How to extract a cork out of a wine bottle

[Cody]

Hello All,

I am about to bottle 26L of wine, so I am scrambling for wine bottles.

I have a few wine bottles sitting around with the cork pushed into the bottle; mostly from camping and drinking around the campfire with no tool to open the bottle.

If it can be done, I would rather get rid of the cork before I put new wine into the bottles. I heard it's harmless, but I am going to bleach the bottles before I reuse them, and I imagine the cork might retain a large amount of bleach, which is not appetizing.

So please share if you know any easy ways to extract the cork out of the bottle. We tried to shake the bottle to position the cork at the neck of the bottle, then boiling the bottle to expand the air... but it didn't work. We can't get the cork to creat a seal and the air just slowly leaks out.

Any ideas? Thanks.

-Cody

[martin kelley]

Cody, you're best bet is to get another bottle. You can get the old cork out, but it's easier and less time consuming to buy a bottle of something you like and empty it for your home made stuff.

[Shitoryu Dude]

Don't push the cork into the bottle - it is a sin. If you are going to drink wine, get the proper tools:

Screwpull cork remover
drip collar
foil cutter
decanter
bottle coaster
bottle stoppers

That should do for a start. You should also get a wine rack and set it up someplace cool, dark and environmentally stable. Be prepared to buy cases of wine and let them it sit for years if need be for them to mature.

I have a rack that holds72 bottles, and it is full. Which is not good as the 2002 Washington wines are being released and 2002 was a fantastic year.

Also, invest on some wine glasses - they are that shape for a variety of reasons including temperature isolation from your hand, allowing you to smell the bouquet of the wine properly, and proper exposure to air (wines need to breathe properly).

What kind of wine are you making?

:beer:

[Julian Gerhart]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude

I have a rack that holds72 bottles, and it is full. Which is not good as the 2002 Washington wines are being released and 2002 was a fantastic year.

Hey, if you need to get rid of some wine... I'm in college now.

[Cody]

Thanks guys, I am going to try the OJ method -- except with vinegar. There is one bottle with a rubber cork in it though, we might have to give that one up.

Harvey, this 26L batch I am making is a Blackberries Merlot. My roomate and I have been picking fruit throughout the summer; we will also experiment with apple cider (probably with honey and spices), sour cherries and plum wine once the carboy is available (and we collect enough wine bottles).

I live in a basement in Victoria; I think the climate is similar to Seattle. We do have two seasons, but the basement stays reasonably cool in general.

I am ashamed to say that none of us are sophisticated wine-drinkers. The most common drinking occasion is when we are sailing, camping, or partying around a beach fire (or when I am siphoning... yeast tastes gross >_<); we just pass the bottle around and drink straight out of it. I know, you must be screaming by now. After I graduate and settle down, maybe I will invest in some basic wine-tools. But in the mean time, we will just act like the college monkies that we are and look for cheap ways to get drunk :p

[Brian Owens]

Another thought is to put the bottles in a very hot oven to burn the corks. Let them cool down completely, in the oven (for safety), then dump out the ash and cinders.

You'll also end up with well sterilized bottles this way.

Note that I've never actually tried this; it is, literally, just another thought.

Good luck.

[Bambi]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude
Don't push the cork into the bottle - it is a sin. If you are going to drink wine, get the proper tools:

Screwpull cork remover
drip collar
foil cutter
decanter
bottle coaster
bottle stoppers



i'll bear this in mind the next time I'm cracking open a bottle of buckfast, the king of "wines". :D or f****dfast as its locally known

[Maro]

Originally posted by Bambi
i'll bear this in mind the next time I'm cracking open a bottle of buckfast, the king of "wines". :D or f****dfast as its locally known

Turns you pee Purple if you're not careful:eek:

[Bambi]

Originally posted by Maro
Turns you pee Purple if you're not careful:eek:

You say this like its a bad thing?? :confused:

[Shitoryu Dude]

Blackberry wine can be pretty damned good stuff, though I would never have thought to mix it with merlot.

I helped my dad make about 20 gallons of blackberry wine about 25 years ago. By the time we got done with it we had bottle-aged blackberry port, which I let sit for 20 years before finishing off the last of it. At which point I wished we had bottled at least another 5 gallons of it.

Julian - just bring over a couple of hot babes some night and we can have a "wine tasting" at my place. :D

:beer:

[CPopdan]

I always thought that the best wine came in those neat cardboard boxes:D


Chris Popdan

[BC]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude

I have a rack that holds72 bottles, and it is full. Which is not good as the 2002 Washington wines are being released and 2002 was a fantastic year.


Harvey:

Try this vineyard out of the Walla Walla valley:

www.springvalleyvineyard.com

A friend of mine runs it with his family. They had been growing grapes for other wine producers for years, and a few years ago decided to start making their own - and have had excellent results! I keep forgetting to order a case from him. I think I'll do that in a couple minutes now that I think about it.

[Shitoryu Dude]

I've seen some of their stuff in the wine shops - I'll pick up a bottle next time.

:beer:

[Exorcist_Fist]

I'm experimenting with infusing vodka right now. My current boss is a pepper nut, and has 20 varieties of pepper in his yard. The first minor experiment came out damn hot.

I'm more of a sipping vodka fan, when it comes down to it.

[sneo]

There is actually a device to do this, a plastic tube with three prongs at the end to grip on the cork. I have one that came with the corkscrew.

Or try this url with instructions on using a napkin remove the cork:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr2002/1019487190.Ot.r.html


Soon Neo

[Julian Gerhart]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude

Julian - just bring over a couple of hot babes some night and we can have a "wine tasting" at my place. :D
I'm not in seattle anymore though. How about mailing me some?

[Shitoryu Dude]

And violate how may state and federal laws?

Where are you going to college at?

:beer:

[Julian Gerhart]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude
And violate how may state and federal laws?

Where are you going to college at?

:beer: What laws? you'd mail the alcohol to my 21 year old friend for his private consumption. I'm going to college at evergreen

[Iain]

Originally posted by Bambi
i'll bear this in mind the next time I'm cracking open a bottle of buckfast, the king of "wines". :D or f****dfast as its locally known

You drink that stuff? Jesus... I used to go to the boarding-school attached to the monastery where they concoct that devil-juice. We got a letter from Glasgow City Council asking us to start shipping it in plastic bottles, as the broken glass was making such an awful mess.

'Fortified wine' they used to call it. 'Fortified' with what? Squirrel piss and paint thinner?

The real killer was they sold it as some sort of high-end gourmet drink locally, and shipped crates of it up North to be consumed by derelicts living in alleys. Not to suggest anything of the kind about your most august person... really though, I thought only sick people drank that stuff.

[Bambi]

he he I drank a fair bit of it as a kid, but i generally avoid it (and most wines) these days...with the occasional relapses :o

[Iain]

Well, I offer you and your liver a thankyou for helping put me through 4 years of school!

[Bambi]

hey no problem, the good monks of Buckfast Abbey helped me get through school too :D

[Shitoryu Dude]

Sound like the original marketing plan for MD 20/20 - or "Mad Dog" as it became known.

It was originally marketed as a high-end dinner wine even though it was dirt cheap and cut with pure grain alcohol.

Nasty crap.

:beer:

[tb055]

We got a letter from Glasgow City Council asking us to start shipping it in plastic bottles, as the broken glass was making such an awful mess. I'm originally from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, part of the 'Buckfast Triangle' (Glasgow, Airdrie/Coatbridge, Motherwell) where the majority of Buckfast is consumed. I remember well the pleas of the local councils for the introduction of plastic bottles. However, broken glass wasn't the real issue, the effects of the wine, and the empty bottle were the problem. Getting 'tanned wi' a Buckie boatle' was an ever present threat where I grew up. :)

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/print/news/5018035.shtml

I'll have a bottle of 'wreck the hoose juice please' :)

[Krusse]

Originally posted by Shitoryu Dude
Don't push the cork into the bottle - it is a sin. If you are going to drink wine, get the proper tools:

Screwpull cork remover
drip collar
foil cutter
decanter
bottle coaster
bottle stoppers

:beer:

Swiss Army Knife is a good all around tool:
http://www.globetrotter.de/jpg_prod/v/vi04052-.jpg

Is almost perfect for opening corked bottles of wine in style (and repairing shinais, opening painfull blisters, opening canned food .. etc.)

[Matt Molloy]

Originally posted by CPopdan
I always thought that the best wine came in those neat cardboard boxes:D


Chris Popdan

Man the best before thing on those got me mad. It said that they could last up to three months once opened. It didn't last anywhere near three months. Didn't even last a couple of days.....What were they drinking in? Thimbles?

*Rant.*

Cheers,

Matt.

[Matt Molloy]

Originally posted by Krusse
Swiss Army Knife is a good all around tool:
http://www.globetrotter.de/jpg_prod/v/vi04052-.jpg

Is almost perfect for opening corked bottles of wine in style (and repairing shinais, opening painfull blisters, opening canned food .. etc.)

Not to mention sorting guitar strings, opening and doling out the cheese on a country wine and cheese do, constructing a handy shelter, etc.

The musician, martial artist's best friend.

Cheers,

Matt.