Corks

[Chava]

My first wine, chokecherry, is dated Sept/2018---and it is delicious. I had three bottles left, and went down to my wine room today to find out that a cork blew off of one. Why? Anybody have any ideas on that? Could it be inferior corks?

So, now that I've got a couple more fermenters going with musts, I'm wondering if I should switch from a #8 to a #9 cork.

I had been told to use the #8's and I got them for around $14/100. I see on ECKraus, that #9 straight corks are $40. Quite a difference. Can anyone shed light on this as well? What do you use for a fruit wine?

 

[dralarms]

I use 9’s.

 

[Intheswamp]

#9 corks aren't much more expensive than #8 corks. Sometimes the same price. Difference in price should reflect difference in quality, not size. Look again and be sure you're doing an apples to apples comparison of the same corks and the same quantities.

And, yes, I prefer #9 corks...but I have a floor corker. They can be a little more difficult to insert with a hand corker. Also, I'm not to sure a #9 wouldn't have come out of the bottle, too. Seems that possibly there were some live yeast that found something to eat and it pushed the corks out.

Don't buy so many corks that you have a bunch sitting around for a long time...they do get old and dry out.

https://morewinemaking.com/products/wine-corks-1-34-acquamark.html
Depending on how much wine you are making in a year you can buy as few as 25 at a time or more.

 

[stickman]

I would review your winemaking practices, it doesn't matter if it's a #8 or #9, corks don't normally blow out without good reason. Using #8's increases the chance of problems, but isn't usually the cause by itself. As others have noted above, it's usually caused by fermentation of residual sugar. Be sure to use sorbate and kmeta before bottling if the wine has leftover sugar or has been sweetened. Other possibilities for popping corks include high temperatures, especially if the wine hasn't been degassed, as well as, if there isn't sufficient space between the wine and cork.

 

[Chava]

IT is puzzling.. there were only three bottles left of that batch; it WAS one single batch, i.e. all had the same exact treatment (kmeta tx before bottling); kept in a cool basement @ consistent temp; only one cork blew out of the 6 gallon batch. Which is why I thought it might be a defective cork. I don't know why there would have been pressure in only one bottle. I believe the space between bottle and cork in all bottles was about the same.... I didn't actually take out a tape to measure the spaces, obviously. I suppose that particular bottle might have had less space.

Thanks for the link and thoughts on size. I'm going for the #9's from now on.

 

[Intheswamp]

I don't know whether you have a floor corker or two-handled corker so take note that the #9 corks *can* be a bit more difficult to insert with a hand corker. Floor corker, no problem.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Chava - and welcome. The thing is that what sometimes happens is that it is possible that the bottle that popped its cork developed a local bacterial infection , perhaps because that bottle was not adequately sanitized and the action of the bacteria created more CO2 than the bottle could contain. But the problem may be in all the remaining bottles.

What I might do is carefully check the remaining bottles (all or some) by seeing what happens as you allow the pressure inside the bottle to be reduced by slowly pulling on the corks. You don't have to fully uncork the bottles though you may want to but if when you provide more "headroom" that space fills with bubbles and if the wine was supposed to be still and not carbonated then you know that after bottling some fermentation continued. If you pull out one cork and the wine gushes then either you bottled before fermentation was complete or if it was complete then it began again inside the bottle and the fact that you have only lost one bottle to a popping cork is lucky. All that said, I would wrap the bottles in towels as you handle them ... just in case they are all under a great deal of pressure: you don't want to be unprotected and anywhere near glass bottles under pressure. Be careful.

 

[Chava]

Thanks for all the feedback--it's appreciated. I do have a floor corker, but this first batch was corked with one of those minimal hand corker thingys. My two guy friends helped me with the job at the time. The two bottles that are left...well, I removed and replaced the corks. No gushing or undue pressure noted. So I'm going to say that B.Smith is right, and that bottle had some bacterial action going on that caused the problem.