Corker recommendations?

Just bottled my first batch last night I found the corks very tough to get all the way in with the double lever italian corker I had the plunger adjusted and they still wouldnt go in all the way i ended up using a hammer to bang them. I was using number 8 corks with the crap hand corker.


Also I think I am going to move to a better filler with the auto stop feature sinc ei am bottling by myself.
Im thinking I should move up to a portugese or italian floor corker, any thoughts?

also what should one pay for either one?

I paid $57 for a Portuguese floor corker. That was quite a while ago, though.

I actually spent more than that in the long run, though. I first bought a cheap corker which didn't work at all. Then I bought a double level corker which was hard to use, even with #8 corks. Then I bought a Gilda hand corker, which was just as hard. That's when I finally bought the floor corker! So, I spent $60 or so on those other corkers first!

If you're going to make more than 30 bottles of wine a year, the floor corker is the way to go. The Portuguese one is good enough for me. I use #9 corks, and 375ml, 750ml and 1.5ml bottles with ease. You need a hockey puck under the bottle for the 375ml, though- to raise it up to the correct height. If you don't have hockey pucks laying around, I'm sure you can find something else but I have about 200 hockey pucks so it's not a problem for me!

I've never used the Italian model, but that would be great if you're making more than 100 bottles a year, or doing champagne as I don't have a champagne corker for the Portuguese model.

I make about 200-250 bottles of wine per year, and the Portuguese floor corker is fine. I loan it to friends who make wine, too. So it gets what I'd call medium use, and I'm happy with it.

+1 on the Port. floor corker. I paid around $60 at LHBS a year ago. You can cork em as fast as you can load em.

I love my Colonna Corker/Capper Combo. <---- Say THAT 10 times really fast after you've had a few!! I only paid $47.85 new at one of the homebrew shops around here. I was about to pull the trigger on a nice Italian floor corker, but since I have about 5 cases of old empty Lowenbrau and Molson stubbies, and my Emily capper won't cap them, nor will it cap the Stella or certain other brand bottles, I was looking to get a bench capper as well... Then seeing the Colonna, and its price tag, and that it would take care of both needs in one piece of equipment, for MY needs at least it was a no-brainer.

Otherwise, +2 to Yooper's recommendation. I'd only recommend the Colonna combo over the floor or bench corkers IF you also have any bottling to do, since it comes with two additional interchangeable cappers for both America and European size caps. But the Colonna corker-only model? No. Just my opinion.

- Tim

+3 for the Port corker. I bought it 9-10 years ago, and so far have used it to bottle over 1500 bottles and I don't think I'll ever need to replace it. I never thought it would last so long.

I just recommended one to a friend and he said they were $65 at our LHBS.

+4

I love my Ferrari Italian floor corker, never had any problems with it & it handles #9 corks (even nomacorc) with ease; the thing is built like a tank & worth every penny. Regards, GF
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/italian-floor-corker.html

If a guy was bottle carbing and need to use champaign bottles for their added strength, would you need this one or will the others work?

The Champagne Floor Corker is the same as our Italian Floor Corker, but features an oversize iris opening to accept champagne corks, and a retractable arm for holding champagne bottles in place. This corker works with both champagne corks and regular corks.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/champagne-floor-corker.html

This is kinda what I was thinking


Plus this


In this

Hello, I just used a Gilda Compression Hand Corker that i borrowed from my cousin in law. i was able to use it by myself and get a #8 all the way in. I looked a little special, but what i did was hold the unit handle in my right hand, put my left forearm over the pluger handle. this allowed me to use my left hand to balance the corker to keep it level and push the lever down. i bottled 30 bottles this way. i will admit it took some practice to get the hang of it!

Love the Port. Floor Corker, hubby bought it for me last year. My 9 and 10 year old can cork a bottle with it! Paid about $65 at the local supplier here.

CampFireWine said:

If a guy was bottle carbing and need to use champaign bottles for their added strength, would you need this one or will the others work?

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When I bottle in champagne bottles, I use those plastic "corks" (stoppers) & tap them into the bottles with a rubber mallet, it's really easy & quick, not to mention cheap. Use the little twisting tool http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hand-operated-champagne-wire-tightener.html for the wire cages, it will save your fingers. Regards, GF.

Yooper said:

I have about 200 hockey pucks so it's not a problem for me!

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Awesome.

How do you cork a Belgian beer bottle?