Corks sliding too far into the bottle!

[Newbie]

Hi,

I bottled my wine for the first time tonight. It was a gallon of ginger, which I'm very pleased with BUT... Bottling didn't go so well. I have a used floor corker, which was given to me by a co-worker. The corks on about half of the bottles slid completely into the bottles.
Can someone tell me what's going on and how I stop it? I thought that maybe it was because the corks were still a little wet from the sanitizer but the last one that I corked was dry and it still happened. HELP!!

 

[Green Mountains]

My floor corker has an adjustment on the plunger that determines how deep the cork will go. Did you notice anything like that on your unit?

 

[Wade E]

Yes, there is a little nut on the part that pushes the cork in and tht should be adjusted down to stop that from happneing o either someone screwed that way in or that nut is missing on this corker. To adjust it screw it way out and then try it if its not far enough in then screw it in a little farther and repress it it and repeat until the cork is seated properly different heoght bottles will vary this adjustment some but usually not much.

 

[Tom]

YEP, its an adjustment issue. Wade is right to ck the adjustment knob/nut.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Always do 1 bottle then make adjustments. This is one good reason to use all the same bottles for each corking. Different bottles mean different heights, nubs on the top as to how they seat.

It doesn't have to be perfect just pretty close. I like mine about a sixteenth below the top.

If you have a majority of similar bottles take a piece of plumbers teflon tape to firm it up a little and / or wrap it above the nut to help you gauge where it should be.

 

[Newbie]

That's exactly what the problem was. I adjusted it and it's fine now.
Thanks everyone!

 

[djrockinsteve]

I just measured the pin in my Portuguese Floor Corker. For Bordeaux it is a distance of 2 1/4 inches from the tip to the head of the pin. This will give you a starting point.

 

[wines just fine]

If you drained the bottles and put your wine in another bottle you can then get the corks out by doing this.

Take a plastic bag, insert it into the bottle, shake the cork down to the mouth of the bottle and then blow up the bag and pull it out. The cork will come out with the bag.

You can save all your bottles by doing this.

 

[robie]

You mentioned your corks were still wet from being sanitized. What is the process you use to sanitize your corks? Hope you are not soaking them in the sanitizer. What actual sanitizer are you using?

 

[Runningwolf]

There is no need to soak your corks with a floor corker. I have bottled over a thousand bottles and have never soaked then and never had a problem.

 

[Newbie]

There is no need to soak your corks with a floor corker. I have bottled over a thousand bottles and have never soaked then and never had a problem.

I didn't soak them... I had read on another thread to put them in a colander in a bucket and pour a little sanitizer (I have potassium metabisulfite) over the corks, and let them drain with a lid on the bucket, I assume to trap the gases. They weren't in a sterile pack so I wanted to sanitize them somehow.

Oh, and I tried the trick to remove the corks from the bottles. It works!
But, ow, you really have to pull on the plastic bag.