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Oxygen Absorbing Caps
As a brewing neophyte I bought some of these along with my capper, does anyone know about them? Are they better than regular caps or did I just waste some money that I didn't need to? (not that they're expensive to start with but still...) Also while I'm on the topic of bottling, do the caps not work on screw top bottles? Because I think all the bottles my father-in-law just gave me are all screw top!
CAmbrose
Currently brewing a Czech Pilsner
I use the oxygen barrier caps all the time....but you can't soak them in sanitizer as it will void the process for which they were intended.......they activate when they get wet so I just dunk them in a neutral spirit (vodka) and put them on right away and cap.....I've never had any oxidized beers yet from extended conditioning or just not getting around to drink them and I've aged many over 6-8 months........ also I wouldn't recommend screw top bottles as they are not intended to be used again and you will have lots of problems trying to get the caps on....if you get them on at all......
GOODBREWING.......
I've used oxygen barrier caps several times for any brews that I plan to age 6 months or more. The longest yet is 4 years and that's only because I ran out of patience 
Wild
There's a little trick I've been using and thats placing the caps on the bottles after bottling but not clamping them down right away. The CO2 is heavier than the O2 and pushes the O2 out through the top of the bottle. I fill a bottle up, place the cap on top of it and move on to the next. By the time I'm through filling all the bottles, I go back to the bottle I started with and proceed to cap them all in order. I haven't had any oxidation problems yet and the oldest beer I have is about 4 months old and still tastes great. I don't know if 4 months is long enough to tell though.
I don't use oxygen caps. If are careful enough you won't introduce enough oxygen into the beer for it to be noticable, even with extended storage. And by careful I just mean by not over splashing and such.
I have had beers last for several years without signs of oxidation.
And if you did generate that much O2 in the beer by being sloppy, I don't think the oxygen caps could absorb that much of it anyway. They are realy only good for the O2 in the headspace, which if you leave the bottles sit for a bit (like fill 6 then cap them) you'll displace some of that anyway with the dissolved CO2 in the beer.
Dartgod: why the dip in vodka, is that just for sterilization? I had always read that people just capped the bottles and shook some beer up onto the cap to activate it.
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