I agree, don't trust any of the chemicals. They are cheap anyway. If the
corks were improperly stored and dried out, even if you rehydrate them,
their structure will not be sound and I would not trust them. If the did
not dry out but were improperly stored, they could be infected and I would
not trust them. (You cannot sanitize the center of the cork by soaking in
solution.) In other words I would not trust them unless they werre stored
with (not in) a sanitizing solution. To properly store corkes for any
extended period of time, put the corks in a plasic bucket with a tight lid.
A good primary works gread. Then fill a wine bottle half full of Na-Meta
solution and stand the bottle up in the bucket so it will not fall over.
Put the tight lid back on and put it in a safe place where it will not be
bumped hard enough to spill the solution. The solution will evaporate and
keep the corks hydrated properly and the keep any baddies from growing.

As far as the corker goes, the old one will probably clean up and work as
well as a new one. But then I would not have a new one or an old one. But
then I have been making wine for a long long time and have a good floor
corker. Go ahead and use the hand corker but if you decide this is a hobby
you will continue with, let a good corder be one of your first serious
purchases. You will never regret it.

Ray

"Tater" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I did get a new winemaking kit. dont panic about the below.
>
> But I did dig out some "stuff" someone gave to me that was winemaking
> related, just to see what was there that might be usefull.
>
> please note, this stuff was stored in poor conditions, as in out in a
> leaky garage all last summer, fall, and winter(and this early thaw)
>
> Looks like there is a hand corker of poor design, #9 corks in plastic
> bags the vendor folded then stapled(instead of heat sealed, couple of
> airlocks, couple of tapered corks whith holes, bottle of camden
> tablets, lots of envelopes of chenicals,yeast, and such(all ruined to
> to temp and water), and a tiny hydrometer
>
> the chemicals I am gonna toss, as i got plenty from my new kit, the
> corker i might play with, to help me appreciate what a real corker
> saves me from. I suppose i can test the old hydro against the new one
> and see if it works. and maybe soak the corks in water then sanitizer
> and use them for practice.
>
> anyone see any issues i should be aware of(corks wear out, hydrometers
> decalibrate, etc.)
>