boy, you'd think I have nothing better to do but think up questions all day.....
anyway, while reading some older posts. I noticed someone mentioning sealing their corked bottles with beeswax.
to me that sounded like a good idea, although i'd probably just use normal parafin. any pro's/con's?
There's no reason to seal your bottles. Some do it for cosmetic reasons, but it's purely optional.
I guess there may be some advantage if you were going to store it for 100 years, but mine never lasts that long. SWMBO starts drinking it as soon as it's decent. Since I haven't seen any commercial wineries that do it, I'd have to guess it's not necessary.
They used to do that to keep the mold from growing on a cork when stored in the damp, like a cave. Same reason they used lead capsules.
Joe
I use bottle wax on wine I plan to age a year or more. The trick is to use the right temperature. If you get it too hot, the wax will stick to the bottle and you have a tough time getting it off. High temperature can also de-color the wax. If you have patience and heat the wax slowly, you can get it off easily by just slipping a knife blade underneath and slipping it off. It can then be re-used.
It's to protect the cork and stop it from drying out, shrinking, crumbling etc. Pretty much the same reason that wine is stored tilted over so that the wine is in contact with the cork on the inside of the bottle. If the cork is allowed to degrade, you get bits of crap in your wine and create the possibility of air/bacteria getting in and ruining the wine.
Mike
Mike
Paraffin is a lot cheaper.
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