They sound like the corks you get on good whisky bottles. I've seen the
vacuum pump wine savers, never used one. I keep forgetting to buy one
when I'm in town.


Ray Calvert wrote:
There are probably other names for them. They are short corks, maybe 1/2 to
3/4 inch with a plastic cap on one end. After you open a bottle you can use
them to push back in by hand and open by hand easily without a cork screw.
Wine tasting rooms often use them. They are not very good for long term use
but for a short period up to maybe a few months they work fine. I buy a few
dozen every now and then and use them regularly. They can be reused if you
are only using them for a few days at a time.

Ray

"alien" wrote in message
...

Ray Calvert wrote:

I use the sugar I need to get to the abv I want, ferment dry, bulk age
and rack etc. Then bottle dry. When I drink it, I add sugar if needed.
Saves a lot of hassle.


I must admit that I do that also and in general it works very well. But
I have noted that if I pop the cork, sweeten, then put a tasters cork
back in it and let it set for an hour or over night in the fridge, it is
better than if I just sweeten when I drink it. Just an observation and
my own opinion.

Ray



I'll give that a go. One question, what is a tasters cork?

They sound like the corks you get on good whisky bottles. I've seen the
vacuum pump wine savers, never used one. I keep forgetting to buy one
when I'm in town.


Ray Calvert wrote:
There are probably other names for them. They are short corks, maybe 1/2 to
3/4 inch with a plastic cap on one end. After you open a bottle you can use
them to push back in by hand and open by hand easily without a cork screw.
Wine tasting rooms often use them. They are not very good for long term use
but for a short period up to maybe a few months they work fine. I buy a few
dozen every now and then and use them regularly. They can be reused if you
are only using them for a few days at a time.

Ray

"alien" wrote in message
...

Ray Calvert wrote:

I use the sugar I need to get to the abv I want, ferment dry, bulk age
and rack etc. Then bottle dry. When I drink it, I add sugar if needed.
Saves a lot of hassle.


I must admit that I do that also and in general it works very well. But
I have noted that if I pop the cork, sweeten, then put a tasters cork
back in it and let it set for an hour or over night in the fridge, it is
better than if I just sweeten when I drink it. Just an observation and
my own opinion.

Ray



I'll give that a go. One question, what is a tasters cork?

Yes they are the same thing as used on a good whisky bottle. I have one of
the vacuum pump wine savers and used it a few times, then quit. It pumps
out some of the air but leaves the bottle under vacuum and it seems to me
that the volatiles come out of solution and that changes the taste of the
wine. I would rather keep some splits (375 ml wine bottles) around and I
just pour left over wine into the smaller bottle and use the taster cork on
it. It will keep that way for several days or a week.

Just the way I do things and maybe just my opinion and prejudice.

Ray

"alien" wrote in message
...
They sound like the corks you get on good whisky bottles. I've seen the
vacuum pump wine savers, never used one. I keep forgetting to buy one
when I'm in town.


Ray Calvert wrote:
There are probably other names for them. They are short corks, maybe 1/2
to 3/4 inch with a plastic cap on one end. After you open a bottle you
can use them to push back in by hand and open by hand easily without a
cork screw. Wine tasting rooms often use them. They are not very good
for long term use but for a short period up to maybe a few months they
work fine. I buy a few dozen every now and then and use them regularly.
They can be reused if you are only using them for a few days at a time.

Ray

"alien" wrote in message
...

Ray Calvert wrote:

I use the sugar I need to get to the abv I want, ferment dry, bulk age
and rack etc. Then bottle dry. When I drink it, I add sugar if needed.
Saves a lot of hassle.


I must admit that I do that also and in general it works very well. But
I have noted that if I pop the cork, sweeten, then put a tasters cork
back in it and let it set for an hour or over night in the fridge, it is
better than if I just sweeten when I drink it. Just an observation and
my own opinion.

Ray



I'll give that a go. One question, what is a tasters cork?

I've always heard them called T-corks, as from the side the plastic cap
and the cork look like a capital T. They're also the typcial cap for
bottles of port, at least not vintage ports, so I assume that they have
some long-term-use possibilities (maybe port bottles have a more narrow
opening than typcial wine bottles?). Homebrew store likely has them,
and some wine stores might as well.

Rob

Rob wrote:
I've always heard them called T-corks, as from the side the plastic cap
and the cork look like a capital T. They're also the typcial cap for
bottles of port, at least not vintage ports, so I assume that they have
some long-term-use possibilities (maybe port bottles have a more narrow
opening than typcial wine bottles?). Homebrew store likely has them,
and some wine stores might as well.

Rob

Or drink a lot of whisky and port?

Or drink a lot of whisky and port?


Well, sure, but then the initial question was unlikely to be about a
yeast that dies at a very low alcohol level, more than likely.

I'll take care of the port, you can have the whisky. :-)

Rob

Or drink a lot of whisky and port?


Well, sure, but then the initial question was unlikely to be about a
yeast that dies at a very low alcohol level, more than likely.

I'll take care of the port, you can have the whisky. :-)

Rob

Rob wrote:
Or drink a lot of whisky and port?



Well, sure, but then the initial question was unlikely to be about a
yeast that dies at a very low alcohol level, more than likely.

I'll take care of the port, you can have the whisky. :-)

Rob

Well, I just picked up a bottle of cask strength, single malt, Inchgower
that's older than I am. That's a good start

Rob wrote:
Or drink a lot of whisky and port?



Well, sure, but then the initial question was unlikely to be about a
yeast that dies at a very low alcohol level, more than likely.

I'll take care of the port, you can have the whisky. :-)

Rob

Well, I just picked up a bottle of cask strength, single malt, Inchgower
that's older than I am. That's a good start

Rob wrote:
Or drink a lot of whisky and port?



Well, sure, but then the initial question was unlikely to be about a
yeast that dies at a very low alcohol level, more than likely.

I'll take care of the port, you can have the whisky. :-)

Rob

Well, I just picked up a bottle of cask strength, single malt, Inchgower
that's older than I am. That's a good start

I know this is getting off topic (getting? hasn't it been for a
while?), but I celebrated the new millenium with a vintage port older
than I was, so I know how good that start is!

I know this is getting off topic (getting? hasn't it been for a
while?), but I celebrated the new millenium with a vintage port older
than I was, so I know how good that start is!

"Ray Calvert" wrote in message
om...
There are probably other names for them. They are short corks, maybe 1/2
to
3/4 inch with a plastic cap on one end. After you open a bottle you can
use
them to push back in by hand and open by hand easily without a cork screw.
Wine tasting rooms often use them. They are not very good for long term
use
but for a short period up to maybe a few months they work fine. I buy a
few
dozen every now and then and use them regularly. They can be reused if
you
are only using them for a few days at a time.

There are also plastic corks with a handle available that are quite
inexpensive (under a dollar a dozen) and they can be reused indefinitely.
And they allow the wine to be stored in an upright position.
Bob
"Please return your stewardess to her original
upright position."- George Carlin-



Ray

"alien" wrote in message
...
Ray Calvert wrote:

I use the sugar I need to get to the abv I want, ferment dry, bulk age
and rack etc. Then bottle dry. When I drink it, I add sugar if needed.
Saves a lot of hassle.


I must admit that I do that also and in general it works very well.
But
I have noted that if I pop the cork, sweeten, then put a tasters cork
back in it and let it set for an hour or over night in the fridge, it
is
better than if I just sweeten when I drink it. Just an observation and
my own opinion.

Ray


I'll give that a go. One question, what is a tasters cork?

I wanted to share my campden crushing hint.

I use an electric coffee bean grinder. Although mine is an old oster
brand, it looks something like this one at the following web site.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=102654

"Cork-N-Cap" wrote in message
oups.com...
I wanted to share my campden crushing hint.

I use an electric coffee bean grinder. Although mine is an old oster
brand, it looks something like this one at the following web site.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=102654


I use an apothecary type mortar and pestle. You can buy one at oriental
import stores for $4 to $6 and they work great. Orientals use them to grind
up their herbal medicines.

Ray