Cork Question

[Guapo]

I have been using #9 X 1.50 agglomerate corks from FVW's because they
came with my wine kit (also from FVW). My problem is, man are they ever
tough to get out of the bottle! Do I need a smaller diameter? Am I
doing something wrong? I soak them for about ten minutes in K-meta
before bottling. I understand that there is a film on the corks to aid
in insertion and I do not need to soak for longer than a few minutes
(as it would remove the film). I am using a "Rabbit" corkscrew that my
daughter bought me as a gift. It is very adequate for un- corking.

Clark

 

[JimCook]

George had noted that the FVW 'Perfect Agglomerate' corks are coated with something that will help them leave the bottle as well as provide a better seal. While I can't find the original information on the forum to link here, he noted that soaking or excessively handling the corks will remove this film and can cause great resistance when attempting to get them out of the bottle.
I believe his recommendation was to pour some K-Meta over the corks as they sit in a strainer of some type so the K-Meta passes over but doesn't soak the corks before inserting them into a bottle. I have used this practice and while these corks will initially provide some resistance when I open a bottle, they do not take so much force that you would expect the bottle to break.


I believe that the soaking method was designed more for natural cork products to help them compress better when being inserted into the bottles. Using a floor corker, I haven't had a problem with compression even with un-soaked, almost dry corks.


Are you using a standard Bordeaux style 750 mL bottle?


- Jim

 

[rrussell]

make yourself a cork humidor which is just a container you can seal with a smaller container inside to hold your k-meta. put your corks around the smaller container and close the larger one. the fumes will sanitize your corks.

 

[grapeman]

The problem is you soaked them for 10 minutes. Do like Jim said, or rrussel. I take straight out of the bag and insert them using a floor corker. Since I started doing that, I haven't had a bad bottle and the corks come out much easier.