Corks and Wires

[danman]

Hey all-

Relating to the corks and wires Vinnie Cilurzo referred to on last weeks show, I have a bunch of the corks and wires that I don't need. I ordered them a couple of months ago and you need to order really large quantities--so I have some excess. If any of you are interested, I will sell some of the excess at cost. FYI, the champagne corks and wires that you see for sale at the homebrew shops do NOT work with the Belgian bottles--I've learned the hard way! (I have heard of some limited success using the plastic stoppers...but let's face it...the whole point is to use actual corks)

As far as inserting the corks: I do use a champagne corker from Northern Brewer...$100. The corks don't need to be compressed too much for insertion so I suspect you could finagle using a regular corker but I haven't tried it.

It's pretty damn cool to be able to cork finish my Belgians! I've even corked a few 22 oz bottles, so I'll keep you posted on the results.

Thanks to Vinnie Cilurzo for taking the time to respond to my emails and helping me find the corks.

*******

P.S. As far as the Belgian 'Biere" bottles go: Vinnie tells me that they are only made in France and the minimum order is 500 cases. I have found a supplier here on the east coast that supplies the bottles but the minimum order is 1 pallet. I'm not sure how many cases are on a pallet...it could be 500. So save those Belgian bottles, because as of right now, there is no economical way for a homebrewer to get them. Perhaps if enough people were interested, we could order a pallet and divide them up.

Cheers!

Dan (danman)

[ionia_ales]

now.. maybe this is crazy.. but I remember hearing or reading that the classic 750s are "leftovers" from france and basicly recycled champagne bottles, due to a law requiring the recycling of these bottles? -

I think keeping one's belg bottles. and being vigilant looking for the champ. bottles, like NewYears.. or maybe call around to the local nice brunch place, to see if you could pick up some of their bottles.

[danman]

The manufacturer in France is still moulding the 750ml "Biere" bottle that Russian River, Chimay, etc, are using.

Definately, hang onto those bottles! I like the Belgian bottle better than the champagne bottles (they tend to be green, which I'm not a fan of), but sometimes you'll come across brown champagne bottles which are quite nice.

[dawgfur]

I had some leftover Dubbel from a kegging session once, so just as a test, I got some plastic corks and wires from the LHBS, and cleaned out some Damnation bottles I had been saving up just for this purpose. I pushed them in by hand and ensured the wires were on snug. They sealed up and carbonated fine. And, I hear they are re-usable.