Champagne Corks and beer

[Tweek]

Can anyone give me some info on how to do this? Do I need a special corker? or will a standard wine corker do the job?

Anything else I should know about?

Thanks

[Richard English]

You don't need a special corker (or indeed any corker at all). you do need special corks and the wire cages that keep them in place.

[Tweek]

no corker? Are the corks when they are new so compressed that they can be pushed in? and if so what is keeping them that way? do they come in some sort of sleeve that is compressing them? I am familiar withthe process for corking wine. I am just having a problem visualizing how the champagne corks go in without a corker. Can you elaborate some more please?

Thanks

[Richard English]

A champage cork is slightly smaller in diameter than a normal cylindrical cork and has a rounded top. It pushes into the bottle and is and is kept in place with a wire cage. If a corker is needed for this process, then an ordinary one will do. The pressure in the bottle expands the cork against the inside of the bottle neck (which is specially shaped) giving the cork its characteristic " mushroom shape" When the cage is removed and the cork eased, the pressure in the bottle forces it out.

Although better sparking wines are usually sealed with cork, I prefer to use plastic stoppers for homebrew which, like the stopper in a whisky or sherry bottle, have a top. The champagne stopper's top is, though, rounded.

The stopper simply pushes into the bottle (no corker is needed) and, like the cork, is wired in place.

Plastic stoppers are less likely to allow wine failure through "corking" and, what's more, can be re-used.

There are examples of plastic champagne stoppers at http://www.herbsandheirlooms.com/id38.htm and corks at http://www.jelinekcork.com/products/champagne.html

[Tweek]

thanks for the info, the part that I wasnt understanding is that the pressure is what caused them to expand, I thought they were cut that way and then compressed to fit in the bottle. I think those plastic ones will do the trick for my purposes. That way I dont have to worry about getting bad cork.

Thanks