Switching to corks

[jkuhl]

Hello

I have a blueberry wine in a few bottles. I want to save it for the 4th of July (I plan on doing a red, white and blue wine for the holiday)

Right now it's in a few screw top 750ml bottles. I bought some corks and I'm waiting on a corker that should arrive next week. My question is, is it safe for me to quickly release the cap and cork the bottle? If I do it quick enough the oxidation should be minimal and the wine will still keep until the summer?

From what I understand, corks are superior to screw caps, which is why I'm trying to transition to that right now. I'm not going to bother with anything I've bottled that I intend to drink over the next month or two, but anything longer than that, I'd prefer corked. I already have a wine rack that'll keep the liquid in the bottle against the cork.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I prefer screw cap bottles, and I use empty liquor bottles for most of my wine. My friends and co-workers keep me supplied. I bottled a batch of cherry-jalapeno a couple months ago, and as usual I filled them up to the neck. I couldn't get the stoppered bottles to stay stoppered; the air pressure kept pushing the stoppers back out. I finally folded duct tape together (so it wasn't sticky), placed it over the stopper, and zip tied the duct tape to hold the stoppers in. The screw-capped bottles worked great. I have some swing top bottles, and typically they work great, but some of my swing-topped cider bottles didn't fully seal and so far I've lost two bottles of last year's apple cider. I also ordered some champagne bottles and plastic corks earlier this year to make a sparkling wine. I got the "better" corker, and I never could get it to work right. It worked best by placing the bottle carefully on the floor, jamming the corks in by hand, and twisting the wire cages on with a pair of pliers.

I wouldn't bother with replacing the caps with corks - you'll be introducing more contamination than you'll get if you leave them sealed. But, if you prefer the je ne sais quoi of corks, a better option would be to replace the caps right before you serve your guests.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

Meh. Keep it how it is. Next bottling rotation move to corks. The screw tops will keep long enough to be enjoyed.

 

[lukebuz]

If you don't like corks, buy some heavy-duty crown cap champagne bottles. Crown Caps seal great, are cheap, easy to remove. Will pay for bottle in 3 uses (over corks).