Newbie here again. A friend of mine who used to make wine a lot was
telling me that I should put the cork in with a piece of wire (thin
22ga) running beside it to let the air out. After you press the cork in
you pull the wire out.

Anyone heard of doing this? His arguement was that the pressure in the
bottle will push the cork out. Knowing how much effort it takes to pull
a cork out I'm thinking that would have to be a hell of a lot pressure.

There will only be pressure if the wine is still fermenting, and indeed, if
that's the case, the pressure WILL be great enough to push the cork out.
But if the wine is stable, i.e. no more fermentation, then you don't need to
worry about letting the air out. Plus, I use #9 corks in all of my bottles,
and that's too tight of a fit to get even a 22 gauge wire out I think.

Van

"Marty Phee" wrote in message
.. .
Newbie here again. A friend of mine who used to make wine a lot was
telling me that I should put the cork in with a piece of wire (thin 22ga)
running beside it to let the air out. After you press the cork in you
pull the wire out.

Anyone heard of doing this? His arguement was that the pressure in the
bottle will push the cork out. Knowing how much effort it takes to pull a
cork out I'm thinking that would have to be a hell of a lot pressure.

Marty Phee wrote:
Newbie here again. A friend of mine who used to make wine a lot was
telling me that I should put the cork in with a piece of wire (thin
22ga) running beside it to let the air out. After you press the cork in
you pull the wire out.

Anyone heard of doing this? His arguement was that the pressure in the
bottle will push the cork out. Knowing how much effort it takes to pull
a cork out I'm thinking that would have to be a hell of a lot pressure.
The wire will score the side of the cork leaving a very direct path for
air to enter the bottle.

My understanding is that it takes a day or two for cork corks to swell
out and seal the bottle. That is why the bottles should be left
upright for a couple of days. The air compressed under the cork when
the cork is inserted seeps out the sides.

Synthetic corks apparently swell out much quicker. As a result, if
there is insufficient headspace under a synthetic cork, the compressed
air will push the cork up. YES, I have seen it happen.

Steve


On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 17:26:05 GMT, Marty Phee
wrote:

Newbie here again. A friend of mine who used to make wine a lot was
telling me that I should put the cork in with a piece of wire (thin
22ga) running beside it to let the air out. After you press the cork in
you pull the wire out.

Anyone heard of doing this? His arguement was that the pressure in the
bottle will push the cork out. Knowing how much effort it takes to pull
a cork out I'm thinking that would have to be a hell of a lot pressure.

Steve Waller wrote:
Synthetic corks apparently swell out much quicker. As a result, if
there is insufficient headspace under a synthetic cork, the compressed
air will push the cork up. YES, I have seen it happen.

Yeah, that's what happened to me my first time. I had made some wine
from table grapes and bread yeast, and I left "about" half an inch of
space between wine and where the cork "ought to" have reached. Simply
put, I didn't leave enough head space, and the compressed air forced
the cork from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch or more out of the bottle. This
wasn't great wine, so I just trimmed it off.

The next time, I carefully measured out 750 mL of wine, poured it into
the bottle, then corked. I've had no problems, and I've learned by
eye what is the proper headspace. It simply is more space than a noob
would think. I was caught up in the "don't leave too much air space"
and I had too few bottles for all my wine. Measureing out 750 mL into
a wine bottle can be a pretty eye-opening experience the first time it
happens.

I don't think wire, or string as I usually heard about it, is needed to
help bleed out air under the cork during the corking process.

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

About a year ago I was given a simular suggestion except instead of
wire, I was told to use a heavy fishing line. He said as you pull the
line out, it allows a small amount of pressure to escape and claimed
that it worked great. I have never used it my self, but it sounded
feasable to me. Aubrey

Ok, we get the point you can stop posting the message.


Either way it is unnecessary. You leave the bottle standing upright
for a day or two after corking to let the pressure escape. The added
wire or fishline is just added work.