# Do you sanitize corks?



## mtbryda203 (Mar 2, 2013)

Bottling for the first time. Do you sanitize the corks? Any other helpful pointers on bottling?


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## TonyP (Mar 2, 2013)

It seems from postings that views are somewhat split regarding whether to sanitize sealed corks, but I believe it's prudent to do so. To sanitize, place the corks in a sealed bucket around (not in) a bowl of k-meta. It's best to do this in advance of bottling to allow the k-meta to penetrate.

I also place the corks in a solution of Star San for a minute or two prior to bottling to allow the corks to slide easily. However, I'm in the minority on this point.


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## jimmyjames23 (Mar 2, 2013)

I soak my corks. 
My ex always said I was a big cork soaker. Lol. 

Usually by making up a solution of 1/4 tsp k-meta in 1 liter of water. Count out how many corks you need (plus 2 for "accidents"). Place them in a ziplock add some kmeta solution. Zip, shake and let sit for 20 minutes. Drain the bag back into your k meta container. Put on your rubber gloves and wipe each cork down with a paper towel right before you insert it in the corker. 
I used to cork while they were still wet (as recommended by about half the masses/websites) but I found some potassium residue on most of the corks and bottle heads a few months later. So now I wipe them dry and hav'nt seen the "white salty" on any of my bottles.


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## Boatboy24 (Mar 2, 2013)

jimmyjames23 said:


> I soak my corks.
> My ex always said I was a big cork soaker.



Gotta be done:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=7lWuba4HKg4&desktop_uri=/watch?v=7lWuba4HKg4


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## rjb222 (Mar 2, 2013)

Do not soak your cork nor if it came from a unopened package sanitize. Both of these options lead to bacterial infections. Corks as long as are in a sealed plastic package come pre- sanitized. Soaking corks ruins the structure of the cork and if it is a columated or aggomerated cork starts breaking down the glue that holds the granules together.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 2, 2013)

Absolutely not. I never soak corks. I also believe in doing so with a meta solution, your corks are going break down sooner. I like the idea of placing them in a concealed container with meta but not in the solution.


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## jimmyjames23 (Mar 2, 2013)

I use natural corks. Not bi disk or agglomerated. 

When I use agglo's I don't soak them. But then again...i only use agglo for "drinking" wine and they only stay bottled a few months. 
I only use natural corks when I'm bottle aging 2+ years. No wonder...look at the price of the damn things. The cork plus the bottle and PVC shrink cost more that the wine going in there. LoL


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## jimmyjames23 (Mar 2, 2013)

That being said. No commercial winery I know of wets, soaks or otherwise allows their corks to come in contact with water. 
Most agglomerated corks contain silicon and paraffin. Which both lubricates and protects the cork. It all serves to keep the cork in place once it's in the neck.


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## Gedanken (Mar 3, 2013)

Runningwolf said:


> Absolutely not. I never soak corks. I also believe in doing so with a meta solution, your corks are going break down sooner. I like the idea of placing them in a concealed container with meta but not in the solution.



I am with you on this. Never, ever soak them. I clean and sanitize a colander or steamer basket and stick it in a sealed container. The sealed container has some k-meta solution in at the bottom and the colander keeps the corks away from the solution, but allows the gas to reach the corks.


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## dralarms (Mar 3, 2013)

Well, I keep mine in a 5 gallon bucket with a wine bottle of k-meta in it. But recently I have been rinsing them in k-meta right before bottling, I dip them and drop them in a colander.

I have been doing juice kits and the instructions say to soak them for 2 hours, I would never do that, just a quick rinse.


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## derunner (Mar 3, 2013)

I was storing my corks in a corkidor for the last 4 months, but when i went to use them noticed that there was no longer a so2 smell to the k-meta solution. I guess it was all used up.

Based on this thread, I did the corking wrong on the six batches of wine i just bottled. I put 60+ corks in a bowl at a time with a few ounces of k-meta. stired and covered the dampend corks while i filled the bottles. bottled and corked with damp corks. I then repeated with the next 2 batches. So no long term soaking, but they were damp.


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## ibglowin (Mar 3, 2013)

You don't want to cork a bottle with a wet cork folks! When the KMETA dry's you will have a "salt" that will make removing that cork next to impossible. DO NOT SOAK YOUR CORKS! LOL

Make a "dry" corkador just before bottling by using a 1 gallon bucket. Pour in several cups of sanitizing solution and use a colander large enough that it will rest on top. Put your corks in the colander and place the lid on top for 20-30 minutes so the SO2 gas can do its job.


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## NoSnob (Mar 3, 2013)

I use a corkidore and follow directions I recall Wade giving some time ago. The corks are placed in a plastic colander sitting atop an inverted bowl in a 3 gal pail. Then the K-Meta solution is poured over the corks and the solution runs into the bottom of the pail. The cover is placed on and it is left in for 1-3 hours. This means the corks get a one-time dousing from the K-Meta but they are not soaked in it.

Anyone else use this method? Wade do you still do this?

NS


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## Runningwolf (Mar 3, 2013)

Wade now uses his corks for bobbers when he's fishing.


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## ibglowin (Mar 3, 2013)

Lol....... 



runningwolf said:


> wade now uses his corks for bobbers when he's fishing.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 3, 2013)

Runningwolf said:


> Wade now uses his corks for bobbers when he's fishing.


 
SOOOOOO.........in all reality and seriousness, that would officially make Wade a cork soaker!


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## dralarms (Mar 3, 2013)

Runningwolf said:


> SOOOOOO.........in all reality and seriousness, that would officially make Wade a cork soaker!



I see what you did there, yep I sure did.


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## Luc (Mar 4, 2013)

When I start bottling I take a jar and put some k-meta solution in it (water-sulphite and citric acid) in this jar I put my corks.
So they will soak in this solution for about an hour (only during cleaning the bottles).

Then I just put them in the bottle. I do not wipe them off or rinse them before using. The little bit of k-meta on the corks will help preserve my wines.

It gives me the impression that they are sanitised and that I can touch them without getting a contamination.

Never had a problem with that and some bottles are already 5 years in my cellar.

Luc


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## rjb222 (Mar 4, 2013)

From Allison Crowe Wine Wizard Wine Maker Magazine.
*Preparing Corks for Bottling*

Alison Crowe is the Wine Wizard who answers questions from home winemakers for *WineMaker Magazine*. It is worth checking out the website of this magazine or subscribing to hard copy.
The two questions below appeared in the Dec 06/Jan 07 Issue.
For what it's worth, I do soak/treat my older composite corks before using them. I put them in a closed container with a bit of sulfite solution for at least 24 hours before using them. I shake the container a couple of times to splash the liquid around. Then I make sure I wipe off any obvious drops of moisture on a paper towel before inserting the corks. This is not really for sanitation. I find older corks are brittle and liable to break off chunks if I do not do this. The extra moisture provides some rehydration and a bit of lubricant and makes life easier. [RC]
*Should you soak or not soak corks before bottling?*

*Dear Wine Wizard:* I’ve heard both “yes” and “no” on soaking corks before bottling. All of the commercial wineries I’ve visited don’t soak their corks before bottling. Can you set us straight on whether to soak or not to soak? [Jack Anders, Lindenwold, New Jersey]
*Wine Wizard replies:* No commercial wineries that I’ve worked with soak their corks before bottling because it’s not necessary for larger-scale businesses. Commercial wineries buy corks by the thousands from reputable companies with high turnover. They buy full bags and only order enough for their scheduled bottling runs, ensuring that small excess quantities aren’t left over to dry out, get dusty and become unusable over time. They ensure that their suppliers (the cork companies) test for moisture content, screen for TCA and spoilage microbes and deliver fresh, clean, ready-to-use corks. The corks come right out of the hermetically sealed, sulfur-dioxide sparged, factory-packed plastic bag.
The problem for small-scale and boutique winemakers is that it can be harder (not to mention more expensive, since they can’t match a big winery’s economy of scale) to procure such a high quality and consistent cork supply. This is probably, in a roundabout way, the reason why many small operations continue to soak their corks even in the face of better overall cork quality.
Finding the reason is as easy as answering the following question: Who tends to be on the bottom of the cork supply food chain? Not commercial wineries, which are large, repeat customers but the small mom and pop home winemaking retailer, who maybe only order one bag of 1,000 corks at a time (enough for about three barrels of wine), a few times a year. Since their home winemaker customers tend to buy corks in small quantities, the well-intentioned shopkeeper rips open the sealed bag from the cork factory and divvies them into their own plastic baggies. Even worse, some retailers just tip their corks loose into bulk bins for customers to paw through, selecting the exact number of corks they want. Since all of this breaking-down of the standard-sized 1,000-cork bag makes for dried-out, dusty and potentially contaminated corks, it’s no wonder that small-scale winemakers have historically doused their corks in a strong sulfite solution in an attempt to mitigate these potential threats!
Luckily, these days stores and Websites that supply small-scale winemakers are understanding the importance of cork quality more and more. Most do their best to keep corks in the original suppliers’ bags or, if they must break down orders, to gas plastic bags with sulfur dioxide, which retards the growth of microbes. Similarly, retailers understand that they can’t keep last year’s corks around for this vintage’s clients and will destroy (or turn into decorative cork boards) inventory that has passed its expiration date.
So, should you soak your corks or not before you use them? If you are fortunate enough to order your corks direct from the factory, in a sealed bag, you don’t need to, unless it helps you slip the cork into the bottle easier with your hand corker. Similarly, if you buy your corks from a winemaking supply store that you know has a lot of customers and a high turnover of their cork inventory, you probably don’t need to rinse or soak your corks either. If, however, you aren’t in either of the above camps and don’t know how long your corks have been exposed to the air, where they came from or how old they are, it might be a good idea — or at the least it’ll make you feel like you’re doing something to help.
I think this is where most of our good-intentioned soaking of corks comes from. Since we know we may have to (at least in some situations) accept less-than-ideal corks, we feel that a quick dip in a 70 ppm sulfite solution spiked with 1 g/L of tartaric acid (one of the many sulfite cocktails I’ve seen in use) may at least rinse the dust away and retard some surface-dwelling bad guys. Unfortunately, the reality is that once a cork has dried out and a mold colony has invaded its nooks and crannies, there’s very little that a winemaker can do, whether working for a top of the line facility or simply making it work in their garage. Even a rigorous wash in a sulfite solution, or any other available sanitizing compound — no matter how strong — won’t be able to do much. Wash corks in water that isn’t sulfited and you may even increase the chance of infecting your corks by providing opportunistic microorganisms with a source of moisture.
So what’s a small-scale winemaker to do? Make sure that you buy your corks from a reputable supplier with high turnover. Never take chances on old, dried out corks that could spoil your wine or cause your bottles to leak.
Better yet, to ensure the best cork quality, go in with a group of friends or your local winemaking club and place “real winery” orders in multiples of 1,000 corks at a time in sealed bags.
Source: http://www.winemakermag.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/10-bottling/ 633-should-you-soak-or-not-soak-corks-before-bottling
*Is microwaving corks in a bowl of water a better sanitizing method than soaking them in a sulfite solution?*

*Dear Wine Wizard:* A friend recommended microwaving corks in a bowl of water to sanitize them. Is this a better alternative to soaking them in sulfite solution? [Simon Cole, United Kingdom.]
*Wine Wizard replies:* Corks seem to be on everyone’s mind as of late — it must be bottling time! As I think I’ve mentioned before in this column, it’s impossible to sterilize corks and it’s almost impossible to properly sanitize them. Corks are plugs of tree bark, after all. Mold and bacteria are held in check relatively well by cork manufacturers who use ozone, high pressure, sulfur dioxide and all manner of things to knock down the populations of microbial visitors.
As I mention above, however, once the bag from the manufacturer is opened (as they are in most home winemaking supply stores) all bets are off as the protective sulfur dioxide dissipates, the corks dry out and mold and bacteria take their toll. This is why many home winemakers choose to attempt to sanitize corks before using [email protected];we clean and sanitize the rest of our winemaking equipment, so we at least make an attempt at sanitizing our corks, right? Also, that little bit of moisture can sometimes help the corks slide better into the bottles since we don’t have the benefit of the pounds of pressure of commercial corking machines.
But is microwaving corks the best way to do it? Since it’s impossible to sterilize corks with high heat (that would take a hospital-grade autoclave which a microwave would never accomplish) it’s quite possible that you might only be able to heat the corks to a warm internal temperature that might encourage, rather than discourage microbial growth. My advice is the same as my previous answer. Try to get unopened, fresh bags of corks and use them up among a group of friends or your winemaking club within a month or two.


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## bstnh1 (Mar 4, 2013)

I do not soak corks. I use bi-disc from Widgetco, place them in a small plastic basket and set it in a crockpot liner over a small bowl of sanitizer strength K-meta. I seal it with plastic wrap and let them sit in the vapors for 1 - 2 weeks before bottling.


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## JohnT (Mar 4, 2013)

I used to be a cork soaker, but found that ibglowin is correct. Corks soaked in k-meta are hard to remove than one that simply go in dry.


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## tonyt (Mar 4, 2013)

Runningwolf said:


> SOOOOOO.........in all reality and seriousness, that would officially make Wade a cork soaker!



Is it true that Wade screams "Cork Soaker" at the fish as they take his bait and swim off? 

MT,
I spritz mine with sanitizing solution cover in a bowl with plastic wrap for a few minutes then bottle.


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## joea132 (Mar 4, 2013)

I usually make a solution of k meta and toss the corks into the bowl. They float and when I'm ready to cork the bottles I dunk them under and toss them in the corker. I've never had a problem with stuck corks or broken down corks. I use only natural first quality corks. The water helps to lubricate the cork and slide it in the neck.


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