sanitizing wine corks

is it necesary to sanitize corks prior to bottling? if so, how do you go about doing that?

I sanitize my wine corks. I figure that since it is coming in contact with my product, I should try and kill as many of the wee beasties as I can.

When I sanitize then I dunk them in a bleach water solution and then rinse them in boiled water just prior to corking.

Right or wrong I have'nt had problems with this method.
JR

Corks are better sterilized as a precaution. Just a dissolved campden tablet does the trick. Are you using a wine corker to seal your bottles?

I just boil the corks for a few minutes, then cover the pan till cool, or if I'm in a hurry, dump out the water first. If I really want to cool them in a hurry I'll pop them into some no rinse sanitizer, but I like getting them boiled to get them really clean.

Since I have a Winexpert Estate series wine in the primary right now, I have been doing a lot of reading on winemaking, bottling, etc. Tim Vandergriff, of Winexpert fame, has the following to say:


http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=10559


"Never, ever soak your corks in anything, much less a sanitising solution. No matter what the sanitiser, it will be dilute enough (after soaking into the cork, which has a virtually infinite surface area for dispersal) that it will be effectively water, and will activate any mould or contaminants on the cork."

and


"Let me repeat: NEVER SOAK YOUR CORKS.

DO NOT SOAK THEM IN SULPHITE

DO NOT SOAK THEM OVERNIGHT

DO NOT SOAK THEM ON A BOAT

DO NOT SOAK THEM INSIDE A GOAT

DO NOT SOAK THEM IN A BOWL

DO NOT SOAK THEM WITH ALL YOUR SOUL

DO NOT SOAK THEM WINEMAKER MAN

SOAKING CORKS IS NOT THE PLAN!"

and:

QUOTE
are you saying to just grab the bag of corks (including NomaCork) and just insert them into the bottles dry without any other preparation to them???

"That is precisely what I'm saying.

If you keep corks dry (but humid) they self-sanitise through capillary action. When they're in contact with wine they are sanitised by contact with a low-pH solution of alcohol.

Somewhere in the forum there is a post I did about making a cork humidor--that works if your corks dry out too much and become brittle. However, as I'm on record against the use of natural cork, I much prefer folks to use the beautiful, wonderful, and utterly desirable Nomacork--they are much less prone to failure than any natural cork product, given the same handling conditions."

--------

For what it's worth....

Lounge Lizard said:

Tim Vandergriff, of Winexpert fame, has the following to say:
"Never, ever soak your corks in anything, much less a sanitising solution. No matter what the sanitiser, it will be dilute enough (after soaking into the cork, which has a virtually infinite surface area for dispersal) that it will be effectively water, and will activate any mould or contaminants on the cork."

If you keep corks dry (but humid) they self-sanitise through capillary action. When they're in contact with wine they are sanitised by contact with a low-pH solution of alcohol.

Click to expand...

How does the cork mysteriously soak so much water up but leave the sanitizer behind yet when it hits wine the water isn't taken into the cork first?

How do you keep a cork both dry AND humid? the presence of water surely "activates any mould or contaminants on the cork"

and his poetry sucks more than Jack K's does!

I agree with Mr Vandergriff about the use of 'non cork' corks but that's been due to the amount of Commercial wine i've bought that has been oxidized. I've never had a home brew wine (with natural cork briefly soaked in sanitiser) do that to me yet!

Not a dig at you LL - Do what you feel is best with your wine kit, save a bottle for me though!

I thought you HAD to boil those DCK corks to get them "primed" for insertion.... I wouldn't put a cork in contact with a sanitizer though, too big a risk of it absorbing some. And my wines sanitize on contact anyhow :cross:

I know that I am replying to an old post but I felt this article was worth referencing regarding corking. I am in the same boat - bottling a winexpert kit this weekend.

http://www.leeners.com/winemaking04.html

Cheers,

Brewstef

bit old of a topic, figure I'd bring it back. What about something like vodka or another strong spirit to sanatise a cork?

A thread about soaking corks and nobody referenced this???

SNL - Janet Jackson - Soaking Corks
http://www.tv.com/uservideos/?action=video_player&id=ICM3lDT_5bkNszA

I'm not sure about the debate on this issue.

If you use potassium bisulfate as your sanitizer... same chemical which you add 1/4 teaspoon of at the end anyway to the winexpert wine kits if you plan on aging your wine longer.... what is the big deal if a fractional decimal amount gets on the cork you are inserting into the bottle. Seems to me.. any killing of wee beasties that can spoil your wine is a good idea.

Lounge Lizard said:

"Let me repeat: NEVER SOAK YOUR CORKS.

DO NOT SOAK THEM IN SULPHITE

DO NOT SOAK THEM OVERNIGHT

DO NOT SOAK THEM ON A BOAT

DO NOT SOAK THEM INSIDE A GOAT

DO NOT SOAK THEM IN A BOWL

DO NOT SOAK THEM WITH ALL YOUR SOUL

DO NOT SOAK THEM WINEMAKER MAN

SOAKING CORKS IS NOT THE PLAN!"

Click to expand...

How do you get corks in the bottles dry? I mean I don't soak them but I run 'em under water first. A dry cork in a bottle is... er... well hard to make go. lol

Also I don't understand the obsession with sanitation. People have been making wine (and granted spoiling wine) for thousands of years. LONG before people had any idea of germ-theory and thought that diseases were evil spirits and crazy things. Often "sanitation" was simply rinsing which is all I ever do. Rinse. I mean if I SEE mold or something gross I break out a brush, but beyond that? no. Bad batches? MAYBE one a year. (I do at least one 5gal batch a month). Wine spoiled by corks? big fat zero. Don't be a sanitation elitist. Keep it fun and don't stress about scrubbing down everything.

Use a small sour cream tub with k-meta inside(holes punched on top of lid) put it inside a big Folgers plastic coffee can. Place corks on top of sour cream tub and close coffee can. The holes in the lid of the sour cream tub let the SO2 gas out to sanitize the corks.

I agree with the no fuss approach. There are not many micro organisms that can live in a 10% alcohol level. Most of the organisms that are present in most environments at least.

I am not sure gassing the corks is humane.
I like the sound of the vodka soaking. That would counter the dilution argument in my mind. Then you could challenge your buds to drink the bowl of corky, finger-dipped vodka.

rmchair said:

I am not sure gassing the corks is humane.
I like the sound of the vodka soaking. That would counter the dilution argument in my mind. Then you could challenge your buds to drink the bowl of corky, finger-dipped vodka.

Click to expand...

I'm thinkin that might work too, and probably taste better!

If the bag of corks is unopened you don't need to sanitize the corks, as they are packaged with SO2 by the manufacturer. If they have been open (mine always are just lying around in open bags) I just give them a quick rinse with Saniclean to get any dust off, and let them dry on a clean towel before using.

I just steam mine for a few minutes to sanitize/soften them a bit. I haven't had any bad bottles yet.

brazedowl said:

A dry cork in a bottle is... er... well hard to make go. lol

Click to expand...

Heh heh heh,

Keeping the thread focused...

Dry corks don't go in as easy to say the least. I just dip mine in a little sanitizer for a couple of seconds and never have had any issues or complaints.

So what is the leading info on corking these days? I'm bottling about a 12% mead tonight with wine bottles and corks. Should i presoak them, boil them, soak in sanitizer, say a prayer or ????? I have a hand held corker and I have arthritis so that may change your opinion.

I just soak in warm water. Helps them go in easier. Sanitation isn't normally a big deal with corks unless the bag is open and they've gotten moldy or something.

steam your corks do not boil them....Im not giving away any more secrets so this is it.....im drunk....

I wouldn't steam either. Did that with a blackberry wine last year and over half of them ripped in half. I just use a little starsan that I watered down a little more than usual.

ive never had a cork rip in half from steaming but i guess it would be possible, I will keep steaming my corks until i find a reason not too....

I read with interest your post re NOT sterilizing corks, and how the pH of the wine will have a sterilizing effect. But what if you are corking something other than wine? I am putting together an herb collection as a present for the wife, and have a bunch of bottles with cork stoppers. How would I sterilize these?

Put some K-meta in a bowl with water (dilute as if sanitizing) and place a colander above the bowl. Put your corks in the colander and place a lid of some kind over the top of the colander. The SO2 will sanitize the corks, the colander will keep the corks dry and dry corks will not be as easy for any gas reamining in the bottle to blow off the corks.

Lounge Lizard said:

"Let me repeat: NEVER SOAK YOUR CORKS.
DO NOT SOAK THEM IN SULPHITE
DO NOT SOAK THEM OVERNIGHT
DO NOT SOAK THEM ON A BOAT
DO NOT SOAK THEM INSIDE A GOAT
DO NOT SOAK THEM IN A BOWL
DO NOT SOAK THEM WITH ALL YOUR SOUL
DO NOT SOAK THEM WINEMAKER MAN
SOAKING CORKS IS NOT THE PLAN!"

Click to expand...

let me just say on that very old post from Lounge Lizard ... very cool indeed

Anyhow that said ... just for reference here I thought I'd cite an old post of mine regarding corks and chlorine and "cork taint" ... (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/sanitizing-351003/#post4374749) ... captioning that post ...

"Around winemaking using bleach is considered an extremely bad practice ... one should avoid the habit of anything “chlor”.

Chlorine is one of the two elements that create TCA (trichloroanisole) ... known for the musty, moldy taint it causes, this is a compound that even in very small amounts is a really fast way to ruin a large batch of wine and so is a big concern in commercial fine winemaking. Corks are known to absorb TCA... this is “cork taint” ... natural corks also allow TCA to transfer thru them from the environment during long term storage. Bentonite and filter pads are known to absorb it too (viz. good storage practices).

Hypochlorite containing solutions are avoided throughout the winery; cellars, barrel rooms, tasting rooms etc. This includes avoiding washing equipment or anything else in a commercial dishwasher which uses hypochlorite as the sanitizer.
Sani-Tabs, Bar-Rinse, bleach etc ... are all out. Not in floor drains (chlor based floor washes or bleach), not for cleaning surfaces, nothing.

In fact when big wineries use municipal water, they actually use carbon filters to remove the chlorine and chloramine. We use metabisulfite. This is a good practice too for any wine which you are going put down to age if you do not want to take the risk of it possibly ending up smelling like a wet dog."

My wine supply store has a RINSE-ALL solution that I use for sanatizing. You just add a tablespoon per gallon of water. use it to rinse all bottles out...buckets out...everything. Then when I am bottling I throw all the corks into a bucket of this solution let them soak and grab them from that 1 by 1 as I insert into my corker. Been doing this 6 yrs...never had a problem. Its what my wine store guy suggested to me also.

Reminds me of an old winemaker's insult, "You're a real cork soaker!"

I do the S02 "humidor"- heat up a little water, add some k-meta, put that in a bowl, and then put the corks around it.

In 25+ years, I've had two corks fail. I think it was due to my insertion problems, and not the way I handled them. Soaking cork, especially in warm temperature liquid or in something that can cause them to start to fall apart, is not a good practice as a rule.

I know that using synthetic quality corks is more common, and I think Normacorks could stand up to soaking.