corks popping off

[paulturner1974]

three months ago i made up two demis of youngs wine one red one white after it had finished fermenting i did the whole finings and stablolising then left if for two months to clear with the air lock still in the demi, it cleared very nicely and the water in the air lock didnt move at all i bottled it the other day and within 24 hours all the plastic corks had poped off i put them all back on and up to now none of them have come off since. any ideas on what i did wrong or if they are likely to pop off any more? any help appreciated

[tubby_shaw]

In my experience those plastic "corks" aren't a very tight fit into the neck of the bottle. This can lead to them popping out if there was any CO2 evolved from the bulk of the wine during bottling, as stupid as it seems this effect can be exaggerated if there is a sudden change in atmospheric pressure.
But after saying all that if your stoppers have stayed put since replacing them I wouldn't worry

[Chumsky]

three months ago i made up two demis of youngs wine one red one white after it had finished fermenting i did the whole finings and stablolising then left if for two months to clear with the air lock still in the demi, it cleared very nicely and the water in the air lock didnt move at all i bottled it the other day and within 24 hours all the plastic corks had poped off i put them all back on and up to now none of them have come off since. any ideas on what i did wrong or if they are likely to pop off any more? any help appreciated

Might be worth just putting some tape over the lids? I had the same problem when I was brewing some cider, this time I'm going to crack the duck tape out.

[tubby_shaw]

three months ago i made up two demis of youngs wine one red one white after it had finished fermenting i did the whole finings and stablolising then left if for two months to clear with the air lock still in the demi, it cleared very nicely and the water in the air lock didnt move at all i bottled it the other day and within 24 hours all the plastic corks had poped off i put them all back on and up to now none of them have come off since. any ideas on what i did wrong or if they are likely to pop off any more? any help appreciated

Might be worth just putting some tape over the lids? I had the same problem when I was brewing some cider, this time I'm going to crack the duck tape out.

I might sound like a bit of a killjoy but I would rather have corks popping out than bottles exploding

[Chumsky]

three months ago i made up two demis of youngs wine one red one white after it had finished fermenting i did the whole finings and stablolising then left if for two months to clear with the air lock still in the demi, it cleared very nicely and the water in the air lock didnt move at all i bottled it the other day and within 24 hours all the plastic corks had poped off i put them all back on and up to now none of them have come off since. any ideas on what i did wrong or if they are likely to pop off any more? any help appreciated

Might be worth just putting some tape over the lids? I had the same problem when I was brewing some cider, this time I'm going to crack the duck tape out.

I might sound like a bit of a killjoy but I would rather have corks popping out than bottles exploding

Yeah, that is true, might be worth taking the lids of for a second half way through, don't know whether this would ruin it though?

[Horden Hillbilly]

Did you "de-gas" your wine? Fermented wine still has a fair amount of Co2 in it, this may have pushed your plastic corks out. To remove it, you can use a whizz stick or gently shake your demijohn.

You may also want to consider using proper corks as opposed to the plastic ones. As Tubby Shaw has pointed out, these do not always form a tight seal in the bottle, also the size of the bottle opening can also vary. A cork is squashed when forced into the bottle, if you leave your bottles standing upright for 3 days, the corks will swell back to their original size as far as they can in the bottle, ensuring a tight seal.

[paulturner1974]

could i use a whisk beater on the end of my drill (a cheaper version of this http://www.johnlewis.com/230215254/Product.aspx )
could i un-bottle it back into a demi then ariate it for a few days days then re-bottle it at a later date?

[Horden Hillbilly]

could i use a whisk beater on the end of my drill (a cheaper version of this http://www.johnlewis.com/230215254/Product.aspx )

I don't see why not as it is stainless steel. Make sure that you can get all the whisk under the wine surface though, you may aerate the wine instead of de-gassing it otherwise, that is why the whizz stick has 2 plastic flanges at the bottom of it. This ensures that the stirring action is performed under the surface of the wine, very important.

could i un-bottle it back into a demi then ariate it for a few days days then re-bottle it at a later date?

I wouldn't do so myself. If your corks are no longer popping off it is safe to assume that there is minimal Co2 remaining in your wine. I must point out though, that you are not supposed to aerate fermented wine, you will spoil the flavour.

[paulturner1974]

thanks for all that