Is airspace necessary under cork

[garymc]

I corked a bottle of red wine tonight and it was so full that the cork is in contact with the wine. It's one of those new rubbery corks. Is this a big problem? I'll probably be drinking it relatively soon (week or 2.)

 

[joeswine]

Head space

ITS THERE FOR EXPANSION--- TO ALLOW GASSES TO ESCAPE.................::
,AFTER BOTTLING THE INSTRUCTIONS STATE TO LET STAND FOR A FEW DAYS UPRIGHT,THIS IS TO ALLOW FOR THAT PROCESS TO HAPPEN,THEN WHEN YOU LAY THEM ON THEIR SIDE THE CORK AND THE LIQUID FOR A BOND AND SEAL THE BOTTLE,(HOPEFULLY)AT LEATS THATS MY TAKE ON IT.....................

 

[GreginND]

Joe is right. Without any air space your cork is likely to pop out due to the hydraulic pressure of expanding liquid. All it would take would be a little bit of increase in the temperature of the bottle. Liquid cannot be compressed like air can to cushion the pressure changes.

I would drink it sooner rather than later.

 

[robie]

As the temperature goes up, it will need to compress something in the bottle, in order to release the pressure.

You can't compress water (wine), so something has to give and it will be the cork popping up (almost a guaranty that it will). If air is present, it will compress instead, absorbing the pressure.

You really need to open that bottle, pour our two finger's width of wine and recork.

 

[Arne]

As the temperature goes up, it will need to compress something in the bottle, in order to release the pressure.

You can't compress water (wine), so something has to give and it will be the cork popping up (almost a guaranty that it will). If air is present, it will compress instead, absorbing the pressure.

You really need to open that bottle, pour our two finger's width of wine and recork.

Robie is spot on if you are going to be keeping it for a time. If only a week or two, I think I would just stick it in the refrigerator. I would leave it standing up and keep an eye on it especially the first day or so. Just my opinion, don't take it as gospel. I have had my share of oops, maybe I shoulda done that another way. Arne.

 

[JohnT]

By "Rubbery", do you mean that you are using synthetic?

You want to leave a small gap (as said by the others) to allow for expansion. If you have overfilled the bottle and are using natural cork, you can count on a least a little wine to be absorbed by the cork which will (slightly) add to the gap in the bottle. If you use synthetic, however, there would be none of this absorbtion. This mean that the gap you leave is even more important when using synthetic.

In either case, if you plan to drink the wine in a couple days/weeks, I would simply store the bottles upright until you are ready to drink it.

 

[Bartman]

I have to disagree slightly that wine can't be "compressed" - chilling it below the temperature it was bottled at should have the reverse (constricting) effect that everyone is warning him about if it warms - expansion. It's not a huge difference, but cooling (and keeping it cool) without freezing it would prevent the expansion arising from strictly temperature change. I've had full glass carboys lose 1/2 inch or so of volume when the temperature dropped ~10-15 degrees (Better Bottle carboys seem to contract accordingly so the volume *appears* to not change). Now, if it wasn't fully degassed or if there is any residual fermentation going on, that would override the temperature change issue and lead to increasing pressure on the cork.

 

[roadpupp]

Just drink it now! Problem solved.

 

[JohnT]

Bartman,

What about barametric pressure? Even if it is kept cold, won't the pressure still change?

johnT.

 

[robie]

Maybe just a misunderstanding, concerning compression versus expansion/contraction. I am not a physicist, but...

I didn't say water can't contract or expand. In high school an experiment was done on a shot put. A hole was drilled and tapped; a tablepoon of water was placed in the hole, followed by a tight screw. The shot put was then frozen. Next day, the shot put was cracked from the freezing of that small amount of water.

Under normal circumstances, water cannot be "compressed" and wine is mostly water. If you ever had a water well and you let all the air out of the water tank you would know. The tank requires air so pressure can be built up enough to push the water through the water lines.

When you put a cork in a bottle of wine the cork acts like a little compressor as it goes in. For a cork to go in, something has to give.

If temperature goes up in the bottle, the water tries to expand. Without air on the top of the wine, there is nothing to compress besides the wine or the cork. Since the wine cannot be compressed, all the pressure is on the cork.

 

[ibglowin]

In this case barometric pressure is not the problem. It is the expansion of ethanol at higher temps that will cause the boom. Either the cork will give or the bottle if that bottle warms up too much. So, safest thing is to put it in a fridge. If you bottled it at 70 degrees and store it at 50 degrees the wine should contract enough for you to see some headspace in it.

 

[keena]

Hmmm. So if I bottled my wine and layed it down right away I might have corks poping from it in the future? It was my first bottling session a couple days ago and that's what I did.

 

[Bartman]

Hmmm. So if I bottled my wine and lay it down right away I might have corks popping from it in the future? It was my first bottling session a couple days ago and that's what I did.

Yes, that could happen. If you keep the bottles chilled and it was fully degassed, popping is not likely. You should leave a little headspace not only for expansion issue but so it has a small amount of oxygen to age it 'gracefully'.

One question, on the two occasions where I overfilled my bottle and get the wine too far up the neck, when I put the cork in, it sprayed a little wine at me. That's usually a good hint that it is too full - did that happen to you?

 

[keena]

I had the correct air space but I didn't leave the bottles up right for a couple days, I layed them down right away... Well I have corks popping?

 

[Runningwolf]

I had the correct air space but I didn't leave the bottles up right for a couple days, I layed them down right away... Well I have corks popping?

No worry. If everything else is right the only issue you would experience would be leaky corks.

 

[keena]

Ok cool, had me scared for a min

 

[Dugger]

I believe the main reason for leaving the bottles upright for a while is to allow the corks to expand back toward their original size and thus seal the bottle well. There may also be some equalizing of pressures at this time.

 

[Runningwolf]

Dugger that is correct about the corks relaxing and expanding back toward the original position. This is my reason for mentioning leaky corks since he did not do this.

 

[Dugger]

Yes, I figured that's what you meant and I probably should have included that in my comment.
Hey. look .. 1000 posts - at this rate it'll only take me about 60 years to get where you are and maybe 150 years to get to Wade's mark!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Yes, I figured that's what you meant and I probably should have included that in my comment.
Hey. look .. 1000 posts - at this rate it'll only take me about 60 years to get where you are and maybe 150 years to get to Wade's mark!!

Holy Smokes Dugger and congratulations on exceeding 1000 posts. You're a great contributer and it's because of so many members like you that this forum is as great as it is.