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02-06-2012, 04:34 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Waterloo, ON
Posts: 28
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Corker Damaging Corks
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I have a lever corker that I got secondhand. I did three test corks just now, and it mangled all of them. They seem to go in about 3/4 and then the top gets crushed. Some of it is left sticking out with a dent and raised, saw-dusty sides. The corks are #9 medium, natural cork. Is this my fault, the corker's, the bottle's or the cork's?
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02-06-2012, 04:47 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Illinois, "The Greece of the United States"
Posts: 446
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Knowing what kind of corker did you got would help?
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02-06-2012, 05:06 PM
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#3
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Waterloo, ON
Posts: 28
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It's a lot like this one: https://ozarkmountainsbrewingsupplies.com/images/double-lever-corker.jpg
That said. I just did a couple of attempts with the bottle on the floor so that I could put more pressure on it. I was doing them on the table before. That worked better, but there is still a dent in the cork when I'm finished. Is that normal? |
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02-06-2012, 06:00 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Fort Dodge, IA
Posts: 145
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i have the same corker, it usually leaves a small dent in the top of the cork, i've found the easiest way to use this one is on the floor. i usually throw the bottle between my knees to hold it steady. that said i'm not sure about the mangling on the sides.
__________________
Hangovers are the wrath of Grapes!
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02-06-2012, 06:24 PM
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#5
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Newbie Brewer
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 593
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I have that one and it leaves dents of varying sizes, I usually use my old hand corker to finish pushing down any that refuse to go all the way in
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02-06-2012, 06:58 PM
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#6
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Drink your beer!
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Upper Michigan
Posts: 41,492
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You may have better results with a hand corker using #8 corks.
__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006
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02-06-2012, 09:46 PM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 14
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I have a corker like that, and occasionally noticed the same thing. After some experimentation, I noticed that if I moved very slowly and gingerly that I'd almost always leave some of the cork hanging out with a “dent” in the end. If I move carefully but briskly, the corks always went in perfectly.
(I'm assuming that you soak your corks in starsan or similar right before corking...)
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02-06-2012, 11:10 PM
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#8
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Waterloo, ON
Posts: 28
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I didn't sanitize the corks in anything, partly because I've read not to and partly because it wasn't necessary for the test runs. I had considered that perhaps the slipperiness of the Starsan could aid by lubricating the corks, since if there's less resistance, there should be less force necessary and therefore less chance of corks being squished vertically. Does anyone know if that's the case?
Yooper, I want to bottle some mead, and I want the corks to last. I understand that #8s do not last as long. Should I not worry about that?
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02-06-2012, 11:25 PM
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#9
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Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 14
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If you didn't soak your corks, it wasn't really a "test run" - unless you intend to use dry corks with full bottles... and I would expect you to have all kinds of problems with dry corks.
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02-06-2012, 11:31 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: clinton, nc
Posts: 265
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I wouldn't recommend soaking corks. Yopper has a way she steams them but that's about as close as I would get.
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