Italian vs Portugese Floor Corker

[SSNJOHN]

Just sold a few of my excess Stainless Steel Beer kegs, so looking for a good floor corker. Already have a used/old Portuguese that leaves some mild creases in the cork, but works ok on real corks, but does not work well with synthetics.

No problem paying a little more for quality as may be expanding some in the next year or so. Have a little over 100 gallons to bottle in March, so do not want to hand cork any.

Any recommendations on Italian (specific brand) and if you have experience on both, was it worth ~$40 more for the Italian?

Thanks,

SSNJOHN

 

[stickman]

I have both corkers, the Italian is well worth the additional money in my opinion; I keep the Portuguese on hand as a backup, it's now covered in dust.

 

[Ajmassa]

Seems like it’s always a question of just the 2. The red Portuguese and the blue Italian.
I’m pretty sure my corker falls somewhere between the 2 for quality and price. 10 yrs old. Never an issue and this thing gets used and abused. Especially when corking is done with a helper while I bottle.
Grifo - which is Italian. But just not the one always associated with the Italian corker.

 

[stickman]

I have a Ferrari corker, as far as I know that's what is usually sold as the Italian corker. Mine was an impulse buy while I was traveling, I happened to stop by a brew shop somewhere in Ohio and they had one model on the floor, I think I paid $120 several years ago. I threw it into the trunk and never looked back, it's a pleasure to use.