Customer Service:
I have made a lot of wine over the years with nearly every fruit imaginable.
It seems, however, I have never understood the correct corking process and rarely got a cork stopper “home” without it wanting to push back out. I use a plunger type corker.
I have inserted nylon fishing line between cork and bottle neck and withdrew afterward, with no success and also a long, small sized syringe needles, to drain of the air. I am looking for an absolutely minimum amount of airspace.
Someone now told me, that I was really missing the boat. The air is supposed to be expelled while pushing the cork bottle stoppers in. How is that possible? You have a Cylinder into which you are pushing a piston and thereby compressing the existing air.
Please explain, if you can, and perhaps suggest a better corker model.
Thank You,
George W.
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Dear George,
Having the wine corks partially push back out is a fairly common occurrence among home wine makers. When the cork is inserted into the wine bottle, some of the air will expel, however, most will initially stay trapped in the bottle. This is what is causing the wine corks to push out.
You should keep pushing them back down periodically, until they want to stay. Depending on the size and quality of the cork stopper being used, typically within a day the pressure will neutralize enough for the corks to stay in place.
The average amount of airspace that should be between your wine and the wine cork is about 3/4 inch. If you leave less than 3/4 inch air space the chance of your corks pushing out will be greater and vice verse.
The type or style of corker you use does not play a role in this issue, other than to say that some poorly designed corkers can pinch or deform the cork while inserting it. However, this problem would only help to alleviate you problem not cause it.
Happy Wine Making
Customer Service
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.
The main factor is the amount of airspace. Once you know that it is impossible to compress liquid, you will pay much more attention to airspace. Also if the corks are popping out over a few days, that is usually due to fermentation not being stopped.
I’ve found that going to #9 sized corks and the shrink wrap foil over the corks will help solve the problem.
This is my main problem that’s why I start using wine stopper….
My dad likes wine and my brother usually accidentally opens his expensive wine. Since he like soccer, my mom thought of buying my brother soccer ball wine stopper for the wine that he’s allowed open. It was mentioned here that the stopper usually pushes back. Hence, it should be constantly pushed back until it settles down.