If your brewing hobby began with an equipment starter set, chances are you own a wing capper. These classics usually come in black or bright red and do a great job of sealing crown caps onto standard 12-ounce “longneck” beer bottles: Just center the crown in the bell, place over the bottle, and push down on the wings until the cap snaps into place.
If you’ve ever tried packaging in bottles of different shapes and sizes, though, you may have found that the standard-issue capper doesn’t always get the job done. That’s because the venerable wing capper relies on two metal plates that grab onto the bottle’s neck. These plates secure the bottle in place and give you the leverage and support you need to firmly push the cap down.
Because the wing capper depends on the correct alignment of the metal plates, a bottle whose size or shape deviates substantially from the standard U.S. longneck may not adequately seal (most models do, however, feature reversible plates to allow the slightly larger 29mm crown caps). At best you get an improper seal and no carbonation. At worst, the bottle might even break and cause injury.
Bench capperTo seal stubbies, shorties, European half liters, certain kinds of Belgians, and everything in between, you need a bench capper. Unlike a wing capper, a bench capper has a wide base for stability and a large lever for—well—leverage. The cap is simply crimped onto the bottle from above: no need for a mechanism that grabs onto the neck. A good bench capper is easily adjustable, accommodates bottles of many sizes, and won’t let the bottle slip out from under you.
Some bench cappers are specifically intended only for crown caps, while other models double as wine corkers. Speaking of wine corkers, some floor corkers allow you to snap on a special bell adapter to transform them into cappers. So if you already cork wine, you may have a bench capper without even knowing it.
Keep in mind that, with few exceptions, bench cappers won’t cap Belgian bottles unless you’re using a bottle that has been specifically designed to accept crown caps. Most Belgian-style bottles require a wine or Champagne corker to get the job done, plus wire hoods to keep the cork in place.