Corking

I just bottled my first batch of JAOM so I can see the difference in 6 months to a year. The problem I have is that the hand corker my wife got me left about 1/8 ro 3/16th of an inch of cork above the top of the bottle and left a deep dent in the cork where it did go all the way in. Is it a problem with the corker or am I missing something in the process.

Corking is one of the few things I haven't found a lot of info on.

It looks a lot like this one on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IQGJ24/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I just cut a cork into 3rds and load a slice on top of the cork going in the bottle. This prevents the dimple and pushes the cork further into the bottle.

Adjust it to set the cork deeper. (turn the nut on top)

brewingmeister said:

Adjust it to set the cork deeper. (turn the nut on top)

Click to expand...

Some of the two hand corkers out there now aren't adjustable, stupid design really, and most of them have a tendency to leave too much cork sticking up, I've heard of some people being succesful by just putting pressure on the top of the corker and them going in all the way.

ExoticMeadMaker said:

I just cut a cork into 3rds and load a slice on top of the cork going in the bottle. This prevents the dimple and pushes the cork further into the bottle.

Click to expand...

This sounds like a really good idea, making a spacer out of another piece of cork.

some lever corkers cant be adjusted.
It your using a lever corker, just give up and use short #8 corks.

Cork it, let it sit for 3 days to expand in the bottle neck, then steam a capsule on it then store it, you can easily get 2-3 years with a #8.

Depends on the bottle type, but standard Bordeaux and Burgundy type bottles are easily over filled, so when corked the bung will go in, but the back pressure created in the airspace below the cork will push it out a little until the back pressure is overcome by friction.

The dimple issue ? I use a small coin placed on top of the cork before pressing in helps some, and then either a plastic heat shrink seal or cork/bottle sealing wax usually hides any dimple that may remain.

I just bottled my first batch of mead using a cheap ($8 I think) plunger corker with a $2 rubber mallet and it worked quite well. It set the cork about 1/8 inch below the rim of the bottle. If I was careful, I could get it to be flush but I decided I didn't care and just set most of them in where it went.

It was a bit of a clatter pounding the corks in, but kind of fun.

zeg said:

It set the cork about 1/8 inch below the rim of the bottle. If I was careful, I could get it to be flush but I decided I didn't care and just set most of them in where it went.

Click to expand...

a little below the rim is where you want them.

Yeah, I don't object to their being sunk, it's just a bit deeper than I'd like. On a few I carefully set them to my preferred depth, then decided it was far too much trouble and just hammered them all the way down.

Back before I got a lever-operated floor corker, when my hand corker wouldn't push the corks in quite enough, I'd get a thick washer of a smaller diameter than the bottle, turn the bottle upside down on the washer, and push down on the bottle. That would usually push the cork in far enough.