When it comes to Bottling and Corking Homemade Wine Articles | Home Winemaking

By: Darren Williger

As soon as your wine is prepared for bottling, a number of things must still be taken care of. The bottles, the corks and the corking device to be used in the entire process must be selected. Wine isn’t created and poured into age old bottles saved from the other ones that you’ve been drinking for the last decade or so. Fine, they are great bottles and they can be sanitized in order to make them clean, however not all the wines that you take are corked and the necks of the bottles in question may be the wrong shape. You’ll save yourself more time by buying new bottles of wine from the same stores which supply you with other equipment that you used to create your wine. These come in different colors and styles and the can be bought in a number of colors from clear, amber, green or blue.  A dozen bottles along with their equally new corks can be available for your use with a simple fee of something between thirteen to eighteen dollars.

Corks tend to come in a number of different shapes but since you are trying to finish off with a good seal it is better that you make do with a straight cork. These corks tend to be cylindrically shaped and they tend to do a great job because they fit the entire neck. A tapered cork will not fill the whole space that it is placed in.

Of all the cork types, one of the best types is the mushroom cork, these types of corks tend to come with plastic on top of them and this gives a better grip. This tends to make it easier to push the cork with your hand if you want to make use of wine bottles which take in corks quite easily. Mushroom corks are great if you have plans of taking the wine anywhere between a year to a year and half after it has all been bottled.

If you intend to keep the wine for a much longer period, then other corks can be recommended. These corks tend to be of a much higher grade than others and some of these are called superior grade corks. These sorts of corks can last without issues for up to a period of three years. While longer lasting corks tend to be man-made they also resemble brown or beige corks and they are much better in quality.

If you want to use a corker to place your cork inside a wine bottle, there are a number of varieties which can be used. Certain hand models squish the cork around and make it easier to place it in a bottle. It is usually the slowest of all options as the process is completely manual but it is also suited for small batches of wine. If you’re dealing with hundreds on other hand, you will require a bench or floor model in order to cork all your bottles.