synthetic corks

[pongobilly]

what are these synthetic rubbery corks like, can you use your normal corker for these.

if using the run of the mill corks, how do we steralise them because i would have thought once soaking them in solution it would be very hard to remove soaked in steraliser, if i remember rightly im sure my dad used to boil his corks to steralise them

[tubby_shaw]

I have never used synthetic corks but I seem to recall that you need a special tool to insert them.
I sanitise my corks by pouring boiling water over them, I found that actually boiling the corks can overly soften them and cause "brown liquid" to be introduced into the bottle on insertion
You can of course soak them in a solution of 6 campden tablets dissolved in 1 pint of water.

[johnmac]

Can you buy synthetic corks i.e. rubbery-plastic stuff that looks a lot like a man-made cork? Or do you mean the ones from the HBS made of compressed fragments of cork?

I've reused plastic "corks" from commercial wine bottles by turning them around so the undamaged end goes into the bottle. The normal corker deals with them OK.

I've noticed that a lot of quite good wine is being sold in bottles with metal screw tops, these days. I find these very convenient for homebrew. But I only make plonk, for my daughter at uni.

[Bigster]

only ever used 'proper' corks. Usually submerge 6 in a pint of cold water and a 1/4 tsp of VWP steriliser and then leave for an hour before swilling under cold tap - no problems in over 200 gallons of wine

ps is it going to be your boys or mine ( brizzle city ) for 2nd place after the mighty Iron ?

[Horden Hillbilly]

I buy the grade 1 silicone coated corks from H&G, they are much easier to cork rather than soaking corks in hot water and as t_s points out the risk of brown liquid, these eliminate this possibility.