Horizontal vs Vertical long term storage

I am uncertain of the science in this case, but the best advices I have been given are to store on the side, regardless of sleeves/wax, lest the cork dry out over time. Storing in a humid atmosphere, and allowing the wine to remain in contact with the bottom of the cork, are the best means of preventing the cork from drying out.

"Casey Wils> After having done it once, I'm a proponent for dipping my freshly

You can get the benefit of cases + preventing the corks from drying by storing the bottles upside down in cases.

Pp

Absolutely, store them upside down if you want to keep them in cases. Real corks need to be wet.

Joe

Dipping in wax? wow, I've not heard of this. I Googled to find the type of wax (wine making stores have it by the pound), but no instructions.

What do you put it in to melt it? I'd guess it ruins the container? Over the stove or microwave or what?

Is it messy to get off? Like shatters or comes off by peeling with a knife?

Like I said, I googled, but didn't see much on technique. I'd like to try this on my up coming Cab Sauv. Just to be different from my normal shrinkwraps.

DAve p.s. S> After having done it once, I'm a proponent for dipping my freshly

"Dave Allison" wrote in message news:wjS_h.11343$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

First of all, NEVER work on this kind of stuff alone, if for no other reason than safety. If my wife or a pal isn't around, I put the job off. They only have to be close enough to hear me scream if I screw up. Which, by the way, I never have. But I didn't make it to age 72 by taking unnecessary chances either.

I don't know whether this is right or wrong, it's just the way I do it.

Here's what I do.... I melt the wax in a one-pint canning jar (Mason, Ball, Kerr - because they will take the heat and cooling cycles, plus you can screw a lid on it when you get finished) in a saucepan with water. It is also convenient for storing your left-over wax. I have two, one for red wax and one for gold. I start with everything cool, fill the canning jar with the wax pellets, put that in the sauce pan with enough water to come about 2/3 of the way up the jar and turn the fire up to about medium high. Since the boiling water won't get over 212°F, I suppose you could start out with the heat on high. I've poured boiling sugar mixes that were hotter than 250° into those jars while making jams and jellies so don't worry about the jars. As the wax melts, the level will drop lower in the jar and I keep adding more wax. As the water boils, it will evaporate so I keep adding more water. When you dip the bottles into the wax, you want enough thermal energy mass so the wax doesn't chill. While the wax is melting, I make sure the necks of the bottles are clean and fingerprint free for two or three inches from the top. When the wax is ready to go, I simply dip the neck of the bottle into the wax as far as looks good to me, count "One Elephant", lift the bottle out, turn it right side up and put it aside. I've experimented with multiple dipping and while it does make a thicker coating, One Elephant's worth suits me fine. If the wax in the jar gets too low, I add more -- and make sure I let it melt before I continue. Have fun, fiddle with it anyway you'd like. I have not found a good technique for making the wax run down the bottle in streamers like the folks at Maker's Mark do with their bourbon. If you'd like, you can use the foil cutting technique to remove a cap of wax off the top. When I'm ready to open a bottle, I simply drive the corkscrew through the wax and pull it out through the wax without cutting the top off. I have found it simple to remove the wax from an empty bottle by dipping the neck in cold water and flipping the wax off the glass with a paring knife. It does leave a thin, noticable film on the glass that washes off with no problem.

Good luck,

Thanks, Casey, this is good instructions. Makes sense to use canning jar, and the color gold sounds neat. I think I'll give it a try. Normally, my wife is my assistant on almost all my steps, especially bottling and finishing (label, shrink wrap, etc.). So I'll just have her have the fire extinguisher handy. smile.

DAve p.s. The label >> Dipping in wax? wow, I've not heard of this. I Googled to find the type of

On of the big California wineries was still applying wax plugs; maybe it's Berringer or Sterling. What they did was set the cork a little low, maybe 1/8" and then fill the void with wax. They also applied a seal while still molten to make it look cooler. I think they still did a clear over-wrap capsule over that.

While a wax seal certainly can't hurt you still want the wine side of the cork to stay wet. If you wanted to give the plug idea a shot you could go to a gun-shop and get a small bullet ladle. It might use a lot less wax.

Joe

Does the wax actually hermetically seal off the cork? All the wax- covered corks I've seen peel off the glass easily. And at the cork face, it is difficult to remove it in places off the face but frequently in the corners of the cork there's no real adherence between the cork and the wax.

For safety's sake, I'd store it as a un-waxed cork. I'd consider the wax just a more stylish version of the capsule over the cork.

Rob