Corks

[wineview]

Is there anything special I should know about corking. I have a floor corker so will be buying 9X1.75. Do they need to be sterilized, soaked, boiled etc? Ive read about all of these techniques while others claim to do nothing. Insert them dry.

Thanks

 

[Johnd]

Is there anything special I should know about corking. I have a floor corker so will be buying 9X1.75. Do they need to be sterilized, soaked, boiled etc? Ive read about all of these techniques while others claim to do nothing. Insert them dry.

Thanks

You will probably get many different recommendations, I'll share with you what I do, it's pretty simple. Take a small bucket or plastic container with an airtight lid on it and pour some sulfite solution into the bottom of it, maybe 1/2" deep. Set a strainer in the bottom, put it on top of something if it doesn't sit above the solution, you want to keep it high enough so that the corks don't actually touch the solution and get wet. Place your corks in the strainer and seal the lid onto the container. The fumes from the sulfite solution do all of the sanitizing work for you. I normally set this up with the proper number of corks in it when I'm starting a bottling session, so by the time the corks are needed, they've been in there plenty long enough. This setup is referred to by the folks here as a "Corkidor".

 

[wineview]

You will probably get many different recommendations, I'll share with you what I do, it's pretty simple. Take a small bucket or plastic container with an airtight lid on it and pour some sulfite solution into the bottom of it, maybe 1/2" deep. Set a strainer in the bottom, put it on top of something if it doesn't sit above the solution, you want to keep it high enough so that the corks don't actually touch the solution and get wet. Place your corks in the strainer and seal the lid onto the container. The fumes from the sulfite solution do all of the sanitizing work for you. I normally set this up with the proper number of corks in it when I'm starting a bottling session, so by the time the corks are needed, they've been in there plenty long enough. This setup is referred to by the folks here as a "Corkidor".

Would a C-Brite solution work just the same as sulfite?

 

[Johnd]

I've not used it, so don't have personal knowledge, but read the product data; it's a cleaner / sanitizer and requires some contact time. Since the corkidor doesn't actually provide for any contact with the solution, my hunch would be that it wouldn't be the thing to use in that setup.

 

[wineview]

When you say "sulfite solution", do you mean Potassium Metabisulfite, Sodium Metabisulfite or either?

 

[Johnd]

When you say "sulfite solution", do you mean Potassium Metabisulfite, Sodium Metabisulfite or either?

Either of those solutions will work just fine for sanitizing, just remember that the Sodium Meta is fine for sanitizing, but not for adding to wine, as it's purported to give an off taste.

 

[Scooter68]

The cork debate never dies but one thing I would suggest is don't use anything that requires 'soaking' the corks for any length of time. If your sanitizer (should you chose to use one) requires more than a minute of soaking - I personally would not do it.

AGAIN this is a topic oft debated.

 

[wineview]

I think I will be using Sodium Meta in a sealed bucket with a colander.

 

[Regmata]

I haven't done anything to any of my corks...am I in trouble?

 

[Johnd]

I haven't done anything to any of my corks...am I in trouble?

Probably not, particularly if you used them straight out of the original manufacturers packaging and had clean hands.

 

[Regmata]

Phew...I did. Will be more careful next time though...