Filling winebottles

[Skruffens]

Hi!

I just filled 30 bottles of apple wine and corked them up.
I am afried I might have done a big mistake. I have now have read that there should be 3/4 inch with air between the cork and the wine.
my botlles have all different space between wine and cork.
0,8-2 inches.
It's only two days since I did this so many I could open them and adjust them all and recork?
I don't want to do this because it's a bit of work, but what if I don't do it?
Can I just leave them like this?

 

[dralarms]

If I'm reading this correctly that you have 2 inches of space in the bottle, then yes uncork and re-cork with new corks. To much head space will cause your wine to go bad.

 

[GaDawg]

I think it depends on when you are going to drink the wine. If you are going to age it for a few years you probably need to think about it, if you are going to drink it in the next 6 mo. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Skruffens]

Thanks for the replays.
I have now adjusted all the bottles and recorked. A bit of work
I guess it did not harm the wine anyway that I recorked them two days after I corked them first?

And one more question. My corks won't go all the way down into the bottles.
About 1/4 of the cork sticks out of the bottles. I think my corkingmachine is not so good. Is this ok? Maby a silly question, but I ask anyway.

 

[salcoco]

You can remove the excess with a sharp knife. the corking machine should have an adjustment tha tincrease the insertion level into the bottle. Play with some empties to get position correct.

 

[Rocky]

Like Sal points out, if you are using a floor corker, there is a screw adjustment that lengthens the plunger and will push the cork in deeper. If you are using a hand corker, you may not be "bottoming out" when you push down on the arms.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Thanks for the replays.
I have now adjusted all the bottles and recorked. A bit of work
I guess it did not harm the wine anyway that I recorked them two days after I corked them first?

And one more question. My corks won't go all the way down into the bottles.
About 1/4 of the cork sticks out of the bottles. I think my corkingmachine is not so good. Is this ok? Maby a silly question, but I ask anyway.

You will be fine with the corks - what type of corker are you using ??
What type of corks are you using and the size also ?

If you do have a floor corker - you can adjust it like others have mentioned and actually put you present bottles in the corker and it will push it down further

 

[Skruffens]

Ok, thanks for the advices.
Maby a silly question, but did the recorking affect the wine in any way?
I want to store it for several years..

 

[cimbaliw]

The re-corking shouldn't cause any ill effect to the wine. My son, while filling bottles as I corked with a hand device, figured out that if the bottles are too full (not enough air space) the cork will not seat all of the way in . We use 1-3/4" #8 corks, if the cork sticks out 1/4" or so, we make those the "early drinkers".

I usually fill to about 1/4" above the start of the neck in a Bordeaux bottle if you look at Burgundy or Reisling bottles they also seem to have a natural break point. Next time you're at the grocery store just check out the commercially filled bottles.

Ultimately, you're better off having too little air in the bottle as opposed to too much. I don't mean to sound caviler but the more wine I make... it's pretty hard to screw this stuff up. Stick to the fundamentals and you'll be fine.

Bill C.