To those who cork

Some questions if you don't mind.

Absolute essential equipment?

Things that are nice to have and/or speed up times, etc. ?

Are all corkers created equal? Seen some very big differences in prices so was curious

Things you wish you knew before you started corking?

I'm looking at making the move over because honestly I'm going to have to start getting creative with storage of the endless sea of amber bottles. Before making any decisions and especially since I'm limited with purchasing new stuff with our move (which CANNOT get here soon enough) I wanted to just start lining up things ahead of time

Corkers are not created equal. When I got started I bought a kit. It came with one of those W hand corkers. Personally I couldn't see paying a lot of money for a floor corker. I wasn't so much concerned with the cost (played a part) but the size of the thing was what I was worried about. Didn't want too much stuff sitting around.

The first wine I bottled using the W hand corker didn't push the corks all the way in and left a mushroom bulge at the end of the bottle. I ended up cutting that off and had to warn everyone that the corks were smaller.

I then bought a portuguese floor corker. Turns out that it comes apart and can be stored flush against the wall and takes up no space.

So the main thing I wish I knew then was to go for the extra expense (if you are going to be doing any decent amount of corking) for a floor corker.

I love my italian floor corker. I'll never go back to a hand corker.

I use one of those cheap W hand-corker things and most corks either don't go all the way in or get pushed in too far.

I just bottled with a W and I've never had problems. I wouldn't spend the cash on a floor corker.

I think with those W hand-corker things there's a knack to it and I just haven't got the knack of it yet. Do it too hard and the cork goes in too deep (and there's a greater chance of things slipping or breaking) and do it too gently and it goes in too shallow.

I use one of those W corkers too. It adjusts to set the depth of the cork in the bottle. I wasted a couple of corks in an empty bottle before I got it right but no depth problems since. The one thing that does bother me though, is that the corker always takes a sliver off the cork - a half moon shape.

Maybe I got lucky and just have a good one.

Middle of the road expense is a bench corker, again the expenditure is practical if you will have a substantial amout of use. The one I purchased does crown caps as well.

I started with a w corker, and upgraded to a Portuguese floor corker after about six months of wine and mead making... I consider it necessary equipment if you do anything larger than one gallon batches. I only keep the w corker around for the few double magnum bottles I have.

Has anyone tried the mushroom caps/corks you push in? I'm undecided whether to bottle my JAOM in swing tops or wine bottles, but don't have any corking equipment.

Mushroom caps don't have a very good seal and don't really keep out the air. They're mostly used as tasting caps, and might protect a wine for a few days, but wouldn't be good for aging.

Swing tops are a more reliable bet. I've heard of people successfully aging for years with them. Just make sure the grommet is in good shape. I've had to replace a few here and there that started getting cut by the bottle, but at least they're cheap.

Thanks, I thought the mushroom caps sounded too good to be true. I've been using the swing tops for several beer batches, so I'll probably stick with those.