Corking your Belgian bottles with a Portuguese corker

I have a Portuguese floor corker and wanted to cork Belgian bottles. I figured it out and figured I'd post a mini-howto here with pics so folks don't have to spend two hours scouring search engines before trying it out.

You'll need a corker (duh). I already have one because I bottle a lot of wine. They are about $70 from LHBS. You can probably borrow one from a buddy if you don't have one. You will also need Belgian beer corks and cages available from LHBS. Not every LHBS will carry them so you may have to buy online. Sanitize the corks with whatever sanitizer you wish before using.

Slip a #6.5 or #7 stopper over the plunger and set the screw stop somewhere around the middle. You can fine tune it later.



Insert the bottle into the corker and push the cork into the Iris (it will be a tight fit since the Belgian corks are wider than the wine corks the corker is designed for). When you press down on the lever to insert the cork, the stopper will stop the plunger leaving about 5/8" of the cork sticking out. When you raise the lever, the cork will still be stuck in the corker so you need to push it out while pulling the bottle down from the corker at the same time -- if you just pull down on the bottle without pushing on the cork, the cork will get pulled out of the bottle and stay stuck in the corker. The handle of a screwdriver works great for pushing on the cork... simply push down on the driver handle with your right hand as you pull the bottle straight down with your left hand. The cork will pop out of the corker without getting pulled back out of the bottle.



Proper cork depth is about an index finger width below where the wire cage attaches to the bottle. Don't worry about being exact, as long as the cage isn't too loose it will fix itself as the bottle carbs and the pressure pushes the cork out until it catches on the cage.



Each cage gets six half twists. This cage tool ($4 from LHBS) makes the job much easier than using a pen.



Last step: admire your work. Those bottles look sexy!

Great tutorial! Good idea for the screwdriver handle assist method - I just used brute force (and occasionally tried to break off my own kneecap with the bottom of a bottle) to get them out of the corker.

I had some trouble getting the cage tool to tighten the cage properly without making too small a loop at the end. The smaller the loop, the harder it is to untwist. Did you have trouble with this at all?

I was also using cages for champagne bottles, which are somewhat taller with no gold cap at the top. I didn't notice I had the wrong ones till it was too late.

hexmonkey said:

I had some trouble getting the cage tool to tighten the cage properly without making too small a loop at the end. The smaller the loop, the harder it is to untwist. Did you have trouble with this at all?

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Nope six twists and it was perfect. I was using Belgian cages, they are sized a bit differently than the Champagne cages.

Was reading a few years ago a writeup on doing this and they took a dremel to the lower opening of the corker to make space for the cork to exit easily. That might have made it problematic for corking wine later though....

camiller said:

Was reading a few years ago a writeup on doing this and they took a dremel to the lower opening of the corker to make space for the cork to exit easily. That might have made it problematic for corking wine later though....

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The screwdriver push method is ludicrously simple, and doesn't involve modifying a $70 piece of hardware... The StarSan makes the cork pretty slippery so it isn't difficult to get the cork out with a little practice.

I dont' have the same corker, but what I found worked well for mine was to push the bottle+cork out with another cork using the press. On mine this sets the next cork up into the press and gets the previous bottle+cork out without the need for grabbing a screwdriver or whatever.

beeraroundtown said:

I dont' have the same corker, but what I found worked well for mine was to push the bottle+cork out with another cork using the press. On mine this sets the next cork up into the press and gets the previous bottle+cork out without the need for grabbing a screwdriver or whatever.

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Nice.. I will have to give that a try next time!

bump

i just racked 3 gal of flemish red onto 7 lbs of fresh bing cherries and bottled the other 2 gal in champagne bottles. since i didn't have a champagne or portugese corker i simply used a wine bottle corker with wine corks and then used the cages to reinforce the corks from being pushed out by the carbonation. worked like a charm! they don't look as pretty as yours with the portugese corks, but it'll work just fine i think. also, since the cages were a bit larger than the wine corks, used bottle caps were placed on top of the wine cork then the cage applied.

What about mushrooming the cork for an authentic look? Any ideas?

bikefoolery said:

What about mushrooming the cork for an authentic look? Any ideas?

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i just so happen to be in this section of wild brews right this second. "Champagne corks are straight sided and only develps the mushroom shape after being jammed into a bottle. They are not solid cork, but discs of cork separatd by a cork mash." (Sparrow, p248 wild brews)

bikefoolery said:

What about mushrooming the cork for an authentic look? Any ideas?

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You don't do anything special. The cork is that big and the part that is not compressed naturally "mushrooms". Belgian beer corks do not have as pronounced a "mushroom" as champagne corks because champagne corks are 29.5mm while Belgian corks are 25.5mm in diameter. Wine cork sizes are #7 - 20mm (10/16"), #8 - 21mm ( 11/16" ), #9 - 22mm (7/8").

info from http://www.weekendbrewer.com/corksequipment.htm

Do you think this would work to cork Belgian bottles?

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/atq/2084071659.html

Thanks.

Looks like it could work but it may be tricky since there isn't an Iris compressing the cork as it goes in. I would pass, a Portugese corker is about $70 new or you can probably rent one from your LHBS for a modest fee and a deposit if you won't be using one often.

Thanks, that's what I needed to know. I'm asking my mother-in-law to get me the Portugeuse for Christmas since I have a Belgian Golden Strong that will be ready to bottle shortly thereafter.

This worked awesome. Saved me a huge hassle and time.

I found that if you just leave the handle down on the Portuguese corker after installing the cork while you fill the next bottle, the exposed cork holds it's compressed state from the iris longer when released. You can pull it right out of the bottom easily because it doesn't spring back to shape as fast. No tools needed. Just give it 10 seconds before you lift the handle up and remove the bottle.
Also for the hoods, you can put an allen wrench in a drill and twist them that way. I don't like the slight hex imprint it puts on the wire so I use a bent piece of stainless tubing in the drill.

My corker locks when the handle is depressed. Probably to keep the bottle in place.

Also, some Belgian corks are treated and should not be sanitzed again as they come that way straight out of the bag.

Azurecybe said:

Also, some Belgian corks are treated and should not be sanitzed again as they come that way straight out of the bag.

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I had never heard that. Why should they not be sanitized again? You can't oversantize something, can you?

The corks from morebeer state they are treated and should not be resanitized. Not sure about all suppliers though.

wineries don't sanitize corks... now, theirs are usually being dumped from a sulfur-gassed bag, but i think the concern for santizing corks is a bit overstated. likewise for bottle caps (i use O2 absorbing caps so i don't want to wet them before use)
I have seen winemakers DIY gas their corks by using a small bucket with a false bottom - make a strong K-meta solution under the false bottom and put all the corks over the top - they get the gas but not the wet of the solution.

How do you guys handle carbonation with the Belgian bottles and corks? I only ask because I'm finding that I'm having a devil of a time uncorking the Biere de Garde I bottled 6 weeks ago. If I let the bottles warm up a bit it's easier and I'm just wondering if the problem is that I sank the corks a bit too low or if a higher level of carbonation would help.

A higher level of carbonation does make a big difference. I did my Biere De Garde last fall with cheap corks at 2.8 volumes of CO2 and had a bit if trouble with the removal. 3 volumes is about as low as I now ever go when using these bottles.

A couple of things to note.

1. Use a quality cork. The ones with (ref) on the side are the best you can get. They are lightly coated (they feel kind of waxy smooth) and come out of the bottle like a champ at 3.5 volumes. Why skimp on a cheaper cork?

2. Set up your corker properly. It can take some trial and error. Insertion too far into the bottle is not usually a big deal, but if you use poor quality corks they can stick and not want to come out. Or even worse, they can break off when you pull them from the corker.

3. Sanitzer can strip the coating from Belgian corks. I advise to not let them soak in StarSan too long for example. If they feel squeaky it's not likely you'll get a smooth insertion or removal. If you're worried about contamination then sanitize your hands or use gloves. The 30 packs I've purchased are always clean and I've had no issues with contamination without using sanitizer on the corks. Make sure your corker is clean and dry as well.

4. Store your bottles upright. There's no reason to be overly worried about cork taint but why risk it? You put a lot of effort into making these bottles presentable. It'd be a shame to accidently ruin your product by storing the beer in contact with the cork if you don't have to. 5% of wine is estimated to have cork taint. I've had a few (very few, but still) imported Belgians that have that nasty character because they were improperly stored.

Let the trolling begin.

Thanks for the advice, I went with 3.0 volumes this time around and will give 3.5 a try next time.

Azurecybe said:

1. Use a quality cork. The ones with (ref) on the side are the best you can get. They are lightly coated (they feel kind of waxy smooth) and come out of the bottle like a champ at 3.5 volumes. Why skimp on a cheaper cork?

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Where do you buy your corks? I bought mine from RebelBrewer (i think) and they are a ***** to get out without pliers. I would like to get some better ones.

Rebel Brewer's site confirms theirs are the "Reference Brand Beer Corks for our Belgian Beer Bottles."

Make sure you aren't over-sanitizing them. They should slide in the bottle, not squeak in.

I'll likely order from them the next time I need more. I've had excellent service and quick delivery in the past from Rebel Brewer. I've ordered from Williams Brewing in the past too but their website leaves something to be desired IMO. ymmv