# Who Corks Their Beers/mead/wines



## barls (14/11/06)

ok ive been thinking of starting to do this with my meads and belgians, does anyone do this already?
and if so what are you using and where are you getting supplies from.
cheers in advance


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## tangent (14/11/06)

we cork our wines and it makes bottling beer look like a load of fun.
sure, the look of proper corks in punt bottles would look awesome with a Belgian inspired beer, but after rooting around with corks I'd never deliberately use them if I could whack on a crown seal.


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## barls (14/11/06)

ok i wouldnt be doing a whole batch just a couple of bottles each time just as something different and my mead batches are only 5L each at the moment


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## Screwtop (14/11/06)

barls said:


> ok ive been thinking of starting to do this with my meads and belgians, does anyone do this already?
> and if so what are you using and where are you getting supplies from.
> cheers in advance




Use natural cork for my mead, use a hand corker, only a bottle here and there as I leave it in the fermenter and bottle as needed, seems to mellow with age. A bit of a PITA soaking a couple of corks in sanitiser and then going through the whole exercise, have reused wine bottles with stelvin closures, thats easier.


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## MHB (14/11/06)

I always cork mead; I use a premium natural cork as I expect some of these will be down for up to 5 years, then a heat shrink capsule, just for looks.
Mead is a labour of love so using the best and dressing up the bottle is for me the way to go.

There is something right about champagne punts for big Belgian styles, but champagne corks are a PITA to fit without a special corker, these cost, so plastic plugs and a wire cage is a good compromise, foil it if you want to get fancy.

The plastic plugs can be recycled so you are only up for the cost of the cage,

All of the above should be available at any good HBS, or they can order them in.

MHB


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## barls (14/11/06)

im looking at one of these from northern brewer





just because they will do both the normal and the belgian style corks.
any thoughts on it


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## tangent (14/11/06)

i've used one with synthetic corks and they sucked but the machinery is pretty good, should do cork corks ok. it's all in the prep and machinery with cork


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## barls (14/11/06)

cool anyone else


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## warrenlw63 (14/11/06)

A compromise I've been thinking of for Belgians to compensate for the cost of a champagne-type corker is to maybe cork the champagne bottle with a regular wine cork then just put a triage cap over the top to stop the cork pushing out. You see the odd belgian beer done this way and you'd still get the supposed benefits of the cork.

I suppose if you're adventurous and want the gradual O2 exchange (I think?) a cork affords you it would be possible to punch a hole in the centre of the triage caps. This would allow for the diffusion and the cork (should) still remain in place.

Note: I've not tried this (yet).

Warren -


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## barls (15/11/06)

ok correction on my earlier post apparently it wont do the belgian corks, but what the hell im sure i can make it work with a little bit of playing around


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## bconnery (15/11/06)

I read an article a while back on the whole process by Johnny Lieberman from the Maltese Falcon Homebrew club in the US I think it was (it was from the beer advocate site that I found it so I'm assuming...)

Certainly those guys are into their big beers and really experimenting so you should be able to find info there...

I could be remembering the wrong place for the article, but if you search beer advocate for corking, champagne or similar combos you should find something. 

The Ruthless brewing is interesting anyway for anyone who wants to make big beers and experiment...

Beer Advocate

Ruthless Brewing (Johnny Lieberman's site)

Maltese Falcons


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## tangent (15/11/06)

> want the gradual O2 exchange (I think?) a cork affords you


 that's a whole different pandoras box you're opening Warren. Some people believe it's the O2 left in the neck that changes the wine, some wineries flush the neck with an inert gas, most wineries hate corks because 10% of their wines are [email protected]#ked because of them. The wine research institute did a test and the old crown seals with cork underneath (from memory) were the best. It really seems the biggest + for corks is the "pop, wow" factor.

Barls - the equipment you posted a pic of has some parts at the top that squash the cork from the sides as it pushes it down, so normal corks - no problem, but the cool Champers corks are no good. I've seen the equipment used to insert and cage the corks and it honestly doesn't look easy to engineer a simple version at home. I'd think about using a triage cap and maybe wrapping that in wax or foil or something to disguise the fact it's just a big crown seal.

edit - typo


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## pint of lager (15/11/06)

Besides beer, I brew fruit wines and meads.

We have a corker similar to the one you have pictured, but the larger floor based model rather than the mini. It is used on wine bottles and works a treat. 

You place a sanitised cork in the jaws and a bottle on the round table. As you pull the handle down, the table comes up and is firmly positioned under the jaws, then the cams in the jaws compress the cork so that it is narrower than the neck, then as the lever moves further down the cork is pushed into the bottle. Quick, almost effortless and easy. 

The elcheapo small plastic handcorker does work too, it would be ok for the occaisional small 5 litre brew.

After seeing Weisguy's contribution to the NSW swap case with punt bottles, have lashed out and bought some seals and a tirage bell for the superautomatica bench capper.


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## tangent (15/11/06)

on the rare occasions that i do bottle, 95% goes into punt bottles (a few magnums as well) then a few 500ml bottles and a few 330ml bottles.
I taste the 330's about every month until it's ready then I start with the bigger bottles and so on until the very last and oldest bottles are the magnums. Great wow factor.


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## barls (15/11/06)

cheers guys i think ill just get this one and start capping my belgians with the triage caps


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## Barramundi (14/12/06)

the triage are the way to go barls , im using them and champers bottles for brews now , just a bit of a look thing for xmas beers etc but i do like the idea of the cork and cap thing , be a pig if you forget the corkscrew though ...

guys excuse my ignorange but what do you mean by Punt bottles ??


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## tangent (14/12/06)

punt is a sparkling wine bottle with a big bump in the arse of it.
something to do with the pressure. 
we'd call it a champagne bottle, but then it's got to come from the champagne region in France.
you don't use a corkscrew on a champers bottle


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## Barramundi (14/12/06)

gotcha tangent cheers mate thats what i thought it was , you would use a corkscrew if you corked it with a standard wine cork as per warrenL's suggestion earlier and put a triage cap on top ...


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## tangent (14/12/06)

sorry Barra yes
you could also get a cork filled cap, i know they used to make them in a standard size.


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## Finite (8/2/07)

Sorry for starting up an old thread but i didnt want to start a new one for a simple question.



Can you use empty white wine bottles to bottle mead with? I have a few and would like to make a batch of mead then fill them and cork them.


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## Tyred (8/2/07)

I would assume you could but I would be concerned about oxidation if the glass was clear.


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## KoNG (8/2/07)

Blake, as Tyred says.. green bottles would be better. Do you have corker.? i've heard the home corkers can be a pain.? but i'd like to try it... maybe with a big english barleywine

i can probably spare you a crate or 2 of champagne bottles if you want to use them instead...
LMK


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## barls (11/2/07)

Blake said:


> Sorry for starting up an old thread but i didnt want to start a new one for a simple question.
> 
> 
> 
> Can you use empty white wine bottles to bottle mead with? I have a few and would like to make a batch of mead then fill them and cork them.


this is what ive just done with a couple of small batches so ill let you know how it goes when i get a chance in a couple of months


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## barls (20/6/07)

they are still sitting in the bottles must try one this weekend i think.
im actually about to start a trail tomorrow with the corker seeing if i can do the belgian bottles with some carbonation in side. there will be 3 of the same bottles. 1 will be still and corked, the 2nd will be sparkling and corked and caged, the third will be capped with a triage cap(being my control)
ill let you know as time goes and ill put up pics as well later after ive bottled them tomorrow


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## tangent (20/6/07)

> I would be concerned about oxidation if the glass was clear.


 clear glass isn't air tight?


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## barls (20/6/07)

tangent said:


> clear glass isn't air tight?


its a good one isnt it mate. i missed that earlier


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## barls (21/6/07)

ok guys there has been a revision ie there was not enough for 3 bottles actually there was barely enough for 2 bottles. so the still corked has been scrapped.
here my practice bottle just to see if i could do it and leave a bit out the top





here is the two bottles side by side




here is a close up of the corking with cage


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## Airgead (21/6/07)

Blake said:


> Can you use empty white wine bottles to bottle mead with? I have a few and would like to make a batch of mead then fill them and cork them.



Sure can. I do it all the time. Pretty much all my meads are bottled and corked. Empty wine bottles are ideal as long as there is no carbonation required. they aren't designed to hold pressure like a beer or champagne bottle and they crack under quite low pressure. Some of the newer wine bottles with stelvin (screw cap) closures are a bit dodgy too. They look like crap with a cork in them and some of them don't have a parallel neck to get a good seal with the cork. 

Cheers
Dave


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## barls (1/7/07)

ok heres a quick update the corked bottle has pushed the cork out and has taken the slack out of the cage and is now pressed tight, it might even mushroom but im looking forward to the belgian corks ive got in the post


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## barls (14/12/07)

i took a bottle that was corked and a bottle that was capped of the isb gold to the last isb meeting and there wasnt any difference the cork had started mushroom though and no taste differences could be notice by anyone. ill bring the corked cyser to the next one anyway


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## sinkas (16/2/09)

SO barls did you end up successfuly corking using that corker (the northern brewer one), or did you get another?

are the cages blegian specific, or did you just use champagne ones?


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## porky (16/2/09)

Did you have to soak the cork?


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## barls (16/2/09)

yes i did mate. im up to about 150 bottles now.
i use the ones from more beer with the cages from there as well.
i could locate the ones with the cap in australia. if anyone knows of a source id be interested to know, though i did buy like a couple of hundred when i bought last time.
i recently bottled the braggot from the isb brewday,


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## barls (16/2/09)

the olny thing ive found is i cant do the 1.5 magniums as the just dont quite fit under using this method.


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## toncils (23/2/14)

Am I right to believe those plastic threaded corks don't require special equipment?

I've got a 9+%. I don't want to drink it too fast (three or more years), so standard beer caps will rust. I also don't like the idea of putting strong beer with plastic corks for so long.
This means I should bite the bullet and buy a corkering contraption?


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## Mr. No-Tip (23/2/14)

Will normal caps really rust in that time?

I have been tempted to buy one of these since seeing at ANHC 3: http://www.homemakeit.com.au/products/champagne-corker-with-muselet-applicator-ti-tappo

But given the infrequency of my champagning, and the frequency at which I drink the brews I do bottle, I haven't been able to justify it. I've currently got a RIS and EBW on the go though. I had intended to do a standard bottling - my champagne use tends to be driven by high carb rather than expected long age. Rust is concerning though.


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## mje1980 (23/2/14)

I've been using the plastic corks for the last few months. Really happy with how they're going. Not as fancy looking as cork but so easy to use. Haven't re used them but I guess if sanitised they'd be fine. I use champagne bottles for funky beers mainly though, so I just throw the cork out when done. Pretty impressive popping open a bottle with that sound !!

Why are you worried about plastic corks??


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## barls (23/2/14)

Plastic would be fine I've got beers that we were originally talking about that are still going with the normal corks


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## toncils (23/2/14)

Mr. No-Tip said:


> Will normal caps really rust in that time?


Yeah, my bro swung me some 3-4 year olds which were pretty rusty on top. Don't recall if the rust spreads underneath.

It's a strong one, don't want that alcohol breaking down into my beer.

Did anyone get good resulting using port corks?


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## barls (23/2/14)

Wrong sort of cork in the port cork. You want something like the Belgian or champagne cork as they hold pressure better for beer. Saying that you could possible get away with the post corks for still meads


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## JDW81 (23/2/14)

toncils said:


> Am I right to believe those plastic threaded corks don't require special equipment?
> 
> I've got a 9+%. I don't want to drink it too fast (three or more years), so standard beer caps will rust. I also don't like the idea of putting strong beer with plastic corks for so long.
> This means I should bite the bullet and buy a corkering contraption?


I've got a couple of large chimay bottles which I seal with plastic corks all the time. Simply sanitise, jam into the bottle and tighten a wire cage around the top. East as and no special equipment required.


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## Batz (23/2/14)

If your worried about rust you could always wax the caps, that's what I have been doing.


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## Mr. No-Tip (23/2/14)

Is that a view or a painting, Batz?


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## Batz (23/2/14)

Mr. No-Tip said:


> Is that a view or a painting, Batz?



It's a photo I took from Mt Wolvi, looking back to my place.

Our place is the small speck in the middle of the photo. It looks quite low looking down form the mountain, but we are actually quite high.


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## toncils (23/2/14)

Batz said:


> If your worried about rust you could always wax the caps, that's what I have been doing.


AHA! So wax prevents rust. Makes perfect sense really.
Do you bother using tape/string around the cap?

I'll bottle it all in ginger beer bottles, as was the plan, and wax the tops. Might make a seal for laughs.
Thanks all.


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## Alex.Tas (24/2/14)

Looks good batz, do you use 'proper' bottle sealing wax? I used a mixture of crayons and hot glue gun sticks. I'll have a look at my notes later to see the ratio i used. 
To seal my still mead i put one of those small corks with a plastic 'lid' on it, like the ones you get on whisky bottles. Then melted up my crayons and glue on the BBQ, or the stove inside if the mrs wasn't at home and then dipped the bottles in. Give it a little twist and there you go! you can add more glue if you want the max to be thicker/shinier too. The hotter it is when you apply it, it will be thinner/runnier too.
Sorry about the image size, i'm not too sure how to change it.


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