Cork Ends Curling Up

[DavesWine]

Is this happening to anyone else? I'm using a Portuguese floor corker and these are Nomacorc 900's 1.5".
This doesn't happen on every bottle, but I'd say about 10-20% come out of the bottle like this. I'm guessing that the cork isn't getting compressed enough and it's hitting the edge of the bottom on the way in.

 

[winemaker81]

Also ensure the bottle is lined up with the hole in the corker -- it could be hitting the bottle mouth.

 

[DavesWine]

When I place the bottle in the corker it doesn't look centered. I can push it over and it then looks centered.
One thing I noticed is when you start pushing down on the arm and the base locks up, the top of the bottle is loose. It will move around in the recess that's supposed to center the bottle.

I'm thinking that maybe this unit is defective.

 

[Rocky]

Is this happening to anyone else? I'm using a Portuguese floor corker and these are Nomacorc 900's 1.5".
This doesn't happen on every bottle, but I'd say about 10-20% come out of the bottle like this. I'm guessing that the cork isn't getting compressed enough and it's hitting the edge of the bottom on the way in.

Dave, it appears to me that the cork is not being driven deep enough into the bottle and that flaring on top is the cork's "memory" restoring its diameter. Have you tried adjusting the depth? My corker has an adjustment wheel at the push pin where I can adjust the depth.

Also, you state in your second message that the base of the bottle locks when the arm is pulled (as it should) but the top of the bottle can move. This seems odd and there may be another problem with the corker.

 

[DavesWine]

It's actually the bottom of the cork, inside the bottle, that's flaring up like that.
When I first put the bottle in the corker the top is hard to move in the recess. After pushing down the arm and it's supposed to lock the base, the top then does rattle around easily. This isn't happening on yours? It looks like the arm at the bottom that shifts down to lock the base in place pulls slightly when it locks in place.

 

[ratflinger]

It's actually the bottom of the cork, inside the bottle, that's flaring up like that.
When I first put the bottle in the corker the top is hard to move in the recess. After pushing down the arm and it's supposed to lock the base, the top then does rattle around easily. This isn't happening on yours? It looks like the arm at the bottom that shifts down to lock the base in place pulls slightly when it locks in place.

Well that is just wrong. Sounds like the based is partially locked with the arm up, while being somewhat unlocked when the handle is down. The only time the lock bar should be pulled is when the handle rises, so that the base may move. There is an adjustment nut below the lock bar which determines when the lock bar releases the base, and there should be a spring on top of the lock bar. Did you buy this new or used?

 

[Rocky]

It's actually the bottom of the cork, inside the bottle, that's flaring up like that.
When I first put the bottle in the corker the top is hard to move in the recess. After pushing down the arm and it's supposed to lock the base, the top then does rattle around easily. This isn't happening on yours? It looks like the arm at the bottom that shifts down to lock the base in place pulls slightly when it locks in place.

Well, you did it, Dave! You sent me down to my basement to try my corker on a bottle with a Nomacorc. Guess what? When I corked a bottle and removed the cork, I did have some minimal flaring at the bottom of the cork. Also, when I first put the bottle in the corker and did not actuate the arm, the bottle was held firmly. I could move it with a some effort, but it was essentially trapped. When I move the arm down to insert the cork, I could move the bottle with very little effort. Never noticed this before.

I removed the cork and noted a slight flaring which does not seem as severe as yours. The only explanation I can offer is that when the cork is inserted into the open iris, the bottom of the cork extends slightly below the bottom of the iris. When the arm is pulled, the iris contracts and squeezes most of the cork, except for the portion below the bottom of the iris. The arm forces the cork into the bottle the memory remains. When the cork is removed from the bottle, the cork bottom returns to its original diameter.

Lastly, this has probably been happening forever with my corker and I don't see it as an issue.

 

[winemaker81]

I assumed the flaring was at the top of the cork.

I have an Italian corker (big blue one), and have noticed that I get some flaring on the bottom of the corks. I've not had a problem with leaking, so I've never paid any significant attention to it.

 

[DavesWine]

@Rocky , thanks for checking this out on your own corker. What you describe is exactly what I'm seeing. Knowing it is happening to other people at least makes me believe I don't have a bad unit. I did buy it second hand but the person that I got it from hardly used it.

I can attribute the flaring being more severe on bottles with smaller openings. I've gotten to where I measure the openings of all my bottles and those with an opening of less than .710" I discard as I've found it a little too tight and creates too much cork issues.

@winemaker81 , I haven't noticed any leaking with these flared corks either.

 

[bstnh1]

I have that happen occasionally when using nomacorcs in my Portuguese floor corker. But it doesn't happen often and not as severe as yours.

 

[Fencepost]

Ditto... I've seen the same, on the bottom of the cork, inside the bottle, Normacorcs only and the 10% number sounds about right. I have not been able to attribute it to bottle or any noticable difference on the compression stroke. I will pay more attention to centering, but I usually move the bottle to "feel" like it is centered... weird thing is that it can sometimes be 360 degrees around the cork, just like the picture shown above... so which way to center??? Will follow this thread for any other suggestions... And again, like others, no leaks. Maybe it's one of those "no harm" "no foul" situations ... but it sure doesn't look quite right.
Thanks @DavesWine for bringing this forward.

 

[JTS84]

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I had some creasing issues with nomacorks as well as the flared ends. I noticed there were two times the issues were more prominent. When I used bottles that were slightly too short to touch the bottom of the corker and when I had help from kids.
My two solutions were: put a board under the short bottles so the mouths would touch and be centered, and insert the nomacorks myself as fast as I can.

Trying to insert them quickly removed almost all of my flaring and creasing problems. This was with the taller burgundy Portuguese floor corker

 

[ratflinger]

Okay, looked at my corker. Nomacorc does not extend below the jaws, 1.5" cork. I pulled a cork out of a bottle to compare against a new one. Used cork was about 2mm longer, due to compression in the bottle. I did notice some creasing, due to the jaws, but I have never had a Nomacorc leak. I squeezed a cork in the corker, without a bottle to look at the action, cork was completely compressed top to bottom. I have never had trouble getting the bottle centered. I have not fooled with the corker, it's the way I got it about 15 years ago. Now I'm not bottling as much as I used to so maybe the wear and tear of a 7 yo. I can only surmise that if you are getting poor corking then your corker is out of whack.

 

[Huba Huba]

The only time I know I had this problem was with a batch of 375 ml bottles. About 20% of the corks backed out 1/4" or more, when I pulled them to re-cork, the bottoms were flared like yours. Could be others that I just don't know about yet.

 

[Fencepost]

One more bit of information on this... I use a "corkador" for sanitizing corks with kmeta solution, this keeps the cork relatively dry. Because of the above described issue, the last time I bottled I did a light spray of StarSan to try some "lubrication" on the corks to see if this would help. I have not pulled any of those corks yet, so no results. But a question to ask may be if the folks that soak/wet these Normacorcs see the same issue? Just grasping at straws on this one.