corks on belgian bottles

I have a couple of the chimay beer bottles that use corks and wires. Since I only have a couple to try, I do not want to buy a corker that would work with them. My LHBS has some mushroom corks listed that do not require a corker - just wet and insert. Will those types of corks work with the Chimay bottles along with the wire wraps?

I don't expect this beer to be in bottles for more than a few months or so.

Thanks

I tried using plastic champaign corks with these bottles and they did not seal well. The beer carbonated but when I went to move the bottles they leaked/spewed. This was less than two weeks after bottling.

BoShimTang said:

I tried using plastic champaign corks with these bottles and they did not seal well. The beer carbonated but when I went to move the bottles they leaked/spewed. This was less than two weeks after bottling.

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Yeah I also use the plastic corks. They work pretty well if you can push them all the way down and get the cage tight enough that the pressure won't push it up. That way when you accidentally touch the cork it doesn't spray out the beer and lose carbonation. They work fine if you can stand the bottles up and not touch them until it's time to drink them. The champagne corks work a lot better on champagne bottles.

To the OP, I'm not sure about the product you're referring to but it seems suspect. How can you squeeze the cork into the bottle? Seems if it's too easy to slide it in it won't create a good seal and you won't have carbonation.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

To the OP, I'm not sure about the product you're referring to but it seems suspect. How can you squeeze the cork into the bottle? Seems if it's too easy to slide it in it won't create a good seal and you won't have carbonation.

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Maybe the "wet" part of the instructions triggers some sort of (irreversible?) expansion in the cork? That would be my guess. So it's easy to slide in, but then it expands.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't think they are plastic as they had those listed elsewhere - so I was thinking expansion when wet, just like storing wine bottles on their side.

I'm just trying to avoid spending $6.00 on gas to buy $2.00 in corks, but I wanted to bottle soon - I may delay the bottling since I will be heading that way later in the week.