Corks not seating correctly

[kuziwk]

Anyone ever had this problem?
Is it defective corks, this happen 4 times in a roll.

See attached photo.
TIA

Are the corks doing this over time? What are your temperature fluctuations on storage. It also looks like one bottle has some gas left in the wine aswell? Did you leave the bottles upright for a week to allow the cork to seat correctly and form the neck before putting them on their side?

I've only probably bottled about 1,500 bottles that I can recall with my floor corker, however there are alot of recycled bottles in there and I haven't had any issues with the corks. I also cork screw top bottles aswell. However, I don't bottle gassy wine, I ensure temps between summer and winter are not drastic and I seat the bottles upright for a week before cellering on their side.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

Are the corks doing this over time? What are your temperature fluctuations on storage. It also looks like one bottle has some gas left in the wine aswell? Did you leave the bottles upright for a week to allow the cork to seat correctly and form the neck before putting them on their side?

I've only probably bottled about 1,500 bottles that I can recall with my floor corker, however there are alot of recycled bottles in there and I haven't had any issues with the corks. I also cork screw top bottles aswell. However, I don't bottle gassy wine, I ensure temps between summer and winter are not drastic and I seat the bottles upright for a week before cellering on their side.

No, they just started doing this, first time i had this problem.

gas is from siphoning to bottles from carboy. but i have been doing same since last year with no problems. (im still new at this tho).

Never turned bottles on sides. they dont last that long. LOL

Wine fermenting room stays 70-74 degrees.

a closer look at the corks, they look like they have swelled slightly however i have not measured them.

I just bottled 6 more and 3 out of the 6 did same thing.

I ordered different bottles from different suppler for testing.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[kuziwk]

No, they just started doing this, first time i had this problem.

gas is from siphoning to bottles from carboy. but i have been doing same since last year with no problems. (im still new at this tho).

Never turned bottles on sides. they dont last that long. LOL

Wine fermenting room stays 70-74 degrees.

a closer look at the corks, they look like they have swelled slightly however i have not measured them.

I just bottled 6 more and 3 out of the 6 did same thing.

I ordered different bottles from different suppler for testing.

Thanks for everyone's help!

How long are you aging in bulk before bottling? what is degassing technique? I also have a theory that a good corker will compress the cork while its inserted so that not as much air is compressed in the bottle, there is mostly equal pressure until the cork seals fully. The type of corks could make a difference aswell, i personally like the fine agglomerated ones as they are cheaper than real cork and better than fully synthetic. Fully synthetic is basically plastic and does not allow the wine to breathe.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

How long are you aging in bulk before bottling? what is degassing technique? I also have a theory that a good corker will compress the cork while its inserted so that not as much air is compressed in the bottle, there is mostly equal pressure until the cork seals fully. The type of corks could make a difference aswell, i personally like the fine agglomerated ones as they are cheaper than real cork and better than fully synthetic. Fully synthetic is basically plastic and does not allow the wine to breathe.

2 months before bottling, i dont have a degassing technique, i will look into it tho.
Thank you

 

[JTS84]

Here is a photo of 3 bottles that I did not recork and my culprit. Same bag of #8 corks and exact same bottles with a floor corker, and all my corking issues went away. The bottles that were worse than this I recorked. I know another guy who only uses a hand corker and has no issues - maybe it was my technique. What made the floor corker purchase easier was knowing that I was going to want to use #9 corks in the future.

Anyhow, that was my experience, hope you figure out the issue you're having.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

Here is a photo of 3 bottles that I did not recork and my culprit. Same bag of #8 corks and exact same bottles with a floor corker, and all my corking issues went away. The bottles that were worse than this I recorked. I know another guy who only uses a hand corker and has no issues - maybe it was my technique. What made the floor corker purchase easier was knowing that I was going to want to use #9 corks in the future.

Anyhow, that was my experience, hope you figure out the issue you're having.View attachment 59387

i use the same corker in this picture. i re-corked 3 of them today and it turned out a little better, still not like they normally do.
I did notice one of the red rubber pieces fell off one of the small metal arms, found it and replaced it.
it came with 2 extras in the bag.
Thank you

 

[kuziwk]

2 months before bottling, i dont have a degassing technique, i will look into it tho.
Thank you

so you need to come up with a degassing method and keep it consistent so that it’s easy to identify issues, that’s half your problem there I think. You can’t bottle wine that has alot of CO2 as it’s very unpredictable. I use a wine whip for exactly 4 minutes, i also bulk age for up to a year...gently back and forth switching directions every 10 seconds or so or until a vortex starts to form to minimize air exposure. However i also bulk age for 9-12 months. I have some early drinkers though that i occasionally bottle in a few months that i sue clearing agents on, but I don’t have any issues with corks popping.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

so you need to come up with a degassing method and keep it consistent so that it’s easy to identify issues, that’s half your problem there I think. You can’t bottle wine that has alot of CO2 as it’s very unpredictable. I use a wine whip for exactly 4 minutes, i also bulk age for up to a year...gently back and forth switching directions every 10 seconds or so or until a vortex starts to form to minimize air exposure. However i also bulk age for 9-12 months. I have some early drinkers though that i occasionally bottle in a few months that i sue clearing agents on, but I don’t have any issues with corks popping.

I will purchase a wine whip and try as you stated.
Thanks

JTS84 hit the nail on the head, earlier i had 2 others help cork with only 1 problem bottling, it was me!
im a newbie, it was my technique using a hand corker. (Thanks JTS84 appreciate it ).

Thanks kuziwk for info on wine whip, cant wait to try it.

Thanks everyone for all the excellent advise on here.

Enjoy the weekend

 

[bstnh1]

I bottled with that same corker using No. 9 corks for years and never had a single cork push up. You need to have your wine fully degassed before thinking about bottling. I've since moved on to a Portuguese floor corker, but it was only for ease of corking not because of any problems with the type you're using. I've recently switched to Nomacorc (LD Carson via Labelpeelers) and the combination of Nomacorc and a floor corker makes bottling super simple!

 

[Franklin_Wines]

I bottled with that same corker using No. 9 corks for years and never had a single cork push up. You need to have your wine fully degassed before thinking about bottling. I've since moved on to a Portuguese floor corker, but it was only for ease of corking not because of any problems with the type you're using. I've recently switched to Nomacorc (LD Carson via Labelpeelers) and the combination of Nomacorc and a floor corker makes bottling super simple!

I have been researching degassing wine, looks like i will need one that fits a 3/8 drill.
if you have one you could suggest please do.
thanks for the info.

 

[mainshipfred]

I usually either vacuum degas or just let it do it on it's own but I have one of these I used to use.

https://www.homebrewing.org/Clean-B...VQuLn_MHlhlbX10wAtqNjDdUieW_hOr4aAmJ6EALw_wcB

 

[Franklin_Wines]

I usually either vacuum degas or just let it do it on it's own but I have one of these I used to use.

https://www.homebrewing.org/Clean-B...VQuLn_MHlhlbX10wAtqNjDdUieW_hOr4aAmJ6EALw_wcB

Ordered, Thanks

 

[bstnh1]

I have been researching degassing wine, looks like i will need one that fits a 3/8 drill.
if you have one you could suggest please do.
thanks for the info.

I've been using the stainless steel Mixstir. It's well made, does a decent job and easily fits through the neck of a carboy. It's pricey - $24 - $30. I'm not convinced it's the best there is, but it gets the job done.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

I've been using the stainless steel Mixstir. It's well made, does a decent job and easily fits through the neck of a carboy. It's pricey - $24 - $30. I'm not convinced it's the best there is, but it gets the job done.

getting the job done is all i need.

I ordered a Clean-Bottle-Degassing-Tool from homebrewing.org
Hope it does well.
Thanks

 

[reefman]

Degassing is very important, but I don’t think it’s the issue here. These corks never went in all the way, correct? I’ve had similar problems over the years, with my floor corker. Mine always was the bottles. I use all recycled bottles, and they vary all over the place. Now I toss out the offenders as was mention earlier.
I also switched to a higher quality cork, as I’ve had leakers from cheaper corks. If I overfill a bottle, it is more likely to explode while pushing in the cork, had this happen at least twice over the years. Just sharing my experiences.

 

[Franklin_Wines]

Degassing is very important, but I don’t think it’s the issue here. These corks never went in all the way, correct? I’ve had similar problems over the years, with my floor corker. Mine always was the bottles. I use all recycled bottles, and they vary all over the place. Now I toss out the offenders as was mention earlier.
I also switched to a higher quality cork, as I’ve had leakers from cheaper corks. If I overfill a bottle, it is more likely to explode while pushing in the cork, had this happen at least twice over the years. Just sharing my experiences.

Yes, correct, i believe it was my stance while corking, bottom of bottles moving just a bit while pulling down a hand corker.

i would hate to have a bottle explode on me while corking,
i have had a bottle pop a cork while it was on top a refrigerator at 3 in the morning.
that was fun.

Thanks for the info its much appreciated!