Sterilising Corks: Aseptox?

From all the posts in this newsgroup, and several websites, i'd suggest just rinse them with water, or a light santitizer. Don't boil or soak.

DAve

Alan Smithee wrote:

Thx DAve.

For goodness sakes do not boil them. I followed instructions in a well respected wine book to boil corkes for 2 or 3 min's and every one of them failed. Boiling will turn the inside of the cork to mush, breaking down the very structure of the cork. Wine will leak from the bottle. If they were properly sealed up when you got them, they should not need sanitizing. Comercial wineeries do nothing to their corks. If you buy in bulk and use them over a period of time, just store them properly and they will never need sanizing. To store unused corks, put them in an extra sealed bucket with an open wine bottle 1/2 filled with sanitizing solution standing in the bucket. Do not put the solution directly on the corks. The solution will evaporate and prevent any nasties from living in there and keep the corks at the correct mosture content to be ready for use next time.

Ray

Never boil, spritzing with anything that can come in contact with the wine is not a bad idea; a little moisture can act as a lubricant. I use a sulfite/acid solution. I usually have a quart spray bottle of this around. I'ts a 1/% sulfite >1/2% TA solution. The acid is usually citric because it's cheap.

The microwave sounds a little iffy to me too.

Joe