Does anyone else notice their corks break or get stuck after 6 months or more in the bottle? After about 6 months my corks seem to break when I try to open them and I end up using a cork screw to remove them. This never seems to happen to bottles I buy with corks, even if they are older bottles. The only thing I do before corking is to dip them in starsan solution. Could that be causing the problem? Does anyone know the commercial corked beer process? ie do they cork dry? do they use starsan? etc?
I soak my corks in starsan and have never had one break. I use these guys: Pretty much the generic beer cork. I've left them in as long as 18 months without a problem.
In my cork experience, (wine only), there are different sizes or gauges of corks. I picked up the biggest gauge cork I could find. (9?). I didn't want any leaks. I come to find out that I can't recap any of my wine after I open it. I guess that's what the mason jars are for. Maybe there are different sized corks for what you are doing and you can downsize to take the stress off the cork.
I use these http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...closures/corks-for-belgian-beer-bottles-30-ct they don't seem to have a size. and I use the standard brown cork bottles. Do you guys store bottles on their side or standing up? I was thinking maybe my corks are drying too much?
I believe your link'ed corks are what is generic for Belgian 750/375 bottles. I've used different suppliers, but it looks like all of my corks have the "ref" stamped on the side (see photo). Bottles are stored vertically.
