Sanitizing Corks

[Mead'n It]

Looking for the best/safest way to sanitize corks. I have done some research but there is a lot of back and forth on which way to do it. In the past i have heated some sanitized water and dropped them in for a minute or so.

Is there a better way to do it?

 

[Blacksmith1]

Somebody on here said they steam them.

 

[JimRausch]

I run my bottles through the dishwater with the hi-temp wash and heated dry cycle. Have also done the same with corks. Then I soak the bottles and corks in a solution of Metabisulphite and water before bottling, but this is more for residual oxygen scavenging. This is what I have done, but..... a month or two ago there was a thread addressing the issue. I don't remember the title, although you could do a search. I do remember Yooper contributed to it, and she said that you really don't want to get the corks wet before inserting (if I remember correctly). And the consensus was to not run the corks through the dishwasher. I'm going to look for the thread before my next bottling session.

 

[bmd2k1]

I just use StarSan. [emoji111]

 

[Abrayton]

 

[RPh_Guy]

Looking for the best/safest way to sanitize corks. I have done some research but there is a lot of back and forth on which way to do it. In the past i have heated some sanitized water and dropped them in for a minute or so.

Is there a better way to do it?

The point of soaking or steaming corks is to make them more pliable so they're easy to insert. It's not about sanitation.

https://blog.eckraus.com/preparing-your-corks-when-bottling-homemade-wine

If you have a floor corker with iris jaws, supposedly you can insert them dry. I haven't tried that; I steamed for 2 minutes or so.

 

[Maylar]

Looking for the best/safest way to sanitize corks. I have done some research but there is a lot of back and forth on which way to do it. In the past i have heated some sanitized water and dropped them in for a minute or so.

Is there a better way to do it?

That works for me.

 

[andrewmaixner]

If you have a floor corker with iris jaws, supposedly you can insert them dry. I haven't tried that; I steamed for 2 minutes or so.

Yup, that works fine. I've used a floor/champagne corker for dry corks of the following types, so far: agglomerate, agglomerate+solid endcaps, and synthetic nomacorks

 

[Mead'n It]

Right on. So in short, just spray the corks with some Star San and cork the bottles? Sounds a lot easier than steaming or soaking.

Thanks!

 

[Dralarms]

I spray mine with kmeta. And then roll dry with a paper towel before insertion.