cant open wine decanter

Cool it off in the fridge and then carefully poor hot water round the outside of neck. With luck it will come free and the glass will not crack.

"Bill Davy" wrote in news:c8foan$epi$1 @sparta.btinternet.com:

Another version of that is to ice the stopper while keeping the bottle as warm as possible.

You guys scare me. Cooling in the fridge and then hot water on the neck sounds like a sure recipe for cracked crystal.

Here's my solution. The stopper is stuck because the decanter was rinsed in warm water, then stoppered and has now cooled. The cooling has created a slight vacuum in the decanter. Simply rinse the decanter in warm water (hold it under the tap) long enough to raise the temperature of the air inside. Increased pressure from expanded air should aid in pushing the stopper out.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Ed, It's not a partial vacuum that's responsible for the problem. Rather, the hot crystal expands and the opening of the decanter expands to a greater extent than the stopper. When the stopper is placed into the top of a hot decanter, it fits in at a lower level and, when cooled, fits so snugly that it can't be removed. In fact, some "frozen" ground glass joints have been shown to chemically bond together. The best approach is to use a blow dryer to heat the OUTSIDE of the decanter sufficiently to remove the stopper. The odds are at best 50% for such a venture, though. Breakage is the other likely outcome.

Mark Lipton (veteran of oh too many frozen ground glass joints)