Plastic corks are leaking

[projectman]

I made my first batch of sparkling wine last fall and set two cases aside for aging. I thought I was being careful when I put the sugar/yeast solution in the bottles. I used new plastic "champagne" corks. Now I've found that about 1/3 of them have leaked. I had to use a rubber mallet to get the plastic stoppers into the bottles and I wired them shut with the wire cages. The caps don't appear broken or cracked - but some have developed a pin hole leak and sprayed about half of the contents about 5 feet along the wall and floor of my wine storage room. Could this have been from using the mallet? How else do I get the plastic corks into the bottles? My regular corker won't work - do I need some special machine? Appreciate any assistance as I hate lose the contents and don't want to repeat the loss on my next batch of sparkly.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Are you sure that they developed pin holes? Check to see if the plastic stopper has pushed up a bit due to over carbonation, trust me, I had this happen, thank God for the wire cages.
We only realized this when we noticed that our dog was hanging out by the wine rack lapping something up....damn booze hound!

 

[spaniel]

My guess would be that you added too much sugar and have over-carbonation.

 

[lawrstin]

Before using plastic corks you could use crown caps then disgorge about a year later and then use plastic corks and wires.

 

[s0615353]

I had the exact same thing happen to me with my first batch of sparkling wine and I know it is a crappy feeling. The pin holes are very unlikely, in my case it was a combination of soft plastic corks and too much sugar. The mistake I made was that I did not wait for the fermentation to end and the wine to clear on its own, but rather used the still fermenting wine to go through secondary. This made sugar calculations challenging, and I accidentally ended up with almost double the sugar that I was supposed to have . On my second batch I fermented to dry and cleared before secondary so I could have a precise amount of sugar. The second time I added 18 grams PER LITER (not to be mistaken with PER BOTTLE as I did on my first batch) just to be on the safe side, and I used heavy duty plastic corks(see my thread Sparkling Wine Take 2). Good luck with your next batch!

 

[projectman]

Thanks guys, I'm convinced you nailed it with the excess pressure from over carbonation. I did start with a still wine but it was a sweet wine and I didn't take that into consideration when adding the sugar and yeast solution. Some of the bottles I've opened have had far more pressure than they needed. The final drink is very dry and way over carbonated. Well, it was a good experiment. I'm going to start over again. Thanks for the help - I'm sticking with the plastic corks - they were not the problem.

 

[JohnT]

Before using plastic corks you could use crown caps then disgorge about a year later and then use plastic corks and wires.

Good advice!

You should not used plastic corks when carbonating your champagne. The CO2 is not in solution and, therefore, the pressure of the champagne is much higher. The best thing to do (I find) is to use a crown cap and allow the champagne to age for 12 to 18 months. I then disgorge and apply the plastic stopper and wire.