1. Home
  2. Winemaking Craft Forum
  3. Need Corking Help

Need Corking Help

My first attempt to cork my wine bottles resulted in a lot of shredded corks.

I have an "Itallian wing corker" with 2 levers and a tapered channel - with a metal plunger that pushes the cork into the bottle.

I am using #9 1 3/4' "super corks" that I soaked in water for a few hours. I put them in the corker, set the corker on the bottle and bring the wings down. I've tried it fast and slow. What seems to happen is the top of the cork rips in a ring. Sometimes the lower portion of the cork gets messed up as well.

I also tried it with a dry cork with the same result. Finally, I tried an Altec cork with the same result.

Is there a technique with using this corker, or is this particular corker prone to this problem?

Reply to
Jeffrey Hallett
Loading thread data ...

Jeff, I would and do use a floor corker. For one thing its much easier. On the down side it cost more. Ask around and you may find a fellow wine maker who has one. If someone I know asked and was close by I would let him / her borrow it. Tom

Home of the Mo> My first attempt to cork my wine bottles resulted in a lot of shredded > corks.

Reply to
tepe

Jeff,

It's the corker, we had one a long time ago. Sorry, you have done everything most people do to get it to work; it's just not a good design for a corker.

If you are looking for an inexpensive hand corker take a look at the Ferrari Gilda. It has an iris to compress the cork. It's still a bit of a pain to use, but it works much better. It is hard to keep everything lined up as you drive the cork in; the bottle can try to move like the one you used. It can't do synthetics either.

The best inexpensive floor or bench corker I have seen is the portuguese one with a plastic iris. It will compress any cork. If you do 375 ml bottles you may need a little shim, it doesn't fit those well without one. I use a Polar water cap, it's perfect. (It does not miss by much, you only need another 1/4 inch.)

The Gilda is around $20 to $30US, the floor corker around $60.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.