My first 28 bottles..

[hamy]

...Went well I think ..still not tasted it , too scared to after spending too much of my wife's money to get to where I am now!

I am a little worried about the corking process. I am re using screw top bottles, as I had been keeping some back for this first batch but the neck sizes seem to differ a lot. I bought a hand corker and had some tapered synthetic and some straight corks to use with these bottles.

Some bottles..with force I could get a straight cork into and the others I had to use the synthetic type, some felt loose and others (straight) were very tight? So as per Kenridge instructions I will leave them for 24-48 hrs upright and then (my choice -heat foil caps onto them) then lay down to mature...about a week in my world!

Can you please suggest an all in one solution to this as I will be recycling bought screw top and cork bottles for my new home made wine hobby?

Should I invest in a proper hand corker and if so which corks to use?

 

[Runningwolf]

You may want to check into Zorks.

 

[cpfan]

hamy...

the normal suggestion is not to use screw cap bottles. You should read some of the threads on this topic. Especially about bottles breaking and damage to fingers/hand.

A floor corker can usually put corks into a greater variety of bottles than a hand corker. But that may mean that it will push a #9 cork into a narrower necked bottle increasing the odds of it breaking.

I don't know if Zorks are available in the UK. There were some comments from 2008-2009 on them on the UK based forum that I visit, but most of the info seemed to be coming from three North Americans.

Steve

 

[Arne]

I can't believe you made it all the way thru bottling without tasting. The smell of the wine and the way it tastes are two great tools with winemaking. Anyway once it starts getting towards the end of the ferment and you start thinking about sweetening and bottling, I always do some tasting. Even if not sweetening, I would taste it to get an idea if I am going to like the wine or not. Besides, I am making it to drink not look at. LOL, Arne.

 

[hamy]

Kenridge classic Shiraz

..bugger!

just sampled the first bottle , completely, and it's fantastic!

if I were posh I would say... it needs a little more time as it it rich in (something) tannin maybe but what an experience! nothing like the local tesco (supermarket) and I will be giving this a few more weeks until the next tasting as I have a cheaper cab sav on the go at the moment.

A great first batch experience .. is it just me or do they all have more of an effect compared with the bought variety?

Cheers

 

[Wiz]

You can keep posting not to use screw top bottles for corks but if people will not use the "search" feature of our forum they will never learn not to do so.

 

[Wade E]

Please , please do not use screw top bottles with corks!

 

[millwright01]

You should try to find some other bottles. Using corks in screw tops can be very dangerous. On another note, glad you like it. That is one monster wine glass or some cool trick photography!!