Corking a bottle

Newbie here again. A friend of mine who used to make wine a lot was telling me that I should put the cork in with a piece of wire (thin

22ga) running beside it to let the air out. After you press the cork in you pull the wire out.

Anyone heard of doing this? His arguement was that the pressure in the bottle will push the cork out. Knowing how much effort it takes to pull a cork out I'm thinking that would have to be a hell of a lot pressure.

Reply to
Marty Phee
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There will only be pressure if the wine is still fermenting, and indeed, if that's the case, the pressure WILL be great enough to push the cork out. But if the wine is stable, i.e. no more fermentation, then you don't need to worry about letting the air out. Plus, I use #9 corks in all of my bottles, and that's too tight of a fit to get even a 22 gauge wire out I think.

Van

Reply to
Van DeWald

The wire will score the side of the cork leaving a very direct path for air to enter the bottle.

Reply to
JF

My understanding is that it takes a day or two for cork corks to swell out and seal the bottle. That is why the bottles should be left upright for a couple of days. The air compressed under the cork when the cork is inserted seeps out the sides.

Synthetic corks apparently swell out much quicker. As a result, if there is insufficient headspace under a synthetic cork, the compressed air will push the cork up. YES, I have seen it happen.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Waller

Yeah, that's what happened to me my first time. I had made some wine from table grapes and bread yeast, and I left "about" half an inch of space between wine and where the cork "ought to" have reached. Simply put, I didn't leave enough head space, and the compressed air forced the cork from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch or more out of the bottle. This wasn't great wine, so I just trimmed it off.

The next time, I carefully measured out 750 mL of wine, poured it into the bottle, then corked. I've had no problems, and I've learned by eye what is the proper headspace. It simply is more space than a noob would think. I was caught up in the "don't leave too much air space" and I had too few bottles for all my wine. Measureing out 750 mL into a wine bottle can be a pretty eye-opening experience the first time it happens.

I don't think wire, or string as I usually heard about it, is needed to help bleed out air under the cork during the corking process.

Reply to
ralconte

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded feasable to me. Aubrey

Reply to
atjo

Ok, we get the point you can stop posting the message.

Either way it is unnecessary. You leave the bottle standing upright for a day or two after corking to let the pressure escape. The added wire or fishline is just added work.

Reply to
Droopy

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