Cork Question

[photony]

I've made and bottled two WE kits, Bergamais and Blush, strickly per instructions, but with different results regarding the cork performance. The Bergamais corks are dry where they contact the glass, as I would expect, but the Blush corks are stained with wine top to bottom. Also, they are much more difficult to pull. I don't remember if I bought the same corks for these two batches or not, but could this be a problem related to inferior corks? With both batches I bottled them, stood the bottles up for 5 days, then stored them horizontal. The wine itself tastes good, so it doesn't seem to be affecting quality. I'm just curious as to why I'm getting different results.
Great forum...thanks for being such great teachers.

 

[Runningwolf]

Excellent details for your first post. My first thought was did you stand the bottles up for a few days to relax. Were the corks 9 x 1.75's? Was the wine in the bottles filled too high. I am just pulling straws here trying to think what might have caused this.

Is the top of the cork dry (but stained) now. If dry, I would venture to say you are ok.

 

[Runningwolf]

One more important question, Are the corks pushing out of the bottles at all?

 

[photony]

The tops of the corks are dry, and they have not moved out of the neck any. I have about 1/2" air space in both. The corks are ab out 1-5/8" long. This is probably not a big deal, since the wine tastes good.