How The Corky Crumbles

[patientheron]

This is my second year making country wine and I've gone a bit loco with it this year. Last year for my first batch I made a 22.5L batch of Blackberry & Raspberry, gave most of it away to friends, and probably finished the last bottle when it was just starting to develop character. Numpty!

Anyway, I bought a Ferrari Easy-Cork and a bag of pretty cheap corks to seal my bottles and had a relatively good success rate. A number of bottles ended up with bits of cork floating around but I kept them aside for myself and gave the better ones away. I've just bottled my first gallon of the year and every bloody bottle has bits of cork in it! I went for a better quality cork this time but they seemed to crumble more easily. I really want to up my game here and this is a pain in the behind! Since I'll be bottling lots of different batches throughout the winter I need to start getting this right.

Any advice on how to avoid unsightly floaters?

Cheers

 

[Moley]

What corks are you using / where are you buying them from?

I avoid the Young's corks and those re-bagged for Wilkinson's as they have a composition and texture somewhere between Wensleydale and Gruyere.

Look for the 'Favourite' branded corks or similar. These have a solid composition and are silicone coated. They don't need soaking but wetting them does make insertion easier, and they don't break up when you remove them.

 

[patientheron]

I bought the so-called 'luxury' corks from Wineworks. They came unlabelled in a thin plastic bag, like sweets from the ice cream van.

I'll look out for some better ones. Thanks.