Twist off wine bottles

[NinjaBear]

So someone was selling wine bottles they had stripped and cleaned to be used as wedding center pieces but changed opinion and were no longer using them.

$20 for 42 bottles seemed like a good deal to me so I agreed to meet and checked out a few bottles from two out of four boxes.

The couple I looked at were identical bottles and looked good. So I assumed all the bottles were of the same variety and I took them home.

Well… today I was bottling six gallons of Black Currant wine… when I noticed that about half of the bottles were originally twist off.

I know beer cappers don’t typically seal well on twist off. But is there any issue with corking a twist off wine bottle?

The opening seems to be slightly wider.
Maybe a bit thinner glass.

But otherwise I’m lot really sure if I can use them or not.

Also, side note… one of the bottles has half a cork inside it… any idea how to remove that? Or should I just set it out for recycling?

 

[Yooper]

I've successfully corked wine bottles that originally were twist off caps. I use #9 1 1/2 inch corks.

To remove a cork is easy. You just need a plastic bag.

 

[NinjaBear]

I will try that bag idea and report back.

 

[bernardsmith]

I sometimes use bottles that were designed for twist off caps. The lips are less thick than standard bottles and so you do need to be a little more careful when corking: I have had one - perhaps two - bottles break when I used my floor corker.

and that bag trick definitely does work.

 

[NinjaBear]

Couldn’t get the bag trick to work.

Maybe because it’s like a third of a cork?

I don’t know. I filled the bottle with sugar water and bread yeast, poked the floating cork with a chop stick till it looked in alignment.

Now it’s outside where I’m hoping it builds up enough Pressure from the CO2 to push the cork out.

 

[bernardsmith]

The bag itself aligns the cork.

 

[NinjaBear]

The bags just keep ripping on me.

 

[bernardsmith]

What kind of bag are you using? I think the preferred bag is the one you get at the supermarket check-out, not the bag in which you put their tomatoes or peppers.

 

[pdxal]

Yooper, thanks for posting the bag trick video!