Answers.Body: <p>The bottle cap has the same purpose as a wire cage-- to ensure that the cork doesn't pop itself under the bottle's interior pressure.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-22T18:01:57.697Z
Answers.Text: I hadn't realized that the pressure could do that.  (I guess, now that you mention it, champaigne does tend to have wire cages, though most wines don't.)  But is a cap really strong enough to prevent that?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-22T18:05:52.417Z
Answers.Text: I don't have direct experience in bottling that beer, or beers of that nature, but apparently so.  I think it's mostly precautionary, and probably a small cost to prevent accidents (and a poor reputation).
Answers.UserDisplayName: object88
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-23T01:30:32.247Z
Answers.Text: Prevent entirely? Probably not - but you wouldn't *want* that either, @Monica. In a "catastrophic failure" scenario, popping a cap is preferable to breaking the bottle itself. Under normal conditions, the fermentation produces *juust* enough pressure to give the wine/beer a nice sparkling carbonation and the cap a satisfying "pop" - the over-cap would need only to keep it in place long enough for you to enjoy it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Shog9
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-22T17:53:02.120Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-22T17:53:02.120Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: object88
Body: <p>Some beers, like Lindemann's lambics, come in a bottle that resembles a champaigne bottle (but smaller), with a cork -- <em>and</em> a bottlecap.  What does the cap add to this?  Why is it there?</p>
  
  <p>(By "resembles a champaigne bottle" I mean the glass is thicker and the bottom has that "indent" characteristic of bottles whose contents are under higher-than-normal pressure.)</p>
  
Tags: <bottling>
Title: What's the benefit of cap “and” cork?
UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
ThreadText: # What's the benefit of cap “and” cork?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-22)
  
  Some beers, like Lindemann's lambics, come in a bottle that resembles a champaigne bottle (but smaller), with a cork -- *and* a bottlecap. What does the cap add to this? Why is it there?
  
  (By "resembles a champaigne bottle" I mean the glass is thicker and the bottom has that "indent" characteristic of bottles whose contents are under higher-than-normal pressure.)
  
  **Tags:** bottling
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-01-22. Score: 8 | Accepted answer
  
  The bottle cap has the same purpose as a wire cage-- to ensure that the cork doesn't pop itself under the bottle's interior pressure.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I hadn't realized that the pressure could do that.  (I guess, now that you mention it, champaigne does tend to have wire cages, though most wines don't.)  But is a cap really strong enough to prevent that?  
  > **username_1**: I don't have direct experience in bottling that beer, or beers of that nature, but apparently so.  I think it's mostly precautionary, and probably a small cost to prevent accidents (and a poor reputation).  
  > **username_2**: Prevent entirely? Probably not - but you wouldn't *want* that either, @Monica. In a "catastrophic failure" scenario, popping a cap is preferable to breaking the bottle itself. Under normal conditions, the fermentation produces *juust* enough pressure to give the wine/beer a nice sparkling carbonation and the cap a satisfying "pop" - the over-cap would need only to keep it in place long enough for you to enjoy it.  
  
  ---
  
  