Cork Problems?

[VolForLife]

I couldn't find what appeared to be the correct place for this dumb question...BUT....

My wife accidentally helped me out with this situation. Any suggestions on how to salvage this almost full bottle without ruining it?

Surely this has happened before...[emoji17]

Edited August 15, 2015 by VolForLife

[VolForLife]

I couldn't find what appeared to be the correct place for this dumb question...BUT....

My wide accidentally helped me out with this situation. Any suggestions on how to salvage this almost full bottle without ruining it?

Surely this has happened before...[emoji17] [ATTACH]21401[/ATTACH]

[amg]

That happens a lot with old Wild Turkey bottles. If you get any bits of cork in the whiskey, strain it through cheesecloth (slooooowly).

[dcbt]

Coffee filters work wonders as well. Just be patient with it.

[VolForLife]

Thanks guys.

[TunnelTiger]

Yep and keep some used corks in a zip lock bag for future use.

[GAbiker]

How much of the cork is in the neck? You can get a wine opener that has a needle that goes through cork and uses compressed air to force out cork. That way you don't get any cork in your bourbon.

[BigRich]

Use a waiters cork screw to get the rest out of the neck, strain the contents, rise the bottle, refill and recork with another cork. It's happened to me several times. I f'ing hate natural corks in whiskey now.

[TunnelTiger]

Cheesecloth is your friend, plus saving good corks from older bottles

[fishnbowljoe]

Yep and keep some used corks in a zip lock bag for future use.

I agree. It just so happens that I needed a cork just last night. I opened, or maybe I should say, I tried to open my MMCS 750. The plastic top came right off the cork. Not to worry. I had plenty of backups to choose from. :grin:

Cheers! Joe

[Special Reserve]

Joe,

Looks like some Weller Centennial corks in there. They are notorious for breaking.

Will

[b1gcountry]

I have an old bottle that is very nice that I'm planning to use as a decanter. The glass cork (stopper?) is hollow, and has a cork sleeve around the working part. The sleeve isn't any good any more,  and I wanted to see if anyone had a recommendation for replacing the cork sleeve?

[KyleCBreese]

I had the same issue. I have a Four Roses decanter from the 60's. I used rubber bands to replace the cork. It seems to work pretty well. 

[dSculptor]

The problem with those hollow decanter stoppers are that they have a washer on the top and bottom of the cork, so it's not like you can simply slide another one on. I bought a bag of corks from Walmart, and found one that fit, (or shape it down till it does) and then basically split it in half and then hollowed it out ,and put the 2 halves back together around the stopper and slid it in the decanter, however I did this only for show, so that the stopper fit into the decanter snuggly,(one time and it stays there) I don't take them in and out. But I guess maybe you could try gluing the two halves together, maybe some wood glue might work.

What decanter is it, I'd like to see a pic if possible. I'll be posting my collection of around 28 or so.... soon.

[b1gcountry]

It is the old Taylor bottle I posted in another thread. I have to find the pictures. ..

 

 

 

[fishnbowljoe]

I figured I'd start a new thread about corks. We already had two going so I'm merging them here. There's also a third thread from a long time ago, but I'm leaving that one be.

Cheers and don't pop your cork!                                                                                                                                            Joe

[dSculptor]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2015‎ ‎5‎:‎34‎:‎55‎, fishnbowljoe said:

I agree. It just so happens that I needed a cork just last night. I opened, or maybe I should say, I tried to open my MMCS 750. The plastic top came right off the cork. Not to worry. I had plenty of backups to choose from. :grin:

Cheers! Joe

Now here's a man I can relate you.....Nice collection Joe!

[b1gcountry]

This is the stopper

[SebastianLloyd]

This happened to me with a bottle to tequila. I sent an email of the busted cork and they mailed me a stronger new one made from plastic.

[fishnbowljoe]

Got home from work today, shoveled a bit of snow, and salted down the drive way. I finished with all that and decided I deserved a pour. Grabbed my bottle of BT, and wouldn't you know it, the cork broke off.  No problem. I just grabbed an empty ETL bottle and a funnel, and now I'm good to go again. 

Cheers! Joe

 

[jp_stargazer]

I have had two bottles with cork issues.  First was a WT101 bottle where the cork cracked where it met the plastic topper after opening it, so luckily it did not get stuck.  I discarded it right away knowing it would be trouble to just use the cork part and now have a pretty Willett Pot Still cork in there.

The second was in a bottle of ORVW10 which had residue on the foil, indicating that sloshing/tipping had allowed the cork to leak.  As an engineer, I understand that analyzing failures from the "field" make a better product so I contacted BT with pictures to help them.  The gentleman said that they experience leaky corks due to holes or passages (what I would call porosity) from time to time and the BT quality team would like the cork in question.  I sent it off and they were going to work with their supplier on the issue.  The bourbon was still delicious.

I wish that bottlings that currently use real cork would switch to synthetic.  You get to keep the perceived luxury / expectation of quality / price realization but prevent issues like cork breakage or cork taint.  Or you could go the route of some KBD bottles where it's a screw top but covered in wax to make it classy. 

Jason