Does anyone have a better technique for opening bottles that are heavily sealed in wax? I like to wax some of my brews that I plan on sticking in the cellar for a while, but I also find that more and more commercial breweries are waxing some of their more tasty creations.
My current method is taking a knife and cutting around the bottlecap, praying that I don’t stab myself in the chest. Does anyone have a technique that is safer than narrowly escaping death every time that I want to enjoy a 50/50 Eclipse or a Dark Lord, etc?
Use a small knife or the foil knife on a wine key. place the bottle on the counter between yourself and the knife so that the blade is resting against the wax just below the cap. Press on the knife till it cuts through the wax. this should not be hard to do and if it is get a sharper knife. now turn the bottle leaving the knife where it is.
for your own though, have you considered wrapping a piece of string around the neck of the bottle just below the cap before waxing it? then you can just pull the loose end and it should cut through the wax.
Yes, I’ve tried it several different ways but haven’t found a fool proof design yet.
That’s the way that I open my waxed beers now, but maybe I’m just overly concerned with losing a finger or something… Who needs all ten, anyways? I only use like six on a regular basis.
If you are attentive to what you are doing, use the correct knife, make sure it is sharp and honed, and are attentive to what you are doing you should be fine and have 10 intact fingers.
Personally I get the most use out of just the two :o
a cigar cutter that fits around the bottle neck would work quite nicely if you can find one thats fits. they tend to be circular and finger proof(while something other then a finger is int eh cutter anyway:D) they can be inexpensive at 3-4 dollars for a plastic version.
When I’m at home, I use the bottle opener that is in my kitchen shears (if it’s not a bottle opener, I’ve adopted it as one). I have used it to open wax seals. I just used it like I would open any other bottle… Just force it right through the wax.
Evidently I bought some hard wax, because the Belgian Dubbel bombers that I waxed a year ago are tough dudes to cut through. With persistence, I get through with Mort’s technique, but I am tempted to heat up the knife!
after cutting myself a few times, I started pretending the wax isn’t there, and grab it firmly with one hand while shoving/working through the wax with a church key or bar blade type opener. Haven’t encountered too-thick/hard of wax to get through yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen.
I just use a wine key’s “knife” for when I occasionally wax certain beers I make.
The worst was when I did two colors, one on top of the other, for a friend’s wedding. It was best to just cut straight down the side of the wax and peel the whole thing off in that instance.