Soaking corks in sodium metabisulphite?

I all, I make fruit wine kits. I had a conversation with the local brewing store about sanitizing corks. I never sanitized my corks before with no problems. How ever he suggested soaking the corks in the sterilizing solution just in case. So I soaked them in sodium metabisulphite sterilizing solution for 10 minutes then well rinsed. I just bottled two wine kits doing this. On bottling day the wine was very good full of fruit flavor. The day after very plain no flavor. At first I was thinking bottle shock. Now 2 weeks later still plain with a faint smell of sodium metabisulphite solution. So do you think these bottles are wrecked or will they come back to they way they should taste?

So......

You're a cork soaker?

LMAO! Good one!

Many local home brew stores buy corks in bulk and repackage them for sale, handling and contaminating them in the process. Maybe the LHBS person was trying to tell you something, in which case it might not be a bad idea to give them a brief sanitizing rinse. But, natural or agglomerated corks that are old and dry can quickly be damaged by soaking. Also, a wet cork can push out or fail to seal under pressure after insertion.

It's best to buy fresh corks and insert them dry, but if you choose to lightly spray a Kmeta/citric acid solution on the corks, shake off the moisture before inserting them. Don't soak the corks, and never boil them.

Synthetic corks can be rinsed or soaked but should be inserted as dry as possible.

If I have a bag of corks of unknown provenance (i.e. not factory sealed), I just dunk them in a cleanser solution before corking. If they're factory sealed, I don't bother.

huesmann said:

If I have a bag of corks of unknown provenance (i.e. not factory sealed), I just dunk them in a cleanser solution before corking. If they're factory sealed, I don't bother.

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I do something very similar. In a factory sealed bag, I just use them. But I never ever soak corks! Or worse, boil them.

What I do if the corks are "of unknown provenance" (love that expression huesmann!) I make a cork humidor to sanitize the corks without getting them wet.

All I do is use about 1/4 cup of water, and a couple of crushed campden tablets in a one cup glass measure, and boil that in my microwave for about 1 minute. DON'T inhale over this!!!!!! Then, place that cup of sulfite solution in a bowl and put the corks around the cup inside the bowl and put a lid on the bowl. That way, the corks sort of "steam" in a sulfite rich container without getting wet. I then go ahead and get my bottling stuff ready and sanitize my bottles and stuff, then just use the corks out of that bowl.

I hope that makes sense!

Thanks! So will the flavor come back, or is the wine ruined?

CRZ said:

Thanks! So will the flavor come back, or is the wine ruined?

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The sulfites will fade with some time.

I sanitized mine in Starsan...was that OK? They were in there maybe 5 min.

I put mine in a steam basket for 15 min stiring them every 5 min