Cork In My Wine

[Waldo]

Well I could not get Bert to come give me a hand Saturday and I blew it. Seriously, I bottled a batch of Muscadine and Port

Both of which are stll young wines but had cleared sufficiently and I need the carboys. Anyway, after I got them all bottled, using my floor corker,

I went to cleaning the sulfite residue off them and saw little pieces of cork floating around in just dang near every one of them.

From the 50 bottles, I had 3 bottles of Muscadine and 6 bottles of the Port that I could not see any cork in. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I have already decanted the Muscadine, straining it through one of my "high tech" panty hose stretched over a funnel.

As I stated earlier, I was using a floor corker, wirth plastic iris and had soaked my corks about 10-15 minutes in sulfite solution. Normally I will just throw them in a bowl of sanitizer and slosh them around a bit but Saturday morning, I was bottling outside and put them in the solution and left them while I finished bottling. HAs anyone else experienced this?

 

[Wade E]

What temp was the solution?

 

[grapeman]

I've never seen this Waldo, especially with George's corks.
1.How long have you had them?
2.Are they new unopened bag or older?
3.Where were they stored?
4.Also check your iris on the corker and see if it has developed any dings or scratched that might compromise the cork when installed.


I'm impressed that you could see the pieces of cork. With my eyes those pieces would have gone un-noticed.


I know it was warm out this weekend, butbottling outside in January? How often does that happen down there-never up here!

 

[Bert]

Sorry I couldn't make it there to help....Did you see any scrape marks on the corks when you pulled them??? Or any sign of the corks just coming apart??

 

[Wade E]

Warm here! 74* on Sat. New record for Jan 6th.

 

[jsmahoney]

Waldo, I've placed my corks in sulfite solution and left them there during my bottling (30) bottles. I never thought anything about leaving them in the solution until reading this forum about soaking them to long, they get mushy and could fall apart. I haven't seen any cork parts floating. I'm sure they sat in the solution for 30-45 minutes. I'm a slow corker!

 

[Wade E]

Temp plays a big role on this also. The hotter the worse it is. I use
room temp and put them in 5 minutes before I'm ready to bottle.

 

[Waldo]

OK...More Info......This was like about 3:30 am. Temp was in upper 40's. I would have to go back and check to see exactly whenI got the corks but they were still sealed in the bag I got them in and had been stored inside in my plastic storage container. The Iris on the corker is smooth and I did not see any obvious damage on any of the corks as I removed them. The sides looked pretty smooth and intact. The only point ot interest may be that I could gently scratch across the bottom of the cork and pieces flaked off easily.

 

[grapeman]

Waldo, I think you should look them up and see when you got them. Maybe George has a record of the lot number he got them in so he can monitor any possible future problems with that particular batch. I know I bought a couple bags from my local shop when caught short and they were crap, wine bleeds through almost all the way and they split and break when removing the cork. I've always been happy with George's corks, but every manufacturer can have a problem from time to time. I'm sure they would like to be advised of any potential problems so they maybe corrected if it is a manufacturing problem.

 

[Waldo]

I just did appleman and it looks like I ordered them on 9/7/06. I will see what George has to offer as to what he thinks may have happened and will go from there.

 

[jobe05]

Waldo, sorry to read about your problem, and eagerly wait for a reason as to how this could have happened, and what can be done to prevent it. I had the same problem with my first bottling, only to find that there were many reasons, that as a newbie, couldn't (thats my story) have known. The corks came with my starter kit, so no telling how old they were, they were #9 and I was putting them in a small neck bottle with a hand corker without soaking the corks at all. Live and learn........

 

[Wade E]

Was the temp of the solution hot, warm , or cool? Ive heard that hot water will do this!

 

[jobe05]

It wasn't the water in my case (but I use cold water), it was trying to put a #9 dry brittle cork in a #8 hole with a hand corker....... Dry. It'll never work. But I was new and learned a lot from that. I wouldbe curious to see what Waldo's issue(s) is, as to not have that happen.


HEY WALDO.... I think I know what your problem is.........................


WHO IN THE WORLD BOTTLES2 CARBOYS AT 3:30 IN THE MORNING?

Edited by: jobe05

 

[Wade E]

Thats funny Jobe, I didnt notice the AM part of that post. Waldo, are
you sure you even bottled those, it might be just a bad dream!

 

[grapeman]

Jobe, knowing Waldo, he bottled those 2 carboys after racking 6 more, after milking the cows and doing his 16 newpaper routes.

I honestly don't know how you do it all Waldo!


Maybe Waldo is like Wally World -just a name and he is the figurehead for the multi-national team of experts at everything. Whatever you are doing Waldo, keep it up. We all love hearing from you and having you and your expertise here on the forum.

 

[bmorosco]

I usually just dip them a minute then cork... Have not seen this problem ....and I stress YET...That Murphy's Law Haunts me..

 

[geocorn]

I suspect they were left over from a questionable batch that I got about 1 year ago. It will not affect your wine, but I will send you a replacement bag. I will reply to your email tomorrow with details.


I would have responded sooner, but I have been battling the flu.

 

[Waldo]

AndI hope you are feeling much better George. I have one of my sisters that is in the hospital with that mess.
I know Mark said the other evening that you had went home early, not feeling good and I must say from his handliing of this issue you have trained Him well !!!
I know the cork will not have any adverse effect on the wine other than its " Oh My Goodness, What's That" reaction it might get from someone I give my wine to. If it was all going to be kept and consumed by me I would just leave it in there and have a "chewy" texture added to my wine

Edited by: Waldo

 

[Pepere]

Waldo my friend, I stand ready to help in your dilema! Send me all of those bottles with cork floating in them and I promise I'll never utter: "Oh My Goodness, What's That." I'll even return the bottles without any cork in them.

Geo. watch the flu thing. I've had it for 15 days now and it's just easing up a little. A good friend had it turn into "p-neu-monia" and was in hospital for 2 days. Go see a Dr is my only suggestion if you have anything like what's going around up here.

 

[geocorn]

I am on the mend. There is a 2-3 day bug going around and I am doing fine. Now the family is going through it. First the wife, now the 15 year old. Just have to let this nasty bug run it course.


2 years ago, I had the long lasting flu. Took me almost 1 month to get over it. I hope yours doesn't last near that long.


By the way, I did get the flu shot this year. Hopefully that helped keep the length of the sickness down.