Semi automatic corker

[Norske]

Just wanted to see if anyone has purchased, used, or seen this corker in use, and have any recommendations.
Here is a link to the corker I am looking at buying.

http://www.napafermentation.com/cor...ing-Machine-T-P-A/p/23250048/category=5488423

Appreciate input.

 

[Runningwolf]

I've seen wineries with them and they seem to work well. Here is another one to consider based off your needs. http://labelpeelers.com/big-red-pneumatic-corking-machine/

I feel a good corker is as important or more so than the bottler. There is no sense in having a large 6 spout filler if your corker can not keep up with it. The one you are asking about will do that.

 

[Norske]

I appreciate your input Runningwolf. Not being familiar with this type of corker, I was a bit apprehensive about the pneumatics and just how well they will perform and last. As with any winery equipment purchase, it is always good to hear others thoughts and opinions.

 

[BigThicket]

Please post what you end up getting and how it performs...

 

[Norske]

Well the rapid corker fell through after waiting several months. The vendor stated that when they received this last shipment, they were all defective and they were returning them to the manufacturer.

So I sucked it up and spent my sons inheritance and bought the pneumatic corker from Italy. It traveled from Italy, to Michigan, then by truck to Fife Washington, then by ship to Anchorage Alaska, then by truck to Soldotna, then by my truck to the winery. It was so well crated that not one single piece of damage occurred, which is rare for most of the shipments I get.
Set it up right out of the crate and followed the rather poor set of directions. Hooked up the air compressor and started to test it. It took a few tries to fine tune it and then we were off and running. Once the fine tuning was completed, we practiced with it and found we could cork about 1 bottle every 3-5 seconds.

Keep in mind this is the initial impressions on this piece of equipment. So far I am impressed. After I have ran a couple thousand through it, I'll do another review. So far my only regret is that we didn't buy this sooner.

 

[NorCal]

Norske, good to hear. Curious about your winery in Alaska. Do you have local grapes?

 

[BigThicket]

Thanks for following up with this thread... Please post a link of what you ended up getting when you get a chance.

 

[Norske]

Norcal, no grapes are harmed in the making of our wines. All of our wines are from the fruit grown on our farm.

I purchased mine from G W Kent. They don't show this model on their online store but it is in their catalog.

St Pat's has a pic and description of one, you can see what it looks like by visiting this link and look for the P12 model.

http://www.stpats.com/index.htm

 

[Norske]

Here is a 2 min video showing it in action. Doing a test run on empty bottles.

https://youtu.be/q2lrb0cu6cQ

 

[Runningwolf]

Quite honestly I thought the whole process was rather slow, about the same amount of time as I can do with my floor corker. If it was foot actuated instead of hand, you could use your right hand for the bottle being corked while grabbing the next bottle with your left hand speeding things up.

Now with that said it's nice having a corker with a hopper filled with corks so you don't have to individually load each one. No sore shoulders for some people who might have a problem with the repetition of doing 1000 bottles at a single bottling or more. I will be interested in hearing your review on it after doing a large bottling.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Dan -
I would agree it was actually 10 seconds per bottle - empty bottles yet -

The reason I believe for both hand to press to make the bottling function work is for liability -

I believe I just came up with a nice idea of a hopper system using a floor corker that can hold approx 12 if not more corks and would reload automatically after each use.

 

[richmke]

Quite honestly I thought the whole process was rather slow, about the same amount of time as I can do with my floor corker.

It is a labor saving device, not necessarily a time saving device. It is one thing to bottle 100 bottles. If you were bottling for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it saves a lot of work.

 

[Norske]

Just bottled a couple thousand bottles and worked perfectly. For a small commercial winery, this worked very well for our needs.

 

[Norske]

If you decide to purchase one of these units, I recommend that you have your cork company bag your corks in 500 per bag. That way you can fill the hopper in one pass.

 

[chitownwine]

I'd be very interested in your hopper idea for the floor corker.

 

[WI_Wino]

Agreed, a hopper sounds interesting. I have the blue Italian floor corker (can do champagne corks as well).