# bottling question



## Wild Duk (Dec 31, 2008)

I'm getting ready to bottle My Crand cru Petite sirah and my LHBS gave me 2 oz. of Sodium Metabisulphite....


Do I just soak the corks in this for I while, then cork....I haven't really read much on people using this...


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## PolishWineP (Dec 31, 2008)

We just take the corks from the bag and put them into the bottles. If you want you can dilute the power in water and rinse them before corking, but we don't do that. There's a lot of different methods with corks, but we haven't had a bit of trouble since we quit all the extra stuff with the corks.


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## Rocky_Top (Dec 31, 2008)

the 2 oz of K- meta could be mixed with 1 gallon of water to make sanitizer. You could put just enough of this in a small bucket with a lid on to evaporate. add the corks on a rack over the sanitizer or just throgh them in. This will sanitize the corks.


I have a 5 gallon bucket with a rack in it. The rack is just an inch off the bottom of the bucket. (humidore) I use this two sanitize just about anything. I leave paper towels in it over night before I start a new batch of wine. I leave corks in it over night before bottleing.


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## Wade E (Dec 31, 2008)

Rocky Top has the best way. I used a bucket with a colander over it and pour the meta solution over the corks and into the bucket and then cover with lid for 5-10 minutes. I say used to cause now I have a cork humidor!


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## Rocky_Top (Dec 31, 2008)

If you build one. Use a plastic rack. K-Meta eats <STRIKE>melats</STRIKE> steel. I used a kids beach sand sifter upside down. It fit just right and is flat on the bottom.


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## jobe05 (Dec 31, 2008)

Rocky Top said:


> If you build one. Use a plastic rack. K-Meta eats melats.



Wow...........

I'm glad I got rid of all my "Melats" I had in my wine room.........


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## Rocky_Top (Dec 31, 2008)

I fixed it!!!!!! Darn spell cheque!!!


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## Vince (Jan 6, 2009)

I cork my bottles dry. I buy a fresh bag of corks and once I open them I use then right away. The sealed bags aresold in 30 or 100 pieces and are humidity controlled. Wetting the corks , even with a meta solution, invites bacteria to grow exponentially as a warm dark damp place (in the cork itself) is a great place to start a petri dish.Don't keep your new bags of cork in your wine cellar, it is tool cold and when cold instead of compressing uniformly in the corker they may form a vertical crease that can leak. I discovered this actually using synthetic corks that were cold, and then noticed it was the temperature that was hampering my efforts. 


I save all my old corks and unused corksfor the kids, they take picture frames and glue corks in them to make corkboards/interesting artwork.


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## Jack on Rainy (Jan 6, 2009)

I use the humidor and cork dry too.


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## AlFulchino (Jan 6, 2009)

i agree w Vince......i never do anything but open and use and store extra in the zip locks...i buy the 1000 package


Vince how cold was your cellar that your corks got deformed? I have always stored in my cellar but the temp in the wine cellar remains at about 58-59 degrees


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## Rocky_Top (Jan 6, 2009)

For any one that does not know. If you use a humidore the corks do not get wet. They are just sterilized by the K-meta vapor.


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## AlFulchino (Jan 6, 2009)

cool...thanks for sharing


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