look.

 

[Rocky]

I use a heat gun or a hair dryer on the High setting. I also have a limited number of a stretchable plastic type that slip down over the top and stay in place real well. I don't remember where I got them but they can be slipped off the bottle with a little effort and reused.

 

[BobF]

I use them with a heat gun to apply. I use small labels on the shrinks instead of large labels on the bottles. This makes cleaning/reusing a lot easier!

 

[GrandpasFootsteps]

I use a heat gun. I bought it for $12 at Harbor Freight. It is super easy. After the bottle is corked, drop the capsule over it. Then I use a cork directly on top to hold it down (the gun can be a bit hot when bottling a lot of bottles). Starting at the top of the capsule with the heat gun, I rotate the bottle and always have perfect shrink.

I suppose if you picture this really you would realize you need 3 arms. For me, I usually have help. If I don't, I've done it without the upper cork but it is not 100% success rate on even shrink.

Also, afterward I put a note on the top of the capsule on the gold foil that indicates what wine it is. Like "Ch 11" for Chianti 2011 or "BB 11" for Blackberry 2011 or "Car" for Carrot. See, when they are all on their side in my wine rack, they get lost when I'm looking for a particular wine I want to enjoy.

 

[Wade E]

I use the horizontal encapsular. Its pricy yes but pays for itself when you can do 30 bottles in under a minute .

 

[Giovannino]

I use 'em mostly (as above) for IDing and for those which are to be opened in front of guests.

I was thinking last week that it would be cool to get shrinks for the whole bottle instead of just the top - I mean many many products are sold this way today.

I was also looking for pre-printed "year" labels but I guess there isn't a call for them.

 

[dangerdave]

I don't use shrinks. I actually like the look of the cork in the bottle top. There's no accoiunting for taste, huh? lol

 

[BobF]

There are wines with clear shrinks that offer the same protection but allow the beauty of the cork to show.

 

[UBB]

I discovered today that the wife's hairdryer is not sufficient to apply the capsules well!

 

[Runningwolf]

I have yet to see a hair dryer hot enough to work efficiently. A cheap heat gun will though.

 

[dangerdave]

There are wines with clear shrinks that offer the same protection but allow the beauty of the cork to show.

What would I be protecting with the shrinks? I was under the impression they are for cosmetic purposes only.

 

[BobF]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_bottle

Capsules
Most wine bottles finished with a cork, and some with screwcaps have a protective sleeve called a capsule (commonly referred to as a "foil") covering the top of the bottle. The purpose of which is to protect the cork from being gnawed away by rodents or infested with the cork weevil., and to serve as collar to catch small drips when pouring. The capsule also serves as a decorative element of the bottle's label. Capsules were historically made of lead; However, because of research showing that trace amounts of toxic lead could remain on the lip of the bottle and mix with the poured wine,[6] lead capsules (lead foil bottleneck wrappings) were slowly phased out, and by the 1990s,[7] most capsules were made of tin, heat-shrink plastic (polyethylene or PVC), or aluminium or polylaminate aluminium. Sealing wax is sometimes used, or the capsule can be omitted entirely.[8] In the US, the FDA officially banned lead foil capsules on domestic and imported wine bottles as of 1996.[9]