Wax Sealing Bottles

[lonte]

I have read/heard somewhere that someone (John Palmer of "howtobrew.com" fame, maybe) uses sealing wax around the caps of bottles he plans to keep for a long time. I am planning a Barley Wine in the next few months and thought that I'd like to preserve it over the years and that the sealing would help prevent over-oxidising.

Anyone have any idea where to get sealing wax, what different types there might be, and which ones best to use? I am pretty sure that an unscented one has to be the go (assuming they can come scented?) and given that the wax really never comes in contact with the beer any old wax might work but thought I'd throw it open to anyone who might have played with this before.

Prost! Lonte.

 

[crozdog]

newer done it myself, however mum always used regular unscented parafin (candle) wax on top of her jams.

 

[kevnlis]

Buy a cheap bag of tea candles (they are unscented, uncoloured and easy to break apart), break the wax from the casing and wick and put it in a saucepan on the stove. Melt the wax (maybe 2cm deep), invert the bottles and dip them several times allowing them to cool for a few seconds between each dip.

 

[newguy]

I've seen the stuff in homebrew supply stores before, particularly the ones that turn over their wine kits in a short period of time. Sorry, no tips as I've never used it.

If the stuff in homebrew stores is more expensive than ordinary parafin wax, use parafin.

 

[barls]

i do it on my meads that i cork. i got mine from ether b3 or northernbrewer

 

[barls]

oh and also if your going to do it use a water bath to heat the wax other wise its hard to get the right temp

 

[Paul H]

I have read/heard somewhere that someone (John Palmer of "howtobrew.com" fame, maybe) uses sealing wax around the caps of bottles he plans to keep for a long time. I am planning a Barley Wine in the next few months and thought that I'd like to preserve it over the years and that the sealing would help prevent over-oxidising.

Reminds me of the words of a wise Eskimo "there's nothing better than a tight seal"

 

[Simon W]

Dunno if candle wax will do it for you, it's a little hard and brittle. The wax I've seen on some bottles is pretty flexible and rubbery, maybe there's a plasticiser additive available for candle-wax?

 

[Simon W]

http://www.jaxwax.com.au/5.html
http://www.australianwaxco.com.au/specialtywaxes.html

 

[Beer Guy]

lordell trading in NSW do a wax perfect for the job. it is about 20 bucks for a big block of the stuff just heat it in a double boiler and dip then dip bttl into icy cold water for a lovely sheen.

 

[tcraig20]

Never tried it, but I'd be a bit cautious about parafin wax. It's pretty much solid kerosene - not the kind of flavour that I'd want to accidentally end up in my beer. But then again, they pack cheese in it no problem, so maybe Im wrong there.

If I were to do it, Id probably use palm wax for a few reasons. Its natural, the missus makes palm wax candles, so there's a stack of it around here, and it's safer than parafin (higher flash point).

 

[lonte]

i do it on my meads that i cork. i got mine from ether b3 or northernbrewer

Found it at Northern Brewer, I guess that's a fallback if I can't find it locally.

 

[barls]

not a problem i got it as i had an order anyway so i just added it. there was somewhere in oz that was stocking it but i cant remember where but ill have a look at the book marks