Hello from middle Tennessee

[krhodes]

Hi everyone,

I started with a Mr. Beer kit I bought dirt cheap on woot! just for the fun of it. I made a few extract beers and one all grain but I am not as much of a beer drinker as I am a wine drinker so I think I will enjoy making wine a little more. I only had to buy a few things to make the move over to wine. I just bought a kit from RJ Spagnols, I just have a few questions. Do I soak the corks or not? I was a little overwhelmed by the information when I googled it. What do you guys think? The instructions that came with the kit say rinse after sanitizing. This is a huge no no in beer brewing. Is it ok with wine making? I plan on using Star San instead of the stuff that came with the kit. Thank you for any help you can give me.

Kayla

 

[djrockinsteve]

Welcome Middle Tennessee!!!!!!!!!

I rinse my corks after sanitizing them and I know that's a big no-no but we have good chlorinated water and that was how I was taught. I use synthetic corks. As far as a sanitizer I use Potassium Metabisulfite and water solution.

 

[St Allie]

welcome to the forum, lovely to have you here.

not all of us use corks here, so i can't comment.

when you get around to using screw top wine bottles..the rest of us will be more helpful...

Allie (NZ)

 

[krhodes]

I did not know about screw top wine bottles, I did consider the bladder bags from Northern Brewer, I'm kinda small and I don't really know how hard it will be to cork. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Wade E]

The best thing to do with corks is to get a bucket with a lid and a collander. Take your corks and put them in the collander, pour a k-meta soltion in the bucket or even over the corks into the bucket and then put the lid over the bucket for ariund 5 minutes, the gases given off by the kmeta solution consisting of 3 tbls per gallon is very effective and will knock you on your butt so be careful. We make corkidors like this and just let out corks sit in there for months along with other items to be sanitized.

 

[steviepointer]

Wade:
Thanks for the tip. Hadn't heard of that (but I haven't gotten to the corking stage yet). Will be sure to do that when I get there.

 

[jeepingchick]

, I'm kinda small and I don't really know how hard it will be to cork. Thanks for the tip.

if i can cork with arthritis in my hands and wrists , then anyone can

i was to cheap to get the big corker, all have is the cheap hand corker LOL i sit the bottle on the floor, and have my daughter hold it in place so i can knock it over. then i get on my knees over it and cork ! i actually enjoy it.

 

[Torch404]

I soak my corks in a sulfite solution for a few minutes. Then depending on my mood I some times rinse and some time do not, things have turned out fine. If you're on well water or have questionable water certainly skip the rinse. Star-San should work fine, in the long run it's much more expensive then k-meta although quicker acting.

Welcome, there is a ton of info on everything and we're more then happy to help you dig through it all. Enjoy!