Hi, I'm making my first batch of wine and I have a quick question about corking. I used a hand corker from a brew shop and was generally pleased, except that on a few bottles the corks haven't gone in all the way. I would say that about a 1/4 of the cork is out of the bottle in the most extreme case. So, my question is what should I do? Should I buy more corks and re-cork them, or will they be ok?
Thanks,
- Brad
You could recork them, but if it were me, i would just drink those bottles first. If you plan to continue making more and more wine (believe me, the when the bug hits, it's hard not to) I would highly recommend you spend the money for a Portuguese or Italian Floor Corker. It does a great and consistant job getting those corks in.
--Greg
Thanks for replying fellas, it saved me an extra trip to the brew shop (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). I think if I ever had more than one batch going at the same time, I would have to get that floor corker. By the way, I just finished a kit Shiraz and the stuff is surprisingly drinkable. I can't wait to see what it tastes like after some aging.
- Brad
Someone already mentioned that the fill level in the bottles might have been too high, and the corks got pushed out. However, if the corks just didn't go all the way in, I use the brute-force method! Turn the bottle upside down with the cork on a counter, and push on the bottom of the bottle. It should slide in with not too much effort.
And, as already mentioned, floor corkers are definitely the way to go, if that's an option for next time.
Hope this helps,
-Walter
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