Using wax on bottles

[Jericurl]

I recently swapped a few bottles with a member on another forum. The wax covering his bottle tops was a complete pita. It had to be scraped off with my pocketknife and it virtually shattered into a million tiny particles.

I've always loved the look of wax though and have considered using it on my mead bottles.
Is there a brand out there that peels off rather than drying hard and brittle?

 

[Brickhouse]

I don't have a ton of experience in this area, however, I can pass along that I've watched Maker's Mark do theirs and also a local vodka here in Illinois.

The trick seems to be a piece of tape that you encircle the top in and leave just a tab sticking out. When the wax is dry, that tab sticks out, can be grabbed and pulled and it peels off the wax around the bottle.

I don't know if it was a special tape or not, but both said it is critical to the wax sealing, as it is nearly impossible to get off without it.

 

[Amanda660]

I use the melted wax to attach dental floss (the piano wire uncoated type) just below the lip of the bottle then wrap the floss around the neck 3 or 4 times (roughly 1 - 1 1/2" down). I attach again with wax leaving 1/2 inch hanging then dip my top. I try to get a thin smooth coating but some dips are better than others. When you remove it you just pull the dental floss around the neck. So far this has worked great. The floss cuts the wax in rather neat chunks and the very top pops off with thumb pressure. The wax came from some online wine supplier.

 

[Mismost]

I recently swapped a few bottles with a member on another forum. The wax covering his bottle tops was a complete pita. It had to be scraped off with my pocketknife and it virtually shattered into a million tiny particles.

I've always loved the look of wax though and have considered using it on my mead bottles.
Is there a brand out there that peels off rather than drying hard and brittle?

Its a PITA, you know its a PITA, and you're gonna do it anyway. THIS is why men find women so hard to understand.

Learn to love the shrink capsules...fast, effective, and classy

 

[Johnd]

Two other options:

1. Insert your corkscrew right through the wax and pull the cork halfway out. Trim the wax from around the horizontal surface at the top of the bottle with the curved knife on your corkscrew. Pull the cork the rest of the way out. Leaving the cork in during trimming prevents wax shavings from dropping into the bottle.

2. Dip the wax end of the bottle into nearly boiling water for a few second to soften the wax, but don't dip it deeper than the cork. Easily cut the soft wax away from the top of the bottle with your curved knife. Open as normal.

Some of the wineries I am a club member at use very thick wax, so I googled this once and found a YouTube video of a sommelier demonstrating both of these "proper" methods. Some somms actually have a heated pot of water nearby for method number two.

 

[dcbrown73]

I want to know how they get the foil caps on.

 

[Johnd]

I want to know how they get the foil caps on.

It requires the purchase of a machine that rolls them on. The foils are not cheap and neither is the machine.

Here's one

https://morewinemaking.com/products/upright-foil-spinner.html?gclid=CM781MCNp9ECFYi2wAodPzoNmw

Here's a video:

https://youtu.be/2yo6A-fonLs

 

[vacuumpumpman]

This is the process when I wax my tops to properly seal them .

I keep my bottles upright - I push down the cork an additional 1/4''

then melt some wax, take a bent spoon and just fill the top of the cork so it is flush with the top of the bottle

let it cool - I then take a heat gun and remelt that wax as it pulled away from the glass not causing a good sealing area - because the glass was colder.

I pull the cork with the wax and with a little nudge the wax comes off the cork and I am able to reuse the wax again

 

[Johny99]

Regular waxes are brittle and I've even managed to cut myself trying to peal them. I usually just slice most off the top and pull the cork.

There are nicer bottle waxes, I got some from more wine, that remain pliable and can be pealed without needing to add a string or floss. They are more expensive than normal wax, but I do like the look of wax over heat shrinks.