Hermetus Bottle Opener and Sealer

I often make my own beer at a local brew-it-yourself taproom (props to The Brew Kettle). The bottles we use are 22-ounces, so drinking one is almost like drinking two. Often times I'll end up drinking more than I wanted or drinking none at all (oh, the horror).

Stumbled across the Hermetus Bottle Opener and Sealer while looking for a Father's Day gift for my dad. Bought one for him, a couple guys in the brew group, and myself. To create an airtight seal simply slip it over the top of the bottle. It works perfectly.

Drank half a bottle one night then sealed it and put it in the fridge. Drank remaining half the second night, and it tasted the same and still had a nice head on it. I love the simplicity of the design!

-- Mark Prasek

Hermetus Bottle Opener and Sealer
$9

Available from Kaufmann Mercantile

Manufactured by Monopol

MORE: beer • design • germany

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Jan Henning Berg

While this item does seem to fulfil its purpose , I am wondering for which reason anyone would feel the need to reserve a half-emptied bottle of beer for the next day…
- Paul Coleman
  
  If it’s a 22 ouncer that you brewed yourself and you only drank half…
  - Jan Henning Berg
    
    point well taken.
    here in germany, we are more used to the likes of bottles half that size…
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Presumably it works on any standard bottle and bottle cap. I can think of a number or reasons why I’d like to temporarily reseal some kind of beverage (doesn’t have to be beer) for a bit. Needless to say, I’m somewhat stoked about this.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  You can hardly give Junior a whole bottle when he comes home from school for lunch.
nixiebunny

I just love designs like this, that are so simple compared to everything done before to solve the same problem. I’m looking at you, rubber stopper with cam lever that makes it expand in the neck of the bottle.
rob_cornelius

22 us fluid ounces is just over a british pint according to my friend google. Just drink the damn stuff.
- pupdog
  
  If he’s brewing it himself it could very well be hitting 9-11% ABV easily. Sometimes you just don’t want that much.
miss niki

OR you could do what my brew-buddy does and save up smaller 12 oz. bottles, disinfect, and then fill and cap those. He does this at home though; not sure what rules a taproom has about reusing bottles.
- max00
  
  The hassle when bottling like that is approximately per bottle. Bigger bottles save hassle.
Navin_Johnson

Summer is a great time for ginger beer cocktails, and usually one bottle of the stuff nets me several cocktails. Usually I kind of try to screw the cap back on or am careful enough opening that I try to push the cap back on. This is a perfect tool for keeping the stuff fresh and bubbly, overnight or between drinks.
- Susan Carley Oliver
  
  Mmmm – recipe please!
  - Navin_Johnson
    
    Two classics:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_mule
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_%27N%27_Stormy
Paweł Kwaśniewski

I remember an opener like this from my childhood (the ’90s) – it’s probably still somewhere in a drawer in my parents’ apartment… Definitely not a new invention. Anyway, pretty handy.
- http://twitter.com/ErikVeland Erik Veland
  
  I was just about to say the same thing. We had tons of variations of this design growing up in the eighties.
Quibbler

My home-brewed beer has yeast in the bottom of the bottles so it would take another few days to clear if I resealed the bottle.
Having just read up on the “brew kettle” I see they “filter, carbonate and keg” oh dear!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1390682028 Bill Hilty

Very cool, I brew at the brew kettle as well! where did you find that?
Navin_Johnson

Oh wait, you have to leave the gadget on? I thought it somehow crimped the spent bottle caps tightly back into place. Still cool, but not as cool as I thought.
Pirate Jenny

I don’t brew at home, but I do buy many single bottles of craft beer; the ones I favor tend to have higher alcohol percentages, and an awful lot of them come in 22 ounce bottles. I am definitely buying at least one of these!
http://craftbeergnome.com mkultra

There are a lot of reasons you don’t always want to immediately finish a bottle of beer, especially if you are into the craft beer/home brewing scene. This has been an ongoing situation for me, so I just ordered 10 of these. (a couple for gifts)
1. A friend brings in a bottle of his new masterpiece: “Should we open it now, or wait until Phil gets here? I don’t want it to be flat.” Now you can do both.
2. A bottle like Lost Abbey’s Angel’s Share. It’s a lovely beer, but it’s 12.5%, and about $20 for a 12oz bottle. The first few sips are amazing, but to really appreciate it, it’s best in small doses.
3. “I just got in from Finland, and found this most wonderful small-batch ice beer. However, I was only able to manage to bring back a single bottle in my checked bag, and if I share it with you tonight, it won’t be any good for Heidi when she gets into town tomorrow night.”
4. The proliferation of 3l and 3.5l bottles of some high-end beers Amazing for a big gathering, but what if it doesn’t get finished off in one night? A $200 bottle half wasted?
Bill Ferguson

The first mistake a home brewer makes is to create something that is too strong. The challenge is to make a delicious “session” beer that you can drink 4-6 pints of, over an evening and wake up fresh and healthy the next morning. Aim for 3.5 – 5% abv with lots of flavour and character. Anybody who pays $200 for 3 litres of fiendishly strong beer has more money than sense imho.
- dnebdal
  
  That said, some of the really strong beers can be excellent (imperial stouts and such) – but that’s perhaps not something one should aim for as a beginning homebrewer…
Hendrik Miller

i recently found one of these in my dads cellar. must be over thirty years old. the design hasn’t changed a bit. but you really need to clean it after every use. it gets sparky very soon.
Klaus Æ. Mogensen

I have a 20+ year old bottle opener with the same kind of resealing mechanism. Still works fine, even though the edge of the rubber has cracked a bit.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_O22IBXCREFSERVY2GEGSGLZHLI super

I have this one – it works very well and only costs around $3 (not as cool looking)
http://www.bottletool.com/buy_now.php
http://twitter.com/mrCHENRY chenry

Holy balls, the shipping to Canada is $20! What the hell!

[edit] I found them on ebay for $12 w/ $1 shipping.