Wax

[rob]

Who has tried wax to seal the top of their bottles? I would like to try but have no idea how to do it

 

[Runningwolf]

Rob I use wax on all of my bottles. I have about ten different colors. I countersink the corks about a 1/4" and just pour warm wax into the void creating a button of wax on each bottle. The wax can be purchased at Presque Isle Wine Cellars. This is all I use anymore.

 

[rob]

Thanks Dan, I was more going for a look where it would replace the shrink wrap and go down the sides 2inches???

 

[Runningwolf]

The reson I do it like this is its real easy to clean and I wanted to expose my personalized corks. I bought a cheap hot plate for about $20 on Amazon and each time I went to Walmart I would buy a few very small sauce pans (teflon coated) for about $4.00 each. This way I had a pan for each color and never have to clean the pans out. This saves on waste. You could do the same thing and then just dip you bottle necks in the pan of wax. Once the wax is half melted in the pan, I turn it down to low and leave it there. You don't want it too hot or runny.

 

[rob]

Thanks Dan, good tip on the pan! That might keep me out of the dog house

 

[Abrnth3]

I have been using an old popari warmer full of wax and dipping the tops in it a couple of times puts a nice coating. I kind of like the looks of the pvc shrink wraps better thow.

 

[rob]

Abernathy, just noticed your from Mc Comb, I travel that area about once every 2 months, we will need to hook up and trade some wine

 

[Runningwolf]

I have been using an old popari warmer full of wax and dipping the tops in it a couple of times puts a nice coating. I kind of like the looks of the pvc shrink wraps better thow.

I agree, I personally do not like the look of bottles dipped. I also tried the soup can trick of putting it in a pan of boilng water and did not like that meathod at all.

 

[rob]

The only reason I am doing this is because these bottles I used have a flange? About a 1/2 inch down from the top and the shrink wrap will not fit over it, and it is my own grape......not happy

 

[vernsgal]

There are shrink wraps you can buy to fit the flanged bottles. They're a bit wider than the norm. If you have a lot of patience you can wiggle and stretch the normal ones on most timesI accidently bought 3 dozen flanged bottles and ran into the same problem. Now I just use them when I'm out of regular and just keep a few packs of the larger shrink wraps on hand.

 

[FTC Wines]

Dan, I like your different colored wax idea, could use a diff color for each of my main wines. Question " how do you POUR the wax into the 1/4" headspace?" special spoon? Must be a simple way & not make a MESS. Roy

 

[ibglowin]

I have collected some commercial stuff with Wax that I would love to emulate at some point. I have this one and really love the angled wax. It is very uniform as well. Very classy IMHO.

 

[seth8530]

If you read page 9 of my black currant port project, you can see the wax experiment I went through. I just simply used crayons and it worked out pretty well for me... This is is something I would recommend doing outside though because of the fumes.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/black-currant-port-30246/index9.html

 

[Runningwolf]

Dan, I like your different colored wax idea, could use a diff color for each of my main wines. Question " how do you POUR the wax into the 1/4" headspace?" special spoon? Must be a simple way & not make a MESS. Roy

I just buy cheap spoons at Walmart and pour it in. Its very easy and as quick or quicker than capsules.

I have collected some commercial stuff with Wax that I would love to emulate at some point. I have this one and really love the angled wax. It is very uniform as well. Very classy IMHO.

Mike that would be very easy to do. Just don't get the wax to hot or runny. I guess waxing like that almost reminds me of the Zork tops that I don't think ever really took off.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I countersink the corks about a 1/4" and just pour warm wax into the void creating a button of wax on each bottle. I use a spoon like others - I warm up the wax using a metal can over the stove holding it with a pair of vice grips.

I did in the past dip the entire top in wax - it was a real pain in the A.. to get off in order to open the bottle and I go thru alot less wax this way also.

 

[rob]

Well I tried the wax and It came out really nice. Dan your right about not getting it to hot, I had to let it cool for about 10 minutes. Really please with the look, a little pricey the wax was 16.00 and I am not sure how far it will go, looks like I used half of it on 30 bottles

 

[ibglowin]

Pics please!

 

[Runningwolf]

Here you go Mike. Doing the button on top is very easy, it pops off as soon as you hit it with the cork screw, leaves no residue and the best part is you can save them to reuse later. I bought a pound of each color and I do blend the primary colors to come up with another one I want like orange for my orange wine. I think our price is like $13 a pound.

 

[rob]

I tried to add a photo, looks like it is different than what it use to be, I can upload the file and it shows up as an attachment but I can't get it to here.

 

[Runningwolf]

Additionally, which ever meathod of waxing you chose, you could also get a embossing stamp to brand the top of the bottle. I do this for our ice wine at work and it's a real PITA. I will not do it at home.