# leaking corks



## appleweld (Jun 3, 2010)

we bottled 123 bottles one day last month, and just got around to labeling tonight. i let the wine stand up for a week to insure there was no blowouts, then put it on its side in the rack. i noticed that some of the corks are starting to ooz out wine. i used the #8 cork, agglomerate, 1.75 long, put in with two handled corker. they are in all the way. the wine is about an inch from the cork. its only a few leaking, and just barely have small droplets forming, no drips yet. should i go to the #9 ? are they fatter, or more dense? should the leakers be recorked? with a 100 corks in the bag, is it possible the leakers are from the bag i opened a couple months ago? all the corks were soaked before the installation in a k-meta solution. you can see wine has soaked half way up in some that arent leaking yet. where did i go wrong. the wine i bottled in dec 2009 still looks great. sorry for the long post, im trying to give as much info as possible. thanks in advance.


----------



## Wade E (Jun 3, 2010)

Soaking corks is not a good practice, The best method is to use a bucket and a colander and pour the corks into the colander over the bucket and then pour some of the solution over the corks and then put a lid over them for about 5 minutes as the gases are what really do the work, not the solution itself. A floor corker also does a much better job as they are squeezed uniformly and not just shoved through a small hole not to mention how much easier and faster it works and it doesnt leave a big dimple in the top of the cork. IMO its not really what you did its what you used. It is possible the corks dried out some and why I also recommend making yourself a small corkidor. We do this by using a small wine bottle about 1/2 full of the meta solution and pt that in a tight seal-able bucket and pour the corks around it with the top off the wine bottle for the gases to keep the corks moist and sanitized and using this method you can just pull a cork out and its ready for insertion.


----------



## grapeman (Jun 3, 2010)

Yes, the #8 corks are slightly smaller than the number 9's. The 8's will be fine. They should stop leaking if they haven't already. I only use #9's because I use a floor corker. The 8's are easier to insert with the hand corkers.


----------



## Runningwolf (Jun 3, 2010)

A floor coorker will make wine bottling way easier for you. I never soak my corks either by use Wade method of a corkidor and #9 corks.









You can see a few of the floor corkers George has here...


http://www.finevinewines.com/Home-Wine-Making-Equipment-Corkers.asp


----------



## appleweld (Jun 4, 2010)

does one leave the leftover corks in this bucket untill the next bottling? sometimes its a couple months or longer between bottling. or can the leftovers go into something like a cigar humidor? i think i will invest in a floor corker, as we seem to be making more and more wine. we just started 36 gallons of strawberry this week. which model corker is best? we bottle in 375, 750 and 1.5


----------



## appleweld (Jun 4, 2010)

ive looked at the corks here. are the nomacorks better than the aglomerates? i watched georges videos, and it seems difficult to get the bottles in and out of the floor corkers. the italian will be best for the different bottles we use. it looks like the levers are hard to push, what are your opinions.


----------



## Wade E (Jun 4, 2010)

The Italian is the better model but the Port will do just fine for a long time if you are not planning on using Synthetic corks as some of those are very tough and the nylon iris on the Port corker just isnt strong enough to compress them properly with some brands, if using standard corks the Port works just fine. Ive had mine for about 5 years now and it still works like day one.


----------

