Cork trouble - wine

[George Zip]

Hi, my hubby has made me some homebrew wine but we are having trouble with the corks. Both the last batch of wine and this have had corks which crumble and are difficult to extract. The first set we didn't soak, this set we did but we are still having the problem.
Please help as I would love cork - free wine! Thanks (the wife)

[Hoodlum]

Wilkos sell plastic corks that won't crumble.

Don't feel that you have to bottle it either - wine matures better in bulk, so leave it in the demijohn (rack it off the sediment however!) until you're ready to drink some.

I tend to use screw tops, but beware lying re-screwed bottles on their sides as some will leak.

Hope that helps

[shandypants5]

I mature in the demijohn too and then use screwtops for "short" term storage. ( dont lay them down)

I have noticed though that wine from a friend who uses corks is hard to open without crumbling.

Have corks got cheaper and nastier recently ?
!0 years ago I corked everything and the corks were solid and waxy.

[Horden Hillbilly]

I get my corks from here. Yes, I know that they are not cheap but they are silicone coated & do not need to be soaked before bottling & they are a doddle to cork & uncork. Not one breakage or crumbling cork to report, I kid you not!