Synthetic Corks in Belgian Bottles???

Anybody had any luck finding the right size synthetic cork (25.5mm diameter) for Belgian bottles?

Or can synthetic #9 size (22.5mm) be used in a Belgian bottle because of cork density differences?

I'm actually not sure what size synthetic cork would be needed for a Belgian bottle, which has an 18.5mm mouth. I do know that with natural cork, it's 25.5mm.

I'm not sure. My LHBS has synthetic and natural corks for Belgian bottles. Even my hand-held Gilda corker works to put them in if I stop about halfway through a full stroke.

What's your LHBS? I haven't been able to find synthetic corks listed for use in Belgian bottles.

coryforsenate said:

What's your LHBS? I haven't been able to find synthetic corks listed for use in Belgian bottles.

Click to expand...

Ill 2nd that

I misspoke. Oops. When I got my Belgian corks from LHBS, at the time we talked about regular corks versus amalgamated. It seems that one of us was confused about which size corks was being talked about, because the Belgian corks they carry are only regular cork. The amalgamated corks that we talked about were wine bottle sized only.

Why go synthetic anyway on these? These are the corks that are partially inserted and protected with a wire cage, yes?

Well, if you want to be truly true to presentation, yes then you would want Belgian natural corks.

I'm more interested in being able to age them for a long time in addition to not having to worry about my beer having bits of cork of them or drawing a cork flavor.

So cork and cap, like a Geuze or something, then leave it standing up?