Hand Corker

Has anyone tried to cork #9's with a hand corker? Since I intend on only making wine a couple times a year, it's a little expensive to invest in a larger model. What do you think? Thanks!

It can be tough and there are a few different hand models out there also. I prefer the Portuguese dble lever hand corker over the rest but will say the Port. Floor corker isnt really much more and is WAY better! #8 corks will work much better with hand corkers!

I used #9s with a double lever hand corker just once! I did 3 gallons, and I swore I'd never do it again. You can do it, but it is a real pain. I went through three hand corkers, trying different ones, before just giving up and getting a floor corker.

If you're near a homebrew store, they often rent out their floor corkers for a day, or even let you use it for free. I'd recommend giving that a try, if possible!

I found the hand corker a pain to use but I know people that use them. Then rented a floor corker for one batch then got a used one from Craigs list.

I used my single level corker for the first few small batches I made, and it wasn't bad for 10-15 bottles. More than that and it starts getting hard on the hands.
IF you're only doing a couple batches a year and IF it's less than 3 gallons a hand corker would be fine, IMHO.

Anything more than that, look for a floor corker, beg, borrow, rent, but definitely use one.

My $.02

D

I hand corked once and decided never again. Now I use 1 liter cobalt swing tops.

Me thinks those posts say it all. $5 plus shipping and you can have my hand corker that I used on 2 batches before putting it in a bag and tossing it in the drawer!

Haha, thanks for the info. I gave in and just purchased

http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/double-lever-corker.html

Anything to encourage me to make more