Corks that disintegrate into wine??

[Gekko4321]

So I cold stabilize, I filter, I bulk age, I do all the right things to have perfectly clear wine. I bottle, I cork. And now I got small tiny pieces of cork floating around in the bottle! Especially noticable in my new Sauvignon Blanc. The 'premium' corks I used were from Northern Brewer and are described as: "Winery grade, non-chamfered with an agglomerated cork center with natural cork disc ends." I thought I bought quality cork. All bottles the same. They are not huge chunks, but there is enough to see it floating around. Does anyone else have this problem? Are synthetic corks the way to go? Thanks.

 

[Wade E]

What corker did you use as sometimes the push rod gets out of alignment and chips the corks on the way in. Also, did you possibly use a heatgun to put shrink capsules on these bottles?

 

[Gekko4321]

Not on these Wade. I learned my lesson with my last batch of cab. I used boiling water method and did not have the 'fried cork' issue this time around. I have the Portuguese corker George sells. Iris jaws.

 

[Julie]

Gekko4321,

Are you soaking your corks before you insert them? (OMG, I so hope Dan doesn't see what I just typed, I'll never hear the end of this!) The reason I asked is I use to place mine in sanitizer before I used them and the corks started to break down in the bottle.

 

[cpfan]

How old is your corker? They can go out of alignment over time.

Steve

 

[Gekko4321]

Corker is one year old and used twice now. Of course my boxes from Fine Vine were always in horrible condition due to bad packing. The foot of the Corker was sticking out the side of the box I recall but being metal I didn't worry about it. I santize corks in humidor with SO2 fumes for 24 hours. Never soaked before.

 

[Wade E]

Did the cork insertion feel smooth or did it feel tough immediately as the cork entered the botle, usually you can see a chip out of one corner of thbe cork but if there is multiple pces of cork its most likely not a corker problem. Can you post a pic?

 

[Gekko4321]

I find it is tougher upon start of insertion. It is almost a pause on the full pull/push thru. But it goes in. When the wine hits the cork, small minut pieces that quite honestly look like dust particles or size of granules of salt start floating around. There is occassionally a piece that is more the size of a clear piece of cork moving around but most fit the smaller variety. One can see it all though especially in the clear white wine. In the red I can see it when you move the wine around. It sticks to the side of the neck. How would I test my corker to see if it is the problem versus faulty corks?

 

[Flem]

You might try a fresh batch of corks. Also, have you put a cork into an empty bottle, then removed it to check the bottom of the cork to see what kind of damage there was? Just a suggestion.

 

[bzac]

I never use any sort of aglomerated cork, twin disk single disk etc.

100% natural is the way to go. if money is an issue you can buy over run winery corks from more wine . natural corks are more robust and put up with more corker abuse.

if your corker is out of alignment you cad adjust some of them . you get a peice of wooden dowel the same diamieter as the inside of the hole of a wine bottle.

place a bottle in the corker . take the top off the corker . insert the dowel down through the jaws and into the bottle the dowel should be just long enough to come to the top of the corker jaws. slowly bring the level down and you should be able the see the alginment issue.

then either adjust the shims or screws to straiten the alignment.



not all corkers are adjustable but many are.