Well, tomorrow is time to bottle my first brew. What do I do?

[malisk]

I have read about soaking corks, or cooking corks, letting the bottle stay upright or on its side. Can anyone clue me in to the process here? My corks are #9 just regular corks , nothing special, and I will be using the hand lever one from Midwest (not floor corker but not the real cheap hand pump one either). Any advice is appreciated.

 

[ibglowin]

Do not pour KMETA over the corks. Its OK to make a corkador and let the SO2 "gas" permeate the corks but if you pour KMETA over the corks what happens is that you will insert a "wet" cork. As the KMETA dries over time you are left with a salt deposit on the bottle/cork interface that makes it almost next to impossible to extract the cork easily. I nearly broke my new and VERY expensive table top corker trying to remove those darn things.

Let them stand upright for 24 hours after corking then you can lay them down.

 

[Wade E]

Totally agree with above post. A few days though is what some say before laying bottles down. This may depend on grade of corks though so not truly knowing the real answer I always give it a few days just in case.

 

[JohnT]

I have heard that it is typical to wait a min of 3 days. I, on the other hand wait a week (I can only seem to get to it on the weekends).

johnT.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I have placed my corks in kmeta solution for the past 4 years and have never seen a "salt" deposit. I only let them sit as long as it takes to fill about 10 bottles and then cork and put 10 more in the solution. The dark brown color that the kmeta turns has got to be dirt on the corks that I would rather not be in my wine.

I think that as long as you don't soak the corks, you will be fine.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I don't use k-meta either - as my floor corker has metal around it and the solution can cause rust deposits.

I use a corkidor like wade said and then I put the corks in bowl and mist them - they insert a bit easier if misted (Not wet or dripping).

 

[malisk]

Thanks for the responses - as someone without a corkador as you call it, or kmeta, what's the best and easiest way to do it properly? How else can I prepare the corks to put them in ?

 

[Terry0220]

A homemake winemaker's corkador,,,,,a pot or large bowl with the k-meta solution in it and a colander place on top of the pot/bowl. Place the corks in the colander, place a towel, lid or any other kind of covering over the colander. Pick up the pot/bowl swish it around and then place it on a counter. Let sit 5 to 15 mins. And now your ready to go!! Good luck!

 

[botigol]

I like the idea of the corkidor, although I have not tried it yet, but as I read in a Winemaker article (I forget which issue) it is not necessary, especially if you are opening a new package of corks. the article said to insert them dry. Of course, this line of thinking depends greatly on your confidence in the manufacturer's cleanliness.

 

[jdmyers]

You could also try synthetic corks then you dont need to lay your bottle down and kmeta wont soak into them