Several corks started popping out after I laid down the bottles. Was I supposed to let them dry after sanitizing? I recorked them and they seem fine now but 2 completely popped out and soaked my beer/wine closet. Too afraid to lay them back down now!
-Sent from the future.
Are they caged tightly What kind of beer is it, and what’s the temp in the closet?
It’s wine not beer. I thought maybe since the corks were wet going in that was the problem. Also when I laid them on their side I just tipped the box over so there was weight on the bottom ones.
-Sent from the future.
In my experience the wire hood sometimes slips off the lip of the Champange bottles, and the plastic cork does pop off. Even if the wire hood is twisted tight, I had some really nice beer splash every where. I noticed that the only time the plastic cork did pop off was when I bumped the bottles. I no longer use the plastic corks.
The corks shouldn’t slide out unless there is pressure inside, wet or dry. Or they may be not quite the right size for your bottles.
I had some white wine(commercial, not homemade) bottles start fermentation after 3 years in our cave. We found about a dozen bottles with the corks halfway out, some completely popped and others just starting to migrate. The wine was fizzy but otherwise pretty good.
There is no advantage to tipping synthic corked bottles o their side. Upright is just. Natural corks are stored on their side to keep the corks wet to keep them from shrinking.
The glass bottles on the bottom shoudn’t matter about the weight on top. They don’t squeeze like a plastic bottle so no pressure inside the bottle should result from stacking.
Wet is not the problem. I use starsan and it sure makes them easier to insert.
How long did you leave them upright before tipping? If you need to store them on the side because of a rack or space reasons, they silll should remain upright for several days to let the corks expand after compressing them to insert to form a tight seal.
I agree with corkybstewart, either they are starting to carb (did you back sweeten?) and build up pressure or they are not the right size. I use 3/4 x #9 and never had a problem.
No I didn’t back sweeten. It was 10 bottles out of 28, 2 of which opened completely. I’ll keep them upright, it’s easier for me that way anyway.
They were only upright for maybe 24 hours before laying on their side.
Are you at a significantly different altitude than what they were bottled at?
Nah…Bottled on 2nd floor, stored on 1st floor.