Hey, I have a few Belgian style bottles kickin’ around since I’ve recently fell in love with Allagash Beer. I’d love to re-use them, but I don’t have a corker, and I figured it would be easier to put a flip-top wire bale on it. would that work?
any input would be appreciated
I think it would be too much trouble. The corks are generally the wrong size for the ordinary (cheap) corkers. You might be able the find the corker and corks online but they are prob pricey. Putting bales on seems a hastle, but if thats your thing…
Just get a corker, man.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/hood ... 60-ct.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cork ... 30-ct.html
Get a floor corker or a Colonna Caper/Corker and you’re good to go. You could also try the plastic champagne corks, but they may not work as well.
I bought a Colona Corker a few months back and just corked and caged a batch of the Number 8. I found it to be fun, and really not that hard at all. I followed the article that was in BYO and it was a breeze once I did a few. Once I get my hands on more bottles I will probably do another batch, maybe a Golden Strong.
Plastic Cork and Cage works for me when I want to bottle using one of these. I’ve used it for bottle conditioned as well as precarbonated beer.
is it really necessary to cork a belgian? looking at just the cost of buying the wire cages, and corks, you’re talking $20 from our host (not to mention the $7.99 shipping)…seems a bit absurd…in my infantile brewing days, I made a tripel and bottled in regular bottles, with no issues, so I am assuming it’s more just a presentation issue???
Just a presentation issue. But, considering a good 750mL bottle of belgian-style ale runs about $10-$14 each commercially, for some folks, it’s worth it to give that extra touch to the homebrew considering the substantial savings.
