Corks, caps, and swing-tops - which is best? +Wax sealing and shrink wraps how-to
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- čas přidán 15. 07. 2024
- In this short video we're going over all the ways to close a bottle: swing tops, screw tops, crown caps, corks, and t-corks. PLUS, we'll show you how to use sealing wax and heat shrink wraps for that FINE finish. What's the best way to bottle your wine, mead, cider, or beer? We'll tell you, and rank our favorites in a tier list!
0:00 Intro
1:01 Swing top bottles
4:18 Screw tops
5:31 Crown caps
7:15 Corks
8:37 T-corks
9:54 Heat shrink wraps
10:27 Wax sealing
How do you rank bottle closures? Let us know in the comments!
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#homebrewing #tipsandtricks #bottling - Jak na to + styl
I've used all these, each, like 69 times each, and I agree with your list 100%.
169%!
@@DointheMost nice
My dad had these weird red rubber corks with a finger grip frame operated with a thumb plunger (I think he got them from my uncle who made a *lot* of wine, like dozens of 5 gallon carboys in his rec room/den at all times). You'd stick them in the neck of the bottle and depress the plunger, which would expand out much like some types of wall anchors, sealing the bottle..
Great Video, as always. I hope it reaches the audience well. Great info and production!
Thanks friend!
Love your style. Engaging and entertaining…and educational ❤
Love the wax set-up! Giving cyser to the in-laws as Xmas gifts and wax will class it up big time 👍
** chef’s kiss **
Storage for 1-2 years and what I would call “taster bottles”: swing-tops with rubber gaskets that get swapped out after just a few times. The bottles aren’t too big which means you get 2 glasses out of them, just enough to have a proper taste and judge how your mead, wine or cider is developing.
Corks: provided a good quality cork is used, for long term storage. I use shrink caps over te corks in order to keep out dust etc. I’m seriously considering getting sealing wax but haven’t gotten around to it. Incidentally, I use exactly the same method to shrink on those caps!
My corker is a heavy duty one that allows me to cork the ‘normal’ 750 ml bottles, but also smaller 350 ml or 500 ml bottles. I got it on sale and love it. Not only are corked bottles my preferred go-to for long time storage, but somehow people seem to appreciate a corked bottle more than a swing top. Maybe because it looks more expensive and professional to them?
As for T-corks? I’d only use them for short term fridge storage. Maybe a few days at most. Even then, I tend to re-seal still home brewed beverages with vacuum stoppers (Vacuvin). And yes, in the fridge they go. Those stoppers are re-usable many times over and the cheap little pump that goes with them helps to get any air out that might spoil the remnants still in that bottle for the few days it’ll be sitting in the fridge.
Good info! I should look into those vacuum sealed stoppers.
Another amazing video. Thank you 👍
Cheers friend! 🍻
Was literally digging for a answer for this
In Belgium we still have lots of breweries that bottle in swing tops, no additional cost just a higher deposit fee. We can bottle a couple rounds of homebrew in them and then cycle them back to the store and buy new beers from the deposits.
I use t corks with shrink wrap I have a few bottles left that are about 2 years old, just opened one up the other day and it was still good.
Very informative
Nice vid as always!
🍻🍻🍻
Really Enjoyed your Video , Thanks ! 🐯🤠
🍻🍻🍻
#1, Belgian cork and cage on a Champaign/Prosecco bottle
Very important subject in wine making!
Only problem with corks is that it's impossible for them to be all identical. Therefore you're gonna have your bottles micro oxigenating at different rates depending on the individual cork; it's been tested over and over. You can always find a wine that became sherry like in the bottle, in Italy we call it "marsalato" meaning "marsala like". More and more wine producers are abandoning the corks in favor of crown caps, in fact. They prefer bulk aging to oxigenate the wine before bottling with the hermetic seal to keep it as similar to when you put it in as possible.
Great info! That’s interesting. I wonder if crown cap popularity will spread states-side.
@@DointheMost For the 75cl crown cap bottles look into "Bottiglia Emiliana".
Thanks! When trying to research this you get so many people saying that screw tops will ruin your mead every time and stuff like that. There are times (especially when first starting) when you don't want to do the most.
Absolutely. I used screw tops for probably the first 3-4 years I made wine/mead.
I use T-corks only for bottles that have been opened, not finished, and need to go in the fridge. Otherwise for long term storage I use a Vintersence #9 x 1¾" Premium Cork from Portugal. At less than 50¢ a cork, I feel it's worth it. I get them from Amazon.
That is much simpler than the hair dryer I was using to shrink wrap 🤣
Works like a charm!
i had to buy a bench crown capper after my first time trying to use my winged capper. The old cider bottles i had collected didnt have a big enough lip for the hand held capper to grab! So if you dont have the right bottles, just get a bench cappper, so much easier and worth the extra money.
Nice video
I use crown caps and didn't know about double crimping. I now have to grab all 100 bottles and crimp them again.
It’s probably fine - but double crimping is your insurance policy!
Anything that has booze in it works for me. I use mostly bottles with caps but just started using flip-tops for my ginger beer mead.
I love a good ginger beer mead. 🍻
Great video. We still haven't tried caps, yet. We started out using only swing-tops and T-corks for the reasons you described, then about a year in we wised up and switched to good non-recycled #9 corks. We kept a dozen T-corks and use them for the couple bottles per batch we set aside for drinking within a couple weeks of bottling.
Not knowing any better, we aged our first acerglyn 1½ years with a T-cork. Thankfully it was good, and the shrink wrap may have helped. The taste hadn't changed much (just slightly smoother) which isn't surprising since it was under 2 years, but I sometimes wonder if it would have been noticeably different had we used a regular naked cork.
I keep t-corks in the kitchen for recorking cooking wines. Every tool has its function!
the swingtop bottles hold an insane amount of pressure. I use them for my wild fermented fizzy drinks, and it takes like 5 mins for all the air to slowly release to stop it spraying everywhere XD
Love the video I was curious what type of bottles would work best for me
Happy brewing!
We miss Zork closures! They were so easy to use. Our house has a drawer full of the reusable tops. RIP
There are some swing tops that you can use caps with. So I use the caps for the long-term age, then the swing too to reseal after opening.
I re0use screw top wine bottles for my meads and wines. The original pattern labels helps to ensure you have the same lid with the same bottle and if it was good enough for the mass-produced winery, it will be fine for me.
Just be aware that they wear out over time, especially after repeated contact with sanitizer.
I only bought 1 before our WalMart quit carrying them, but the 32oz Corona Familiar bottles are nice. Aldi for swing tops.
We’ve taken a hard turn into winter here, but a Corona sounds pretty good this morning! 😂
I have Lorina Sparkling water bottles for Ciders and corks for Wine or Mead.
I like T corks for the convenience of resealing a spirit bottle I’m definitely not finishing in one sitting.
I once re-used a bottle with its t-cork for a mead. It sat in the closet for about a year, and when I brought it out, the cork had fallen out at some point. Still tasted good, though.
I love a good redemption arc 😂
If you make an update to this video, you should talk about different cork types, natural, agglomerated, micro-agglomerated, colmated and synthetic corks. Might be other types, but these I know.
Great video. I use crown caps for my ciders and some wines; and screw tops for some wines. I need a corker.
I like the look of wax, and thinking of implementing it in my practices. I have seen some really well done waxed tops.
So, how does this ranking system work? I see it a lot in my Stardew groups, and yet to know the reason for the letters, colors, etc. Lol
New brewer here. Doing my first batch of mead and plan to use corks. What is the difference in the numbers? I have a had corker and want to get corks soon
I bought my first set of wine bottles they came with those plastic caps with sealing material inside that you showed so my question is can I use shrink wrap tops with those plastic caps to make it look better?
Would a T cork with shrink seal work well?
Swing tops I use very rarely and only for carbonation. Have plenty of brown ones from craft beer stores. Even gathered about half a dozen of 1L transparent ones I trust, but that's about it.
Using crown caps is something I've never picked up at all, simply because of a personal preference or in this case lack thereof. I just can't see mead or wine bottled as beer or cider.
For me, it's been corks all the way, preferably natural ones made out of one cork piece. They're more expensive but well worth it, however I've recently been switching to screw caps, following the super popular trend among European winemakers. It's so popular in fact that at this point most commercial wine bottles in Europe actually come with a screw cap. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me, plus the screw caps, even the best ones, are dirt cheap here. I do however put shrink caps both over corked bottles and those with screw caps.
Using tte same method as you. :)
I do all my bottle-carbed hydromels in 12oz beer bottles with crown caps. Anything above about 10% ABV that isn't going to be carbonated goes in a corked wine bottle. I used swing tops for my first couple batches due to simplicity and lack of equipment, but I probably wouldn't use them again.
Brewin the Most
Btw thanks for this video. I use crown cap for my homebrew wine. But, i have a question. Micro oxidisation over time is good for slowly improves wine ageing. And for it better use cork than crown cap? Or crown cap can do it too?
I'm sorry if my english bad.. Thank you..
As a beginner I can use swing top bottles? I just buy a mead kit, and looking for bottles in the process of fermenting, or is more recommended wine bottles or beer bottles to the crown caps and corks?
What are your thoughts on T corks coupled with shrink capsules? I'm asking because I need to get some more bottles soon (using swing top so far, bought Grolsch, drank the beer and saved the bottle, coupled with some Ikea swing tops), and would like to step up the bottling game. I'm all for getting synthetic corks but... like everything in Europe that's a bit more "specialized", it's either hard to find, ridiculously expensive, or out of stock (don't get me started on trying to find other honey flavors than wildflower). I don't want to have to keep bottles on the side with normal corks, and T corks have the added bonus or reusability (limited times like you mentioned of course)... would using a capsule mitigate the poor seal and oxidation problems? Thanks for the great content, loving the channel!
I like making high proof spirits and honestly it's not the best looking thing but masen jars work beautifully I just open them up every couple of years to make sure no rust has built up on the rim
I've been using brown 500ml PET bottles with screw caps. They seemed ideal as I could buy new caps (with seals). However, I have found that the seals are not so great if you reuse the caps and don't really screw them down firmly.
Doe you need to store a bottle of mead on the side when you use corcks? Some people say it will dry out when you store it upright.
I personally dont like to store it on the side because of sendiment that drops on the side of the bottle. When i try to pour some out sendiment comes with it. What should i do?
Im aging for maybe 2 years max.
What about T cork which has been wax sealed on the bottle?
What about Mason jars? Many may laugh but I have oodles of them anyway, and for some folks the "hillbilly appeal" of homemade wine, cider, "apple pie" etc in a mason jar is a great aesthetic for gift-giving. I definitely use new lids each time, and check the rings for any signs of corrosion. I'm just wondering if there's any other safety issue or something I'm overlooking.
In any case your list makes good sense to me for normal bottling, thanks for clearing up some questions I had.
If you purge them with wine saver gas or CO2 they should be fine. But that amount of surface area on top of the liquid is bad for long term storage due to oxygen exposure.
@@DointheMost yeah I fill them nearly plumb up to reduce the amount of oxygen.
I wouldn't recommend mason jars as a standby or for long-term use... mainly for gift-giving and test samples that will be consumed in a few weeks. Thanks for clarifying those details :)
Is there a brand of cork you like to use? I've been using the entry level nomacorc since I won't have to age on their side. It's hard to find the higher quality nomacorcs in homebrewing batches.
I order from my local homebrew shop for basic corks. I got my flor corks from Widget Co.
Here in Australia most commercial wine is produced with screw tops. They're metal with a soft disk inside to keep it airtight. Would you consider re-using these types of screw tops more appropriate than the ones you mentioned in the video?
I’ve used metal ones before, and found them to be good for a few uses. Seemed like after that the sanitizer started to corrode them a bit.
@@DointheMost Good to know, thanks mate. Recently got into brewing and your channel. Absolutely loving your work
Wait!! There’s ways to close my wine bottles that isn’t tin foil!? Dang… so these years… 😅
Modern Screw Caps are superior to aging wine as high quality metal screw caps have a membrane that can be adjusted for different oxygen ingress rates. They can be nearly hermetically sealed as well as approximating high quality cork in porosity without the risk of cork rot.
Not all screw tops are the same however, cheaper ones do not have the same quality membranes that allow for aging but the good ones are being used today in some very high quality wines instead of cork.
I know swing top gaskets are somewhat universal but I'm not sure about the wire bale assemblies. Have you tried swapping the assembly on questionable Trader Joe's bottles?
I can confirm they are not universal - I have a whole bag of swing assemblies I bought years ago that don’t seem to fit any bottles I’ve tried. 🤦♂️
Anyone remember Zorks? I liked them, but can't find anymore
I think I had an Apple II game called Zork 🤔
Nevermind found the video 😂
What would you recommend for a batch of mead that you want to age for around 20 years? Or is that just a dumb idea to try aging mead that long?
Lol age it in bulk for the first 10-15 years, then bottle for another 5-10
@@gamecollector7930 That's a good tip. I'll have to do some research into that. Thanks!
When using natural cork, I understand it is necessary to store bottles on sides so as to keep the corks moist. My question is, if you are using the wax seal method do you need to still store them on their side or is this moot after sealing with wax? In addition, I know that distilled spirits should be stored upright especially if corked, as the high ABV can have a corrosive effect on corks, so would this also apply to high ABV mead (22%)??? Right now, I use ceramic swing-tops exclusively, but I am considering moving up to natural cork and wax. Thoughts? Comments?
This has been discussed on r/mead quite a bit, and as I recall, the data indicates that side storage may not have any advantage as the humidity in the bottle and the cork remain the same side vs upright. A wax seal should eliminate most oxygen ingress.
I don’t have enough info to speak to the other part of your question, unfortunately!
@@DointheMost Thanks for the input. If it's waxed, I didn't see how corks could dry out.
Adding to what BC already answered.
Corks will deteriorate faster if kept in contact with the wine, even a normal 11% will do that. But it takes long long years do ruin a cork.
The humidity in the cellar is important for many reasons but first of all for the corks; it should be around 70% which is pretty high.
@@riukrobu So the humidity in wine cellars is kept at high humidity to help stop the corks from drying out? Sounds reasonable. The wax I think solves the issue of keeping the cork moist when not kept on side.
@@littlebones88 Keeping the bottles lying down doesn't do anything good really, it only shortens the life of the cork. It does not keep the cork moist it keeps it wet on one side which is not gonna help anything. The wax keeps it almost hermetically sealed, yes, you're right about that, that's why they do it.
First!!!!!!
🍻🍻🍻
I'd like to add a few comments on your rankings. I think the you devalued the utility of swingtops by not mentioning one important feature. They can be opened and closed quickly for tasting/testing unlike any of the other closure methods. Not that this is always helpful but it is a unique feature. One downside to crown caps is that not all bottles are equally recappable according to their profiles. Some bottles require a bottling stand which can add to cost of bottling if one normally relies on a manual twohanded capper. There was also no mention of the fact that crown caps are made in 26 and 29 mm sizes. I've also found it even more handy to use recycle prosecco and 'champagne' bottles since they require the larger 29 mm caps.
My takeaway from this is be very wary of craft beers as the material involved are clearly not food safe, ignoring how 99% of them taste like literal ass.
I know it's counter-intuïtive, but grolsch is actually pronounced grols haha
why are you sealing water inside your shrink wrap?
doesn't sound like a really good advice imo...
I call biased. You always you those anyways, doesn't seem like fair judgment
Doe you need to store a bottle of mead on the side when you use corcks? Some people say it will dry out when you store it upright.
I personally dont like to store it on the side because of sendiment that drops on the side of the bottle. When i try to pour some out sendiment comes with it. What should i do?
Im aging for maybe 2 years max.