# Cork Sanitizer or "Corkador"



## sluff (Dec 28, 2020)

I am planning to put together a cork humidor to sanitize my corks for bottling. Any thoughts on this _and photos of what you are using _would be greatly appreciated. Also - would a 10% SO2 solution work for this? Thank you!


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## Johnd (Dec 28, 2020)

sluff said:


> I am planning to put together a cork humidor to sanitize my corks for bottling. Any thoughts on this _and photos of what you are using _would be greatly appreciated. Also - would a 10% SO2 solution work for this? Thank you!


I use a two gallon bucket with a lid. Have a plastic colander in it to hold corks, and about an inch of K-meta solution, works like a charm, the fumes do the work, corks never get wet.


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## GreginND (Dec 28, 2020)

First, I will say that this really isn't necessary. Corks stored clean and dry wine should not need any additional sanitation other than a having your wine properly maintained with SO2. 

The problem I have with corkadors and/or soaking wine is they can become too hydrated and soft and suffer a shorter life in the bottle. If you want to dose them with SO2, don't keep them too long in your corkador. Also, you will get a lot more SO2 if you also add some citric acid to the sulfite solution.


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## sluff (Dec 28, 2020)

GreginND said:


> First, I will say that this really isn't necessary. Corks stored clean and dry wine should not need any additional sanitation other than a having your wine properly maintained with SO2.
> 
> The problem I have with corkadors and/or soaking wine is they can become too hydrated and soft and suffer a shorter life in the bottle. If you want to dose them with SO2, don't keep them too long in your corkador. Also, you will get a lot more SO2 if you also add some citric acid to the sulfite solution.


 Thanks! I've heard that citric acid helps. I'm thinking I would just sanitize the corks immediate prior to bottling. Any thoughts on how long is long enough - or too long? Thanks again!


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## sluff (Dec 28, 2020)

Johnd said:


> I use a two gallon bucket with a lid. Have a plastic colander in it to hold corks, and about an inch of K-meta solution, works like a charm, the fumes do the work, corks never get wet.


Thanks! Do you use the "corkador" just prior to bottling or do you store your corks long term in the corkador. Thanks again!


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## Rice_Guy (Dec 29, 2020)

The fumes/gas is the active ingredient, salt form is basically useless, an acidic K meta solution will ALWAYS evolve more free SO2 than a tap water solution (for background google pKa) 


sluff said:


> Thanks! I've heard that citric acid helps. I'm thinking I would just sanitize the corks immediate prior to bottling. Any thoughts on how long is long enough - or too long?


I am primarily a Nomacork user and shake corks in acidic K meta at the same time i sanitize bottles. I have seen some black develop on corks left wet in the plastic container (mold?)
For natural cork the risk of mold growth is higher, high humidity will promote mold, a high percentage active chemical in the system will discourage mold, organic material will consume SO2.
I agree with @GreginND that it isn’t really necessary, and actual contact with moisture is bad.


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## bstnh1 (Dec 29, 2020)

sluff said:


> I am planning to put together a cork humidor to sanitize my corks for bottling. Any thoughts on this _and photos of what you are using _would be greatly appreciated. Also - would a 10% SO2 solution work for this? Thank you!


I use a crockpot with a veggie steamer basket in it. K-meta on the bottom; corks in the basket, cover with saran wrap. I only leave them in a day or two before bottling.


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## Fencepost (Dec 29, 2020)

I use an extra "Cajun Flip-an-Fry" I had hanging around... Heavy duty plastic container/lid and strainer... the "strainer"/separator already in place (original use was for coating fish with flour/cornmeal then shaking cormeal to bottom of container)... put the kmeta solution in the bottom, insert "strainer" then corks on top. Do this as I am preparing to bottle and when finished filling one set of bottles (in the milk crate), with the AllinOne... corks are ready to go. Works great.


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## Johnd (Dec 29, 2020)

sluff said:


> Thanks! Do you use the "corkador" just prior to bottling or do you store your corks long term in the corkador. Thanks again!


Just prior to bottling, at least 20 minutes in the fumes.


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## sluff (Dec 30, 2020)

Fencepost said:


> I use an extra "Cajun Flip-an-Fry" I had hanging around... Heavy duty plastic container/lid and strainer... the "strainer"/separator already in place (original use was for coating fish with flour/cornmeal then shaking cormeal to bottom of container)... put the kmeta solution in the bottom, insert "strainer" then corks on top. Do this as I am preparing to bottle and when finished filling one set of bottles (in the milk crate), with the AllinOne... corks are ready to go. Works great.



Yes - like the "breaded bowl" - Thanks!


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## Jim Cepaniewski (Mar 11, 2021)

I’m a newbie here. Can you just take the amount of corks you need and put them in a StarSan solution for a few minutes at bottling?


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## cmason1957 (Mar 11, 2021)

Jim Cepaniewski said:


> I’m a newbie here. Can you just take the amount of corks you need and put them in a StarSan solution for a few minutes at bottling?



Soaking corks is not a recommended best practice. I generally open up my package of corks which was sealed and then, if my wife is helping, squirt some sanitizing solution nearby, then into the corker and into bottles they go.


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## Jim Cepaniewski (Mar 11, 2021)

cmason1957 said:


> Soaking corks is not a recommended best practice. I generally open up my package of corks which was sealed and then, if my wife is helping, squirt some sanitizing solution nearby, then into the corker and into bottles they go.


When you say squirt sanitizer solution near by what do you mean? And I should have said I don’t soak them. I sort of dip them in the solution. Is that still not a good thing?


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## cmason1957 (Mar 12, 2021)

Jim Cepaniewski said:


> When you say squirt sanitizer solution near by what do you mean? And I should have said I don’t soak them. I sort of dip them in the solution. Is that still not a good thing?



I meant it mostly as a my wife and I disagree over whether to sanitize corks or not. She thinks they should be, I think probably don't need to be. So if she is helping, too appease her I squirt some kmeta sanitization water over the corks we will be installing. About three or four squirts and we are usually doing 60-90 bottles. I wouldn't do corks into star san, it might help them go in easier, I guess, but it also makes it easier for them to come back out on their own.


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## mikewatkins727 (Mar 12, 2021)

I'm a small time winemaker, about 100 gallon a year. I buy a bag of 100 corks at a time. When I open the bag from the supplier I transfer them to a zip lock bag. Also, I refrain from touching the ends. I do not rinse, soak or boil the cork.


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## montanarick (Mar 12, 2021)

Keep corks as clean as possible. I always keep a little glass of cheapest vodka I can find next to corker and just give cork quick dip in vodka before inserting into corker. This has always worked well for me


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## dmw_chef (Mar 12, 2021)

Just order the number of corks you need for a particular bottling run from widgetco.com. They'll sell you anywhere from 1 to 1000+, that way you're always bottling with fresh corks.

I've stored corks for several months in a cork humidor with no apparent ill effects.


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## Jim Cepaniewski (Mar 12, 2021)

cmason1957 said:


> I meant it mostly as a my wife and I disagree over whether to sanitize corks or not. She thinks they should be, I think probably don't need to be. So if she is helping, too appease her I squirt some kmeta sanitization water over the corks we will be installing. About three or four squirts and we are usually doing 60-90 bottles. I wouldn't do corks into star san, it might help them go in easier, I guess, but it also makes it easier for them to come back out on their own.


Thank you for the advice!!


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## winemaker81 (Mar 13, 2021)

I do like @cmason1957, I do not sanitize corks at bottling time. I keep them in the original bag, and double the loose plastic over several times and secure with a binder clip. I've been doing this since 1990 with no problems.

Keep in mind that commercial wineries cut open the bag of corks, drop them in the hopper, and start bottling.

That said, sanitizing doesn't hurt anything.

But don't boil the corks. When I started that was the advice, and it's bad advice, as that makes the corks brittle.


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## sour_grapes (Mar 13, 2021)

winemaker81 said:


> I do like @cmason1957, I do not sanitize corks at bottling time. I keep them in the original bag, and double the loose plastic over several times and secure with a binder clip. I've been doing this since 1990 with no problems.



1990? Bryan, it may be time to buy some new corks!


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## winemaker81 (Mar 14, 2021)

sour_grapes said:


> 1990? Bryan, it may be time to buy some new corks!


Why? I've got 6,000 left.
 

Seriously, about 5 years ago I realized I had the remainder of a bag of 1.75" #9 "premium" corks from 1990. Yeah, 25 years old. When my partner and I closed down our LHBS, a 1,000 count bag of corks was part of my spoils. At that point I had about 1/2 of the bag left, still in the original bag. The corks were dried looking, but solid, and had been stored in my cellar. I had put them aside and literally lost track of them until I was cleaning up old junk.

For the heckuvit I bottled a carboy with them and appeared to have no problems. So I bottled a few more batches, since I already had the corks. I was being economical, right?

For years I had a problem with mold growing on the outside of the corks, a problem produced by my less-than-stellar storage conditions. These corks had that, plus about 10% leaked. Not a huge amount of wine, probably no more than a dozen drops each. Enough to be noticeable. And messy. And irritating.

I gave the remainder of the bag away, and some time after that switched to Nomacorcs, which solved the mold problem.

Surprisingly, I opened the last bottle of those wines at the 3 year mark, and had no quality problems. However, the corks always looked odd when pulled, as the 1/4" next to the wine looked normal, but the remainder of the cork looked dried out.

In hindsight -- bottling more than a few bottles with those ancient corks was risky ("insane" might also be mentioned). These were what was called "premium" at that time, and although labeled #9, they were just a hair larger in diameter than the 1.5" #9's we sold. I suspect that if the corks were the normal ones, a lot more would have leaked.

My opinion on old corks today? If they look dried out, let someone else take the risk.


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