BarlimanButterbur

Recipes 

Then I guess this answers the question about what I was doing wrong!

Airplanedoc

Recipes 

Get a floor corker. Second best $50 I ever spent on equipment. A vacuum pump was the first BTW.

Yooper

Recipes 

I don't steam them. Well not exactly. Since I buy them in big bags, I always have an open bag of them that is simply twisty tied closed.

So, when I use them, I get a cup of water and a couple of campden tablets boiling in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup. (Do NOT inhale this!) Then I place it, cup and all, in a big tupperware bowl and place the corks around this and cover it. The sulfite "steam" works as a sort of mini steam room with sulfite in it. It's really not steam at all, but a sulfite solution that is hot and condensing on the lid.

It's more like a sulfite mist in there, like a humidor for corks.

Then I go ahead and sanitize my bottles and use that sulfite solution in the bottling bucket when I rack the wine into it. It may not really be doing anything at all, but it makes me feel like I"m sort of sanitizing the corks.

You should never boil or soak corks- you'll ruin them!

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

johnnync

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How old are the corks? Not some left over by your great uncle or anything?

Clann

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I just dunk the corks in starsan as I bottle. I also have a double lever corker and always use#9 corks. #8s do not seal as well.
This could happenhttp://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17632

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Back Nine Brew&Wine
Life don't get better than a beer and a pepper.

What I am brewing is now a mystery

FeelinKindaGiddy

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I had that problem with some "old, cheaper" corks that was gave to me, but when I bought some high end new corks the problem was solved! I just dip them in B-brite no rinse sanitizer right before I cork em'.

BarlimanButterbur

Recipes 

I actually just bought the corks the day I posted, but I couldn't help but wonder whether they might be old and dry. I don't know because I haven't got experience with this yet. All I did was went to a wine kit store and asked for advice, saying that I didn't really want to use #8s although I had a hand corker.

I've got it working better now, the corks go in all the way, but it does leave a dent still.

huesmann

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I'll second the suggestion for a floor corker.

However, if you're still getting dents, how about trying to glue a washer (same dia as your corks) to tip of your plunger?

feffer

Recipes 

I think the dent is to be expected with that type of corker. If they're going in all the way, you're doing fine. Floor and table corkers, like the Italian ones, use an iris to compress the cork to a slightly smaller diameter so they slide into the bottle's neck with less pressure, hense the dent is temporary with these.

I agree with other's who like the floor corkers. If you just bought your lever one, you might be able to return it to your lhbs for a full price trade. On the other hand, if you don't think you'll make that much wine, and you're okay with your present corker, it will be fine.

huesmann

Recipes 

IMO the extra couple of yuppie food stamps that I paid for the floor corker is worth the savings in frustration over using the lever hand corker I bought when I started.