# Another Cork Question (1.5" vs. 1.75")



## smurfe (Jan 21, 2006)

I got a couple big boxes from Fed Ex today. As I was unpacking I looked at my bag of corks and thought to self, these don't look right. I had ordered FVW corks and got the "other" kind, then looking closer, they were 1.5's instead of 1.75's. I look back at my order and sure enough, I ordered the wrong size (Didn't order the wrong brand though




) 


So now, I need to use up 100 of these 1.5" corks. I have heard they have a shelf life of like 2 years, is this correct? I think I can use them with some fruit wines I am getting ready to make and will order some 1.75's for my kit wines.


I guess George needs to call me when ever I order something and ask, Is this really what you want? LOL Oh well, I am sure I will use them up, just wanted to verify the shelf life of them. I still don't see how that .25" really makes that much difference though.


----------



## bilbo-in-maine (Jan 21, 2006)

George says two years;

http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=2308


----------



## jobe05 (Jan 23, 2006)

Smurfe:


Perhaps someone can chime in with an answer that is correct, but, for the lack of any other reply to you question regarding 1.5 -vs- 1.75, may I suggest you just use these corks in wine that is an early drinker and you won't have around for very long. For the reds and other wines that you are going to be aging a year or more, I would think you would want all the sealing surface you could get. Again, thats just my suggestion, nothing factual.


----------



## MedPretzel (Jan 23, 2006)

I used 1.5's at the beginning of my winemaking. The corks are still in the bottle (not from Geo), and the wine is still fine. I started winemaking 3 years ago.





Hope this helps.





M.


----------



## smurfe (Jan 23, 2006)

jobe05 said:


> Smurfe:
> 
> 
> Perhaps someone can chime in with an answer that is correct, but, for the lack of any other reply to you question regarding 1.5 -vs- 1.75, may I suggest you just use these corks in wine that is an early drinker and you won't have around for very long. For the reds and other wines that you are going to be aging a year or more, I would think you would want all the sealing surface you could get. Again, thats just my suggestion, nothing factual.




That is my intention but I am not making anything "early drinking" coming up soon. I will just order the "correct" corks I guess. I just at times wonder if some of the "facts" that we see thrown around are indeed "factual" Kinda like the bulk aging kit wines in a carboy. You just can't convince me that it is a benefit to wine to age 6 gallons at a time in a 6 gallonglass bottle has any more benefit than aging 750 ml of it in a 750 ml glass bottle. 


I have read and read up on the subject and have yet to see any "evidence" that it is a benefit. I just sometimes get the impression by peoples statements I have read (not from this board, we have smart and good people here) that it is "the cool thing" to do. Like it makes them the ultra-knowledgeable Vintner. 


Now I can see doing it for a storage point of view or if you just don't have time to bottle it or for oaking. But to me, I would rather get the wine in the bottle to let it start stabilizing, get over it's bottle shock and move on with it's life. I personally have wondered if you did let a wine stabilize in the carboy and then process it by filtering and bottling, what is THAT going to do to the wine? I dunno, that is why I consider myself a novice student of viticulture and have the need to learn more. 


OK, now that I have went way off topic AGAIN, I will say howdy and move on along. And as always, thanks for the input, I truly appreciate each and every comment to a thread I start as well to any post I place. This is how I learn. This is why I am so "choosy" to where I choose to obtain my knowledge!






Smurfe


----------



## smurfe (Jan 23, 2006)

MedPretzel said:


> I used 1.5's at the beginning of my winemaking. The corks are still in the bottle (not from Geo), and the wine is still fine. I started winemaking 3 years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Thank Martina, your input is always valued. I will probably just use them for quicker drinking stuff although I wish i could use them all the time, They sure go in the bottle easier. I had a bear of a time with an entire bag that I used last. They caught the edge of the bottle or corker with like almost every cork. I had one bottle it took 7 shots to get a cork in that bottle.


Smurfe


----------



## Funky Fish (Jan 24, 2006)

smurfe said:


> That is my intention but I am not making anything "early drinking" coming up soon. I will just order the "correct" corks I guess. I just at times wonder if some of the "facts" that we see thrown around are indeed "factual" Kinda like the bulk aging kit wines in a carboy. You just can't convince me that it is a benefit to wine to age 6 gallons at a time in a 6 gallonglass bottle has any more benefit than aging 750 ml of it in a 750 ml glass bottle.
> 
> 
> I have read and read up on the subject and have yet to see any "evidence" that it is a benefit. I just sometimes get the impression by peoples statements I have read (not from this board, we have smart and good people here) that it is "the cool thing" to do. Like it makes them the ultra-knowledgeable Vintner.




I bulk age because it's the cool thing to do. Actually, if you make kit wines, you probably won't see much benefit in bulk aging. It comes more with scratch wines. If you bulk age these wines through the time period in which they would throw sediment, the entire 6 gallons will be the same (your rack all the wine off the sediment; all that wine has equally been on the sediment; and all changes has occurred equally to that wine. If you bottle as soon as they are clear, some bottles may through more sediment than others, some may age just a bit differently than others, etc, because they are all in their own little individual microcosms. 


But, even so, I won't say that bulk aging hurts kits - perhaps not from an aging standpoint but from a clearing standpoint. Not all of us have filters, so bulk aging a wine long enough, with some careful racking skills, can produce 29+ bottles of very clear wine, which sure beats 20 bottles of somewhat clear wine and 8 or 9 bottles of cloudy.


----------



## Waldo (Jan 24, 2006)

OK..My two cents worth here on the bulk aging in the carboy. The only advantage I see in this practice it kinda keeps you in check and keeps you from drinking your wine to early and being able to fully enjoy its potential. once in the bottle its hard to keep your hands and lips off of it.


----------



## MedPretzel (Jan 24, 2006)

Funky Fish said:


> I bulk age because it's the cool thing to do.







Yeah, what he said!









Now, if in _practice_, I could do it too!









_Ergo:_ I am *not* cool.


----------



## smurfe (Jan 24, 2006)

Funky Fish said:


> smurfe said:
> 
> 
> > That is my intention but I am not making anything "early drinking" coming up soon. I will just order the "correct" corks I guess. I just at times wonder if some of the "facts" that we see thrown around are indeed "factual" Kinda like the bulk aging kit wines in a carboy. You just can't convince me that it is a benefit to wine to age 6 gallons at a time in a 6 gallonglass bottle has any more benefit than aging 750 ml of it in a 750 ml glass bottle.
> ...




Thanks Fish, yes, I can totally see the benefit of bulk aging scratch wines. No question there. It is indeed the kits I am referring to. At this other forum I used to hang out at, I would constantly see posts about bulk aging their kit wines and looking down their noses at those that didn't. I asked and asked and never got an answer to the benefit of it. I truly wanted to know if indeed it made a better wine. I never got an answer and was pretty well told to not bother the "big boys" and go play elsewhere, so I did, I found a group of REAL people to bug






Anyway, as everyone knows I am constantly asking questions cause I want to learn and I want to do this the best that I can. I just look at the scientific part of it and can see no value to bulk age kit wines. I would rather like said, free up that carboy and start letting my wine rest. I guess I can see the point to keeping your hands off of it but my philosophy there is to make so much of itI will never have that problem!






Thanks for the input. I have read some of your posts on other forums and it is alwaysgood advice. Keep up the good work and once again thanks!






Smurfe



*Edited by: smurfe *


----------



## jobe05 (Jan 24, 2006)

Waldo said:


> OK..My two cents worth here on the bulk aging in the carboy. The only advantage I see in this practice it kinda keeps you in check and keeps you from drinking your wine to early and being able to fully enjoy its potential. once in the bottle its hard to keep your hands and lips off of it.




But you never answered the question..... Do YOU bulk age?...






We know the answer.......






I see some benefit of bulk aging for the purpose of having consistant wine from every batch, and possibly from batch to batch, however my thoughts would be to get it in the bottle in a timely manner to prevent anything bad from happening to the whole batch. All it would take is for one of my kids, or one of the dogs, my wife or myself to knock one of the bungs lose and not notice for a month or so and have the whole batch ruined due to air getting to it. Just not worth the worry for me. So it's in the bottle as soon as possible.......... and yes, the temptation to taste a bottle or two from time to time might be there........... Daily..........


----------



## Angell Wine (Jan 24, 2006)

My 3 cents: I leave mine in the carboy an extra 30 days if you want to call that bulk aging. Wine will age faster in the bottle but with kits most of us drink it with in 6 to 12 months anyway. Scratch wines I try not to bottle for at least 4 months from start to finish but sometimes I grow impatient and bottle it when I'm bottling a kit.


----------



## geocorn (Jan 24, 2006)

Corks - The theory is that the longer the cork, the longer it will take for the wine to seep out. With my corks, I have never seen more than 1/4" of wine in the cork, so I think you can use my cork in either size with the same result. Most people like the way the longer cork looks in the bottle.


Aging - Tim Vandergrift with WE says there is no difference in aging in the bottle or the carboy; however, he does agree with Waldo and I. It is harder to drink wine out of the carboy than a bottle; therefore, if you REALLY want your wine to age, leave it in the carboy.


----------



## earl (Feb 2, 2006)

If you bulk age in the carboy, do you leave it on the lees???


earl


----------



## pkcook (Feb 2, 2006)

I personally would not leave it for a prolonged period of time. Everything I've read says this will impart an off flavor on the wine.


----------



## geocorn (Feb 3, 2006)

You want to avoid aging on the "gross lees", which is what you get during the primary fermentation. A little amount of lees (sediment) will not harm your wine.


----------



## OilnH2O (Feb 8, 2006)

Wow. You guys had me fooled! Here I thought this topic was all about CORK LENGTH !






I have to admit, it's an example of theinteresting discussions that brought me to George's site, and like Smurfe, I like to learn too. But it really ought to have its own forum -- this is really good information, both on the diffence a quarter inch makes and the art of aging!


----------



## garyd (Feb 19, 2006)

MedPretzel said:


> I used 1.5's at the beginning of my winemaking. The corks are still in the bottle (not from Geo), and the wine is still fine. I started winemaking 3 years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Need some help drinking those 3 year old wines??? I mean if YOU can't drink 'em fast enough!!!! LOL


----------



## MedPretzel (Feb 19, 2006)

hahaha, you wouldn't want to drink the ones that are about 3 years ago. Cabbage, Onion and herbs-de-provence.


----------

