Belgian Style Bottle corking

[Hebrews]

In the Williams Brewing Catalog there are 12" tall belgian bottles. It says you need to cork and put the little cages on them for a nice gift. My question is...Can i cork them and do a wax sealant? You know, like Makers Mark, or some fine wines....

Whacha think?

 

[Hebrews]

In the Williams Brewing Catalog there are 12" tall belgian bottles. It says you need to cork and put the little cages on them for a nice gift. My question is...Can i cork them and do a wax sealant? You know, like Makers Mark, or some fine wines....

Whacha think?

what i mean is i'd like to press the cork in all the way, then wax seal the top so its flat not mushroomed.

 

[joex444]

I doubt it. The cork mushrooms as the beer carbs and is pushed against the cap. That force should break the wax easily.

 

[Hebrews]

bummer ok. i was just curious. Thanks.

 

[StMarcos]

It mushrooms because part of the cork is in the neck and part of it isn't. I've not had a case where a cage is really needed. The most I've gone to is about 3 volumes though. Never had a cork fly out when the cage was off, and never really felt the pressure doing much as I pull the cork, as I would with champagne.

I suggest you do it and put all except for one in the fridge. If that one doesn't nudge the wax after a few weeks, you should be fine.

 

[smokinghole]

what i mean is i'd like to press the cork in all the way, then wax seal the top so its flat not mushroomed.

You can certainly do that. Look at how the Lindeman's beers are packaged. They are corked and then instead of caged they cap the beers. So you can cork it then cap it and do the wax seal. Unless you were hoping the wax would hold the cork in, which wouldn't work. Well it might but it'd have to be a very low carbonation beer.

 

[Burgs]

Alternatively, you could wax a 22 oz. bomber - I always thought Dark Lord, for example, looked cool like that.

I think the Belgian style cork and cage presentation would look nicer without the wax, honestly. Just an idea!

 

[Hebrews]

no worries. i really like all the options. i like the cages too and that's probably what i'll end up doing that instead. I'm doing a test batch of my new porter this weekend so perhaps i'll do a couple different bottle styles and see what comes of it. Thanks all.

 

[Golddiggie]

If you do go the cage route, make sure you have one of the tools to wind the cage wire up. I did 22 bottles today, without the tool (used a philips screwdriver) and noticed my finger was bleeding after a couple. The caps in the cage are SHARP (didn't even feel getting cut)...

I plan to get the tool this week, as well as another couple of cases of Belgian bottles (the LHBS has plenty of them, looking to clear their inventory )... I am planning on using something to help stop the corker from pushing the cork all the way into the bottle. You need something positive to stop the corker...

 

[StMarcos]

Use a sharpie. Slightly tapered so you can pull it out. TWSS

 

[Sheldon]

just posted on another thread, but can one use a two lever hand corker (may have been a wine corker in a previous life) to cork belgian bottles. Just brewed a Abt 12 and want them to look authentic with cork and cage, but don't want to kill myself trying to do the impossible.

Thanks.

 

[meadowstream]

The champagne-style corks are hard to push in - unlike wine, they are going to have to resist CO2 building up in the bottle - but many people have struggled through bottling a 5g batch and thought that it was worth not buying a floor corker for something they were going to do once. It is very easy to use a cheap floor corker with a rubber stopper in it for champagne corks - gives you much more leverage and control over the depth of the cork, and the process will go much faster. If you are going to do this frequently, then the floor corker will probably be worth having.

 

[Sheldon]

thanks for the bad news, didn't want to have to buy one