screw top bottles

[RCGoodin]

How many of you are using screw tops vs corks?

 

[Dkrmwiz]

I'm small batch, the most I make at once is 5 gallons. I use the artificial corks.

 

[RCGoodin]

Thanks.

 

[Raptor99]

I have been experimenting with using a few screw top bottles for each batch, with corks in the rest. So far they seem to have worked fine.

 

[winemaker81]

Screwcaps can be used, but the caps are NOT designed for re-use. Most can be re-used once or twice (maybe more), but the seal will fail.

If you do it, screw the cap down very tightly, then lay the bottle on its side. If it leaks, transfer the wine to a new bottle.

DO NOT put a cork in a screwcap bottle. The glass is not reinforced to handle the stress of insertion or extraction of a cork, and the glass can shatter. Additionally, the interior of a screwcap bottle is not a cylinder, it varies in size, so you will not get a good seal. It may hold wine, but it will allow O2 ingres.

 

[Raptor99]

@winemaker81 Thanks for adding the details that I should have mentioned but did not. I never put a cork in a screw top bottle.

 

[VinesnBines]

I had a bottle from a commercial winery that I was cleaning to reuse. It was interesting because it had a wax covering over the cork. When I finally got the wax off I was horrified to see that it was a screw top bottle. The winery had corked screw top bottles then covered with wax to hide the threads. I was unimpressed with the wines but I’ll never go back.

 

[Vinobeau]

I switched to screw tops about 20 years ago. I reuse them and have about 30 cases of different wines. I have never had a bottle go bad.