I got a box of these 375ml bottles from a family member and can likely get a few more every month. Are they safe to cork? the little Asti bottles are screw-top the others have the push-in “corks”
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Can these bottles be safely corked?
- Thread starter ChuckD
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The ones with reinforced (thicker) glass at the mouth should be fine. Anything with a screwcap, don't -- the glass is too thin and not designed to handle the stress of corking, and can shatter.
EDIT -- on second thought, compare the size of the mouths to regular wine bottles. If they are the same size, good. If they are larger the cork may not seal, and if smaller you may have difficulty getting a cork in, especially with corkers less than a floor corker.
EDIT -- on second thought, compare the size of the mouths to regular wine bottles. If they are the same size, good. If they are larger the cork may not seal, and if smaller you may have difficulty getting a cork in, especially with corkers less than a floor corker.
The push-in corked bottles are the same… maybe a few thousandths bigger than a wine bottle. The Asti bottles were smaller so they will be recycled.
These are going to be real handy for judging when aging wines are “ready”. And for those specialty wines like cherry chocolate habenero.
Especially for short term use, they should be fine
You keep dropping little tid bits around the forum, got a recipe worked out, yet?
Nope. I need to grow peppers first. I’ll probably try a gallon of cherry chocolate this summer when the cherries are ripe in Door County.
Why short term?
If the corks are loose, air will get in faster. if it's only a few thousandth, it's not a problem. #9 corks have filled every wine-type bottle I've used.
I try to be cautious on advice, as I can't directly see what I'm advising on.
* a few thousandths will not make any difference, if the cork goes in it works. You will see more difference in synthetic vs natural cork, if concerned on shelf life use Nomacork. Using synthetic I see no problem on the weird neck bottles but I have a problem if I am putting natural cork in the weird bottles
* we periodically have screw neck bottles which show up in contest/ state fair with a cork in them. My guess is the risk is in the range of one per 10,000 or 100,000
* I dropped off collected bottles to state fair this week. Wood’s were in what looked like a 28mm screw cap, 28 mm caps are available here and Wood was buying his caps in Wausau. ,,,, an industry point of view, screw cap threads are pretty well standardized based on mm (and pitch)
* you have a gold mine if you can get a few food grade 375s every month.
* we periodically have screw neck bottles which show up in contest/ state fair with a cork in them. My guess is the risk is in the range of one per 10,000 or 100,000
* I dropped off collected bottles to state fair this week. Wood’s were in what looked like a 28mm screw cap, 28 mm caps are available here and Wood was buying his caps in Wausau. ,,,, an industry point of view, screw cap threads are pretty well standardized based on mm (and pitch)
* you have a gold mine if you can get a few food grade 375s every month.
I don't know the failure rate, but if a bottle shatters during corking, glass flies. It's probably less dangerous with a floor corker, but with a double-lever corker or a cheaper one, force is going down, the hands and wrists are close to the glass and moving in that direction, so the likelihood of injury is significant.
There is as much danger pulling the cork, and the likelihood of injury is higher, due to the direction of forces (depending on corkscrew or corkpull), and the proximity to hands and wrists.
Also note that the inside of a screwcap bottle is not usually straight like a corkable bottle, as it doesn't need to be. The likelihood of a bad seal is correspondingly higher.
I use screwcap bottles for short term (1-2 month) storage, using the original cap, tightened hard. I turn the bottle upside down for a day to check for leaks.
As with everything else, a person's risk tolerance is the biggest factor. Mine is obviously low in this regard.
I purchased 2 cases of the Costco wine advent calendar, netting me 48 Bordeaux style 375 ml bottles. About half are green, most of the other half are clear, with some clear screwcaps.
I use screwcap bottles for liqueurs such are amaretto and coffee. They work well.
Next November I'll probably buy 2 more. While the bottles are a very nice bonus, it gives me the opportunity to try obscure wines from regions not commonly sold in the USA.
Another possibility for corking would be to use plastic tasting corks. They are good for nearly a year, and would work for "sampling" bottles. Reusable and handy.
I’ll need to add a spacer block to my floor corker for the little buggers.
What kind of floor corker do you have?
Mine is the blue Italian, purchased in 1989. The platform for the bottle is spring loaded and it handles anything from 375 ml to 1.5 liter.
franc1969
Senior Member
The small screw top bottles- the lids look the same as those I got- LaMarca and something else sparkling, then some sparkling water. Mostly the same as any tamper proof bottle. I bought new lids, because I like the blue bottles and the dark sparkling type. Brew places, including amazon sellers, Fillmore Container, etc. small quantities are higher $. SKS will send limited samples, you can check. They sell to consumers but what I got will last for years. Fillmore I get jar lids, shipping is high since showroom closed. Also easy to find lower prices on 28/400 and 38/400 lids. Those are usual on screwtop wine bottles and jugs.
www.sks-bottle.com
Item was 2013-28
28-350 black pp ribbed tamper evident closure, linerless 144/bag
The others are probably like a distilled spirits stopper. I bought those too, bag not as handy for info. If you get these a lot, useful to have. I ordered some tops to use as oil or vinegar bottles, which they often are.
www.sks-bottle.com
Item was 2013-28
28-350 black pp ribbed tamper evident closure, linerless 144/bag
The others are probably like a distilled spirits stopper. I bought those too, bag not as handy for info. If you get these a lot, useful to have. I ordered some tops to use as oil or vinegar bottles, which they often are.
They are. The bottles with square shoulders had flavored vodka and the round shoulder ones had premixed vodka drinks. I save the spirits stoppers for temporarily corking wine bottles in the fridge but they don’t seal well enough for long term storage.
@winemaker81 I got a
Portuguese floor corker for Xmas and the bottle holder won’t raise high enough. It’s an easy fix.
