Bulk aging...corks

I'm looking to save some cash and buy in the 1000ct bag of corks. I have 4 batches going to be ready for bottles in the next 2-3 months, and will probably make about 12-15 batches this year.

if I buy the 1000ct bag o'corks, is there any problem with aging them? will they "go bad" if I open the bag and don't get to most of them for 6-8 months?

Should I store em in freezer bags to keep them "fresh" somehow?

Let me know if it's a bad idea to buy that many corks at once.

I buy mine 500 at a time and use food saver bags to store them.

I also store mine in food saver bags. You can also make a "corkidor", put the corks in a sealed container with another container that has k-meta solution in it. Or wet several sheets of paper towel with the k-meta and put those in a open plastic bag, and place it over top the corks in the sealed container.

jrkettle said:

I also store mine in food saver bags. You can also make a "corkidor", put the corks in a sealed container with another container that has k-meta solution in it. Or wet several sheets of paper towel with the k-meta and put those in a open plastic bag, and place it over top the corks in the sealed container.

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Using a humidor to store your corks has a lot of fans, me included at one time. I used this method for about a year until one day I opened up the humidor to find corks with mold on them. I'd heard of this happening but I figured mold simply couldn't grow in such an acidic atmosphere. I was wrong. I discarded the corks and moved to the food saver bags.

Without a foodsaver...any issus with just using a quality freezer bag and try to squeeze as much air out as possible?

It it likely that they'd go bad in a few months, or are we talking years before corks really become unusable.

I don't really know how long they'll last in freezer bags. I've stored them for a few months in ziplock baggies and they were fine but I live in an area with low humidity. I'm guessing the conditons in which they're stored has a lot to do with longevity. Cool and dry.

I buy mine 1000 at a time and use the bag they came in. I just use clothes pins to seal the bag. Been doing this for twenty years and never had a problem...