Hello everyone. Quick question(s)

I just bottled my first batch on Friday. Today I started to put the
capsules on. I put the first one on, and when I was done, there was a
whitish fibrous matter floating in the wine (this happened right after I
inverted the bottle). I thought maybe it is a precipitate that evolved from
the heat and that it would regain solubility after a short while. No good.

So I am thinking--do some corks have an amount of wax in them? That would
explain it, but I surely don't know. If so (or if else), how do I keep this
from happening as I put my other capsules on.

Thanks in advance!

JQL

John Q. Lurker wrote:

> I just bottled my first batch on Friday. Today I started to put the
> capsules on. I put the first one on, and when I was done, there was a
> whitish fibrous matter floating in the wine (this happened right after I
> inverted the bottle). I thought maybe it is a precipitate that evolved from
> the heat and that it would regain solubility after a short while. No good.

I had a problem like this once, and I traced it back to the corker, it
was nicking the bottom of the cork and cutting off a small piece which
ended up in the wine. Talk about corked wine eh? Anyway, I never had to
deal with any of it because all the bottles got stolen. Perhaps your
floaties are just bits of cork?


--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 09:14:13 -0500, Charles H
> wrote:

>John Q. Lurker wrote:
>
>> I just bottled my first batch on Friday. Today I started to put the
>> capsules on. I put the first one on, and when I was done, there was a
>> whitish fibrous matter floating in the wine (this happened right after I
>> inverted the bottle). I thought maybe it is a precipitate that evolved from
>> the heat and that it would regain solubility after a short while. No good.
>
>I had a problem like this once, and I traced it back to the corker, it
>was nicking the bottom of the cork and cutting off a small piece which
>ended up in the wine. Talk about corked wine eh? Anyway, I never had to
>deal with any of it because all the bottles got stolen. Perhaps your
>floaties are just bits of cork?

Stolen? story please?



email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!

These look more like white fibers. Honestly they look waxy through the
bottle; thin, white flakes with a couple larger flexible ones cruising
around. None of the other bottles look like this. Thinking about it, I bet
it was because I used a hairdryer to shrink the capsule. If there is wax in
the cork, it got melted during the long process of heating the top.

But like Dave, I say 'Stolen wine?' Tell us a story.

JQL

I've noticed a few small white squiggly things a couple times in the past.
This has only been on the rare occasion when I've racked off a bunch of
sediment, into my secondary, then did some vigourous stirring to gas-off,
just prior to bottling. I determined it was plastic from my secondary. The
large plastic spoon I use could scrape off a tiny piece of plastic from the
side of the secondary if it hit it the right way.

"John Q. Lurker" > wrote in message
...
> Hello everyone. Quick question(s)
>
> I just bottled my first batch on Friday. Today I started to put the
> capsules on. I put the first one on, and when I was done, there was a
> whitish fibrous matter floating in the wine (this happened right after I
> inverted the bottle). I thought maybe it is a precipitate that evolved
from
> the heat and that it would regain solubility after a short while. No
good.
>
> So I am thinking--do some corks have an amount of wax in them? That would
> explain it, but I surely don't know. If so (or if else), how do I keep
this
> from happening as I put my other capsules on.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> JQL
>
>

Dave Allyn wrote:

> Stolen? story please?

I live in a house that has been split into three 'units' and my wine
cellar is in the basement, beside the common laundry room. One of the
tenants moved out and decided to help themselves to some of my wine.
Luckily enough for them, they were also victims of my one failed foray
into mead territory. The cellar is now under lock & key. Live and learn
I suppose.

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

Charles,
Stealing wine should be classified as Grand Theft!
Al
"Charles H" > wrote in message
...
> Dave Allyn wrote:
>
> > Stolen? story please?
>
> I live in a house that has been split into three 'units' and my wine
> cellar is in the basement, beside the common laundry room. One of the
> tenants moved out and decided to help themselves to some of my wine.
> Luckily enough for them, they were also victims of my one failed foray
> into mead territory. The cellar is now under lock & key. Live and learn
> I suppose.
>
> --
> charles
>
> "Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
> forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
> - W.C. Fields

"John Q. Lurker" > wrote in message
...
> Hello everyone. Quick question(s)
>
> I just bottled my first batch on Friday. Today I started to put the
> capsules on. I put the first one on, and when I was done, there was a
> whitish fibrous matter floating in the wine (this happened right after I
> inverted the bottle). I thought maybe it is a precipitate that evolved
from
> the heat and that it would regain solubility after a short while. No
good.
>
> So I am thinking--do some corks have an amount of wax in them? That would
> explain it, but I surely don't know. If so (or if else), how do I keep
this
> from happening as I put my other capsules on.

I'm new to making wines but came across a possible explanation:

Did you use "no soak" corks and either soak them or use a heat gun to put on
the capsules? The no soak corks are pre-treated with a silicon compound.
If you soak these corks then you can end up with silicon residue in the
wine. I'm guessing too much heat could cause a similar effect although I
may be putting two and two together and getting five. :-)

I used a blowdryer to put the capsule on. The glass got hot, and I am
assuming that the cork did too, which may explain the "something". The
corks are agglomerate, so there must be something. The big question is: can
I just pop the cork, run the wine through a coffee filter and put the wine
back in? It was my first first - first bottle out of the first batch - so I
want to keep it for a special occasion.

Thanks

JQL

"John Q. Lurker" > wrote in message
...
> I used a blowdryer to put the capsule on. The glass got hot, and I am
> assuming that the cork did too, which may explain the "something". The
> corks are agglomerate, so there must be something. The big question is:
can
> I just pop the cork, run the wine through a coffee filter and put the wine
> back in? It was my first first - first bottle out of the first batch - so
I
> want to keep it for a special occasion.
>
> Thanks
>
> JQL

Unbottling, filtering and rebottling will introduce a lot of oxygen. A big
red wine might survive, but not many white wines can tolerate such harsh
treatment.

Good luck,
lum

I never use a hair dryer as it takes so long and heats the bottle so much.
1/2 second in boiling water does the trick every time and the wine doesnt
heat up

Jason

"Lum" > wrote in message
...
>
> "John Q. Lurker" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I used a blowdryer to put the capsule on. The glass got hot, and I am
> > assuming that the cork did too, which may explain the "something". The
> > corks are agglomerate, so there must be something. The big question is:
> can
> > I just pop the cork, run the wine through a coffee filter and put the
wine
> > back in? It was my first first - first bottle out of the first batch -
so
> I
> > want to keep it for a special occasion.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > JQL
>
> Unbottling, filtering and rebottling will introduce a lot of oxygen. A
big
> red wine might survive, but not many white wines can tolerate such harsh
> treatment.
>
> Good luck,
> lum
>
>
>

Thanks for the tip. How do you keep the capsule on when you invert the
bottle?

-JQL

I hold the bottom of the cap with one hand and dunk half the cap very
quickly. this usualy shrinks the cap around the top of the bottle,
not all the way, but enough to hold it for the second dunk. I would
say I overshrink and split maybe one out of six, but for me it's
better than scalding fingers!



On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 16:54:41 -0700, "John Q. Lurker"
> wrote:

>Thanks for the tip. How do you keep the capsule on when you invert the
>bottle?
>
>-JQL
>



email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!

JQL,

I do the same, but I hold the capsule on with an L-shaped wire which I
hold against the side of the bottle as I grasp it.

HTH, Mike MTM

Use a large rubber band stretched over the bottle end to end.



"MikeMTM" > wrote in message
s.com...
>
> JQL,
>
> I do the same, but I hold the capsule on with an L-shaped wire which I
> hold against the side of the bottle as I grasp it.
>
> HTH, Mike MTM
>

I hold the skirt of the capsule with two fingers and lower the capsule
into boiling water.. The capsule shrinks fast enough that I let go
with the two fingers as soon as the top third of the capsule is under
water and I complete the operation in one smooth motion. It works
beautifully.

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 16:54:41 -0700, "John Q. Lurker"
> wrote:

>Thanks for the tip. How do you keep the capsule on when you invert the
>bottle?
>
>-JQL
>

Hi all,
I use a fork or a spoon to hold the capsule in place while dunking in hot
water. With a little good will you can hold the capsule in place without
burning your fingers.
The best way is to boil water in a tea kettle and hold the bottle neck with
the capsule in the steam coming from the spout. Just make sure you do not
boil the kettle dry! Just use a spoon or fork to hold the capsule in place
whole shrinking.
Eddie V.

"A.J. Rawls" > wrote in message
...
> I hold the skirt of the capsule with two fingers and lower the capsule
> into boiling water.. The capsule shrinks fast enough that I let go
> with the two fingers as soon as the top third of the capsule is under
> water and I complete the operation in one smooth motion. It works
> beautifully.
>
> On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 16:54:41 -0700, "John Q. Lurker"
> > wrote:
>
> >Thanks for the tip. How do you keep the capsule on when you invert the
> >bottle?
> >
> >-JQL
> >
>

I also dip my bottles into boiling water to shrink the cap. I bent a
coathanger into an "L" shape, and use that to hold the cap in place while
dipping.


"John Q. Lurker" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the tip. How do you keep the capsule on when you invert the
> bottle?
>
> -JQL
>
>