Bench Corkers/Floor Corkers

I'm looking to get a corker soon too and am wondering whether to risk getting the cheap Collonna or spend twice as much on one that looks a little sturdier. The Collonna looks like it's all plastic but I've heard they work ok. Opinions?

 

You might want to consider a corker/capper. I want to cork some of my Brett and other beers.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/colonna-capper-corker.html

 

i have a metal and plastic corker, its called a wing corker. you know the kind. the handles and the rod are metal. the housing is plastic. works fine. the only problem is that sometimes the bottle slips on its side as you press down. there is nothing holding the bottle in place except the force of the weight pushing down. if you lean too much to one side it slips and hard. you can adjust the depth with a screw. it will take a few different widths of cork but i always use the same bottles and same size corks. it leaves a fine dimple on top of the cork

to reference, i somehow ended up with an all plastic wing bottle capper. plastic handles, and they bend like a mother. i imagine a corker with plastic handles would be all but useless. (it's yours if you want it).

i cork maybe 50 bottles a year, mostly cider in the fall. i have no interest in getting anything else, and would probably buy the same one again if i had too. never used a floor corker, but it doesn't look i need one.

cheap syntethic corks look crappy. real corks are kind of expensive. i have been using quality synthetic as they are a fine compromise for me. real cork is a nice show, that's it. i'm not trying to impress anyone. the synthetic corks pull out fine, and have the advantage of not leaving any cork worms in the glass.

 

I have a Portuguese floor corker and wish I would have bought this one

http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB6435&variation=

its a bit more than the portuguese one, but will cork magnums..........as far as corks go, I would use the real ones.........Williams brewing seems to sell them for the best price.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BELGIAN-ALE-BOTTLE-CORKS-30-P2146.aspx

I may order the above corker after I post this.....thats the best price I've seen in a while

cheers

 

My old brewing buddy had the collona and it worked fine for corks. It was a bit of a pain but once you got used to the quirks it seemed to do a good job. It doesn't work well for capping and by design massively dents the caps.

I have no experience with the nicer ones but if you plan to cork a lot I would say go for those.

 

We have the Portuguese corker, which as Ventura eluded to, does not do the Belgian corks so smoothly. Because a portion of the cork needs to stick out of the top of a bottle, even with a rubber stopper in place, they get stuck and we usually have to pull and push with the blunt end of a screwdriver to get that last bit of cork out. Other than that, it still goes quick enough.

I'd say however, go with the Italian version if you don't mind spending more (or whichever one best handles the champagne/belgian type corks).

 

This actually looks like it has potential... see this:
http://www.slobrewer.com/howto/corking-belgians/

 

Overall I have good luck with the corks, when one does get stuck I use a pair of pliers, or if it breaks a corkscrew helps.

 

I agree, it's certainly not enough inconvenience to buy a different one. Plus, we keg most of the time.