cheap belgian corking?

[dismal]

About to bottle a saison and was wondering what the best way of bottling it would be. At the moment I see 3 possible options.

1. Ideally I would cork it, but I'm not sure if there is an inexpensive way of doing that. From what I've read on the forums and around the web, people seem to use a Colonna Capper/Corker which costs about $60-70. Do Belgian corks fit in cheaper wine corkers, or is the more expensive floor corker necessary.

2. Would using a large (29mm) cap on a Belgian style bottle work well?

3. Lastly, I have also seen some Belgian breweries use a combination of cork (appears to be a wine style cork and it goes all the way into the bottle) and cap. If using this approach, could a conventional wine corker do the job?

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated since I am a little confused by these 3 options.

Thanks!

 

[jpoder]

So I have been looking into this a lot lately...am just getting ready to cork/cage some beers for Christmas gifts, and have read EVERY thread on the subject and talked to lots of people. in the end I am renting a standard floor wine corker from my LHBS ($8/day...cheapest option I could come up with to do this!) and following the technique i describe in #1 below, and can be found on the forum by searching.

1) The Colonna corker/capper *is* the cheap option. The proper way to do it is using a champagne corker that allows you to release the cork when it is only half way into the bottle (unlike wine corks that go all the way flush into the bottle). The Colonna forces the cork through a funnel to compress it, and you have to sort of yank the bottle out when the cork is half way in. a floor wine corker uses an iris to evenly compress the whole cork before pushing it down into the bottle. you can use a drilled stopper over the piston to stop the cork from going too far into the bottle then use a smallish screwdriver handle to push the cork out of the iris (while holding and pulling down on the bottle gently). the hand corkers won't work.

2) Some European bottles (and bottles from The Bruery) use 29mm caps...the cork and cage bottles can not be capped...only corked. I have had good success using the larger caps on appropriate bottles, but you have to swap out the bell on your capper for a larger one. I bought mine at my LHBS for a few bucks.

3)Yes...this works...it is what Cantillon does. not really sure of the pros/cons to this approach, though. perhaps it has something to do with long cellaring of beers like that, and not wanting the beer to touch the metal caps.

 

[dismal]

Thanks for the reply, that clears things up a bit. Guess there's no easy way to cut corners when corking. Since we are mostly planning to brew Belgians, I guess it would make sense to pick up one of those Colonna Corkers...

 

[redalert]

I have corked beer before using previously used belgian bottle corks along with the cage. It takes some elbow greese but you can put on a cork using just what God gave you.

 

[dismal]

From doing some further reading, it seems a Gilda Hand Corker should work too. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[dismal]

UPDATE:

Bought the Gilda and it didn't work. Now I'm returning it and getting the Collona anyway.

 

[KYB]

I plan on getting a Ferrari Champagne floor corker next year for corking champagne and Belgian bottles. Basically what I've read is that it's the best option (expensive) and you need to get the specific cork types, as they are different. I am brewing a bunch of sours beginning of next year and they will sit awhile and I want to cork them when I bottle them. I'm about to brew a BDSA and I will probably put half in champagne bottles, but cap them instead of cork them, and half in 12oz bottles.

Good luck with that other corker. I figure the nicer one will be worth it after corking a lot of bottles, to me at least.

 

[dismal]

Yeah, you definitely need Belgian corks for Belgian bottles and Champagne corks for Champagne bottles. As for capping Champagne bottles, make sure to get the 29mm caps.

 

[Rossnaree]

The Colonna doesn't have to be in the $60-$70+ range; I just bought the capper/corker from my LHBS, new, paid $47.85. It IS the exact same one I've seen in catalogs, on vendor's sites, and on eBay for $69 or so. I asked why they were selling it so cheap, the owner shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, if you want to pay more I won't stop you, but if it makes you feel any better," then he took the lever and cycled it, and continued, "there, now it's used."

I love that place!