Juice Bag Opener and tools question

Some sites say you need to purchase a $7 tool to open the juice bags. Is this really necessary? Also, If I didnt want to go to the expense of a floor corker yet, what would be the best corker to get? What about sizes/types of corks?

bigkevj said:

Also, If I didnt want to go to the expense of a floor corker yet, what would be the best corker to get? What about sizes/types of corks?

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Do you have a LHBS? Mine has a floor corker that they loan out.

These appear to be a $7 tool for opening bags containing food products:



EDIT: Sorry for the heinously OT smartass remark.

No, I am in the middle of Kansas. No LHBSs around here.

I pop my lids off with a screw driver. Four kits so far, and never spilled a drop.

As for the corker, I have rented one from a local place. Try finding someone local who owns one that may loan/rent it. I have rented one twice, but the Italian Champagne Floor Corker is coming from Santa this year....if you believe my wife.

-Todd

I could show you a picture of a purple wall.

OK, but renting in not an option. Can someone that uses any other corker besides a floor corker tell me good/bad about your corker?

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4352

This is the one I have, and it works great. I was told to stay away from the cheapo plastic ones.

I use linesman pliers - that works fine

Adolphus79 said:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4352

This is the one I have, and it works great. I was told to stay away from the cheapo plastic ones.

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I have this one too and your right...its very easy to use. It came in the kit I bought a few years back. For $19 maybe $24 with shipping why bother with renting one. Hell for me thats not even a tank of gas.

Of course if you cant spare the cash ( I have been there before) You can always save every bottle you get your hands on....juice bottles, cheap wine bottles (these are also great as 1gal carboys.)....just about any bottle that you can seal up good will work. If its for your personal consumption I wouldnt worry bout putting it in a pretty wine bottle. My personal stash goes into big ole plastic juice bottles. Coke bottles work fine too. Just something to store it in and keep the air away from it will work great.

If your taking it more seriously than what I have described then 20 bucks is a small sacrafice....heck its gonna cost you that just for 100 corks.

Hope this helps you decide.

yup yup... my personal stash goes in 1g/4l wine jugs that I get from the redemption center, and you can get new screw caps for them for like a quarter each from any online HBS... the screw caps are also reusable, unlike corks...

Adolphus79 said:

yup yup... my personal stash goes in 1g/4l wine jugs that I get from the redemption center, and you can get new screw caps for them for like a quarter each from any online HBS... the screw caps are also reusable, unlike corks...

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Wish we had those here.....in the great state of Texas we just throw everything away....no refund to get folks to turn stuff in. Its a shame. I could raid the recycled glass container at the school down the street but I think that could lead to some bad cuts and weird diseases!

Bottles are not a problem anymore. I have a friend who owns a couple of bars and an italian restaurant here in town. He said he would have 30 bottles to me in a week.

I've bought four corkers total in the last year and a half- starting with the double lever one. It works ok, but not for large quantities. I bought a Gilda corker, which was a headache. I had a mallet style one. Finally I broke down and bought a Portuguese floor corker for $57. Yes, it was expensive, but I spent more than that on the first three corkers and ended up getting it anyway. A wine kit makes 30 bottles. So, for less than $2 a bottle, you have it corked quickly and easily by yourself. If you make three kits in a year, it's well worth it. Another advantage- when I was hand corking, I had to buy #8 corks to get them in. Now, I can buy "regular" #9 corks in quantity and they fit well and I have no problems with cork failure.

I highly recommend splurging on a good corker.

Yooper Chick said:

...Portuguese floor corker for $57. Yes, it was expensive, but I spent more than that on the first three corkers and ended up getting it anyway....

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I have that one too. It's simple to use and probably the cheapest floor corker you're going to find. It literally took me 10 times longer to cork with a plastic corker and mallet.

rdwj said:

I have that one too. It's simple to use and probably the cheapest floor corker you're going to find. It literally took me 10 times longer to cork with a plastic corker and mallet.

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The only reason I want the more expensive Italian one is the ability to do Champagne corks. I like to bottle beers in traditional Belgian bottles. I figure, if your gonna buy one and use it forever, may as well get more use out of it. If I didn't already have a killer bench capper, I would get the optional crown capper piece for the italian floor corker.

-Todd

Yooper chick:

I think i bought the same corker that shakz has in his post on the first page of this thread. Can I not use #9 corks for that? I think that is what I bought. Will I break the corks? I only bought 30 for my first batch.

I've got one of the Gilda corkers. I agree that it can be a pain to use (and I'll eventually end up getting a floor or bench corker at some point), but it worked pretty well once I got the hang of it. With the double lever model, I can't really tell if it compresses the cork before inserting it. If it doesn't, that's just going to make it that much harder to insert (which may be why Yooper was using #8 instead of #9, the smaller cork being easier to insert).

As for the bag cap removal tool, I use pliers. Carefully.

Yes, the double lever corker compresses the corks... it's a good workout using #9 corks, but #8's go quite smoothly... here are pics with a #9... in the second picture, you can see how compressed they are when they enter the bottle...

I use the double-handled corker, it's not easy, but I feel like I'm 'exercising' when I cork a couple big batches!

As for the juice-bag openers, I use to use scissors, then on a whim I accepted the upsell when I was ordering a new wine-kit and got the official bag opener... It's super easy to use, and I do in fact recommend you go ahead and buy it, it'll probably last quite a while and sure does make the whole process easier than I what I was making it!

Might as well resurrect an old thread than start a new one.

I just got the italian floor corker for christmas. Has anyone used the bottle capper attachment? I am trying to decide if it's worth the purchase.

Portuguese floor corker

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Ive only had a few women let me do that.