joes anceint orange variation update and a bottling question

Congratulations,

I hope the mead is what you were expecting.

Sounds like you're using a hand corker, is that right? I've seen this with hand corkers pretty often, but not with floor corkers. It's really best for the cork to be completly seated, but if you keep them upright they should be fine. I've seen bottles leak slowly over time when the corks aren't completely seated (for that matter I've seen corks that were fully seated leak too but not nearly as many)

If you're using a floor corker, you'll just need to adjust the driving pin down a bit to drive the cork in further.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

I've had the same problem with the hand corker I use, sometimes about 1/4 an inch or more of the cork sticks out of the bottle. I've been able to prevent this by squeezing the cork in the corker two or three times before corking the bottle. The corker I'm using is one of the red plastic types bought at the local HBS. I've also been able to "grab" the cork that is sticking out and push it in with the corker, took a lot of pratice to be able to do that though.

Yeah those hand corkers are ok in a pinch, but I really prefer a floor corker because they're just so pickin' easy to use and reliable as hell. I have two now, but used to have a third one for my champagne bottles that finally grenaded it was so old. So now I get a production line going with my friends, I fill the bottles from my Enolmatic, and they cork them up.

Cheers,

Oskaar