Pushmepullyou

[Tom Archer]

No, this is nothing to do with Dr Doolittle, but the little matter of getting corks out of old bottles.

For reasons I have never been quite clear about, old vintage port bottles (and to a lesser extent, new ones) have waisted necks.

The problem is that when the corks, through age, begin to lose their integrity; this waist provides a weak spot that ensures the almost universal breakage of corks that are over 50 years old.

This is not the end of the world if the bottle is to be decanted, but it makes re-corking a messy exercise.

Pushing the cork out by injecting gas into the bottle has been tried, but is problematic. The commercial device sold as 'Cork Pops' has three drawbacks:

1) There is no control over the pressure. This device appears to be capable of generating a pressure in excess of 100 psi, as that would seem necessary to lift young tight wine corks; but as Roy once found to his cost, that can be too much for an old bottle to withstand.

2) Pushing a needle into an old cork can easily result in the cork dropping into the bottle.

3) As the cork is lifted, there is nothing holding it together against the gas pressure, resulting (as I found when I tried) in the cork fragmenting lengthways, and being shot across the room by the escaping gas.

I have therefore been experimenting with a 'hybrid' solution.

In the first instance, I carefully insert a Screwpull into the cork, taking care not to exert much downward pressure, proceeding until the corkscrew is fully inserted, but stopping before it goes into its lift phase.

I have then inserted a modified 14 gauge 3.25" veterinary needle through the cork, avoiding a collision with the screwpull's spiral.

Although some needles are made with a side hole rather than one at the end, I have not been able to source such a needle that is both long enough and robust enough. The needle that comes with the 'Cork Pops' has a non-standard fitting, unfortunately.

Pushing an ordinary needle through an old cork results in the canal becoming blocked by a core of cork. To combat this, I have used a small file to make a side aperture, and then pinched the needle with pliers to stop cork travelling up from the end.

Medical needles are normally terminated with what is known as a Luer lock, but an adaptor is obtainable so that a gas line can be attached.

For a gas supply, I have obtained a cylinder of pure Nitrogen, with a regulator that allows me to inflict up to 30 psi on the underside of the cork; pushing the cork up as the screwpull pulls.

Still early days, but initial experiments are looking promising.

When the gas is first applied, a little escaping gas can usually be heard passing the cork, but as the lift begins, the cork's flared base reseals the bottle. When the cork is finally removed, the escaping gas blows any part of the cork minded to detach, clear of the bottle.

Experiments to date have been with '63 and '55 bottles. Now I have a fresh supply of corks, I will attempt a re-corking exercise on a Martinez '27.

Will report later!

Tom

[Todd Pettinger]

Pushing an ordinary needle through an old cork results in the canal becoming blocked by a core of cork. To combat this, I have used a small file to make a side aperture, and then pinched the needle with pliers to stop cork travelling up from the end.

I am not sure if they sell these in the UK, but over here we have syringes with pretty decent sized gauge needles that are used for the BarBQ. I use one myself to inject a mixture of melted butter, seasonings and in some recipes, beer or wine into things like beef roasts, whole chickens, turkey, etc. It does have a side hole, so this would eliminate the cork being pushed into the needle itself (too much, I imagine that a small bit might get in there.)

The only hesitation would be the size or gauge of the needle, which is quite thick. Perhaps TOO thick.

Medical needles are normally terminated with what is known as a Luer lock, but an adaptor is obtainable so that a gas line can be attached.

This may present the second problem. I would imagine that these "BarBQ" needles would not included a standard attachment, perhaps for patent reasons, perhaps so their product is not used in any sort of way in which they could become liable because they provided a quick and easy connection to another type of syringe.

If you are interested Tom, I can send you a picture of mine and source one locally for you if you cannot find them around your neck of the woods. Let me know.

In any case, good luck with the Martinez '27. I remember when you first posed this conundrum on the forum, a year or so ago. Good to see that you have had some success in your endeavour and thanks for updating us on your progress. It's nice to see this type of follow-up.

Todd

[Moses Botbol]

Meat Injector needles are too thick.

An ideal would be a hollow worm that injects the gas while pulling the cork out.

[Andy Velebil]

Would Argon be a better gas to use. Isn't Argon what most wineries use to displace oxygen in bottles??

[Glenn E.]

Argon would be better because it's a noble gas, but Nitrogen is cheaper and easier to obtain. If I had to guess I suspect that Nitrogen is probably pretty close to inert with respect to Port, considering that it makes up 70% of the atmosphere.

[Frederick Blais]

Interesting Tom, good luck with your experimentations. I do hope one day you'll come up with a friendly user system for all of us to use!

[Johannes Stadler]

Hi everyone,

the reactivity of Argon and Nitrogen is simmilarly low (more or less nothing will do anything with those two at room temperature).
The most likely resaon when replacing Oxygen in bottles to use Argon is the density. Unlike Nitrogen, Argon is heavier than the surrounding air and can thus be nicely filled from the surface of the liquid upwards displacing the ramining Air in the bottle. With Nitrogen you face the Problem that Nitrogen will flow out of you bottle. this results in turbulences and you cannot be as sure that ALL the oxygen is out of the bottle.

By the way, I like the idea of the combination of pushing and pulling on a cork simultaneously.

Greetings, Johannes

[Roy Hersh]

I am loving this thread and thank Tom for inventing it. Great reading and I am chuckling to myself thinking, 'imagine what a non-wine drinker would think of our level of nerdy-ness.'

I just wish Tom did not have to remind me of that 1908 Sandeman experience with the bottle exploding in my face, only to find out it was corked ... after saving about 375 mls for a prodigious tasting.

[Andy Velebil]

Roy,
At least you didn't waste all that "good" juice...it was already ruined the day it left the bottling line (or should I say "mallet line")

[Tom Archer]

Nitrogen is an inert gas at room temperatures, and is much cheaper than Argon. Cork Pops uses CO2, which both dissolves in, and reacts with, water. Although this is probably not a major concern, Nitrogen would seem the most sensible gas to use, and is available cheaply at a very high purity.

The re-corking of the '27 was not a complete success. The bottle had, rather unusally, a pitch capsule rather than a wax one, which was very hard to remove. Beneath, the cork had acquired the consistency of Christmas cake, and the lower part of the cork was well stuck to the glass of the bottle. The cork lifted leaving a ring of cork attached to the glass.

However, I did eventually manage to remove all but a small fragment without it falling in the wine.

I realise that an essential tool for these operations is a long pair of tweezers to recover odd bits of cork from the drink. I have found a pair of 12" tweezers, and they are now in the post.

- How did we manage to find obscure bits and pieces before eBay?

Tom

[JacobH]

Tom, I hope some of these experiments will be filmed and posted on YouTube or the like! If I remember correctly, the explosion of the kind encountered by Roy is not unique and they had to remove the CO2-powered models from a few markets.

[Tom Archer]

I hope some of these experiments will be filmed and posted on YouTube or the like!

If someone who has a decent camera, and knows how to upload to YouTube, would like to drop round to my house, I'll demonstrate the whole process.

I might even tidy the kitchen first...

Tom

[Alan Gardner]

I regularly am faced with this problem and have refined a technique that 'almost always' works. The occasional failure has only come when the outside of the cork has stuck to the inside of the bottle and the cork shears vertically (very unusual).
The theory is to get as much contact between the screw and the cork itself - and as widely distributed as possible within the cork. This means (if possible) using a screw with a flat upper edge (rather than the cylindrical worm, where the pressure is applied at a round edge). However this is secondary to using two worms - which gives double the contact (i.e. only half the pressure on any part of the cork). In theory one could use even more worms but I've always found two suffice.
Also the worm MUST go through the entire cork (otherwise you risk a horizontal shear at the bottom of the worm).
So much for the theory - here's how it works in practice. I use the 'pocket' version of the Screwpull (or similar corkscrew). This has 3 pieces - the worm, the support bracket and the twist arm - it works by slotting the arm over the screw (there's a square head) and just rotating the arm. If you discard the bracket completely, it's relatively easy to drive the screw (coated with teflon) into the cork - and the Screwpull has a very long worm (incidentally the tighter the worm (shorter distance between consecutive twists), the more contact you'll get. Be sure to place the worm toward one side of the cork and as vertical as possible (reduces shearing). Now take a second pocket Screwpull; use only the worm and repeat on the other side of the cork. You now have two worms side-by-side through the cork (and theoretically you can use additional worms if necessary). I try and get both worms as 'level' as possible at the top which means hand twisting the last bit as the arm is blocked by the first screw (hence the advantage of teflon coated screw). I now have as much contact between the cork and screws as is possible.
BUT I've now lost the advantage of leverage - all I have is two screws, so brute strength is now brought into play! After much experimentation here's the technique I use.
The bottle is placed on the floor between my feet (which serves to stabilize the bottle upright ). Taking a damp J-cloth I grasp the top of the two screws (with one hand - the other helps stabilize the bottle) and twist gently while pulling as hard as reasonably possible (in that unflattering position). The J-cloth protects my palms from any sharp edges and provides more grip when damp. My estimate is that 90%+ of corks are removed intact with, at most, a small 'booger' of cork falling into the wine. I also tend to remove 'quickly' rather than in slow motion (although always use a rotating motion) - not sure why ("impulse" springs to mind from my student days) but a fast pull seems to work more successfully.
In most cases the retrieved cork is still intact to aid in reading any printing - although occasionally it tears apart (despite being removed in one motion).

I've just re-read the above - it seems far more complicated than it really is - essentially I'm just using a double-corkscrew which I then use to jerk the cork out!
Try it on any bottle once and report back how it works for you.