Italian Floor Corker Misery

[smurfe]

You did better than me, I couldn't get the 750 ml bottles corked. As I have uncorked a few older bottles, I am seeing scrapes on the corks where they rubbed going in, nothing like the batch I posted but not perfect as they go in now!

Smurfe

 

[Patchman]

I also have a made in Portugal wine corker. It also skins the corks as it goes into the bottle. I feel that it is an alignment problem, but not sure how to correct as there is no visable way of adjusting. It skins the cork with no bottle in place and I can see that when the cork comes out of the jaws (iris) the cork seems to be rubing ever so little on the metal lip that the bottle would rest against. Maybe grinding/filing the edge back a bit would solve the problem??? Any comments on this thought. To "egg" out the hole would be simple enough to do with a good metal rasp or a dremel tool and would require very very little enlarging to clear the steel lip.

 

[geocorn]

Patchman,


It sounds like you have the Italian version with the brass jaws and you need to replace the jaws. How old is your corker?

 

[Patchman]

No, the corker has plastic or nylon jaws and sticker says made in Portugal along with I am guessing some instructions in non english.


The corker is Green in colour and was purchased from a buddy who claims only corked about a 1/2 doz. batches of wine.

 

[geocorn]

I haven't seen a green one (not to say there is not one), so I am not sure what you have. No matter what you have, you should be able to get a replacement iris.


I think that is the problem as when I was discussing the problem with the other corker with my distributor, the specifically asked if the syptoms were similar to what you just discribed. They say when that happened, normally the iris is bad and need to be replaced.


Is your iris plastic or brass?

 

[Patchman]

Plastic... thanks

 

[geocorn]

Send me an email with your address and I will send you areplacement iris to try out. My email address is [email protected]

 

[smurfe]

Maybe grinding/filing the edge back a bit would solve the problem??? Any comments on this thought. To "egg" out the hole would be simple enough to do with a good metal rasp or a dremel tool and would require very very little enlarging to clear the steel lip.

That would eliminate the cork scraping the base plate but then you will have the problem of the Cork scraping the lip of the bottle. It all have to be in alignment to get a good cork insertion. I would try to fix it as opposed to "modifying" it. Just my opinion.


Smurfe

 

[Jim Baranski]

I am now having the same problems with my second Italian Floor Corker. I am guessing that the springs in the jaws that compress the cork are getting tired. I don't know if it is possible to stretch the springs to give them their spring back, or insert a shim (penny?) behind the spring to give them more force?

 

[Jim Baranski]

RE: Corking 375 ml bottles .vs 750ml bottles

My corker has an additional red plastic insert where the bottle sits. I think that is for 375ml bottles. My first corker did not have that, and when I bottled 375ml bottles, I just put a scrap of 1x4 on the platform to give the bottle a bit of a boost.