[krustybb]

A friend gave me a bunch of chimay style bottles that were corked origionally. I do not want buy a corker. Guy at my brew store has some plastic champagne stoppers and wire cages he said might work. What do you all think. Can I use these?

[Jimmy K]

I've used them - they work fine, seem to hold pressure, and they sure are easy to insert.

[jamminbrew]

You"ll be fine with the plastic corks, especially if you use the wire ties. I use the Chimay type bottles frequently.  I did, however, buy a cheap corker for 25$. About the same as I paid for plastic corks, cages, and a wire puller...

[euge]

You can push these type corks in by hand or does one need a rubber mallet to wack them in?

[Jimmy K]

I would not use the plastic corks without wire ties.  There is very little friction between the plastic cork and glass bottle and I've had them shoot off once the wire tie was removed.

These are easily pushed in by hand.

[krustybb]

Thanks fr all the info. Great now I can save time and money.

[narvin]

Bring a Chimay bottle to the store and check the fit before you buy.  The opening size on Belgian bottles seem to vary, but they are always a little bit bigger than champange bottles.  I tried the plastic champagne corks once and they were too loose to fit the bottles I had.

[dbarber]

Bring a Chimay bottle to the store and check the fit before you buy.  The opening size on Belgian bottles seem to vary, but they are always a little bit bigger than champange bottles.  I tried the plastic champagne corks once and they were too loose to fit the bottles I had.

+1.  I've used the plastic corks before and only about 1/2 the bottles held carbonation.

[krustybb]

Okay I bought wire ties and some plastic\real crok hybrid things. We will see how it works. It seemed to have tight fit when I brought the bottle to the store. I will try just a couple with this batch and see how it goes.

[snowtiger87]

"plastic\real crok hybrid things"

What are these? Are you talking about the plastic champagne corks or something else? The reason I ask is that I noticed some Belgian brewers are now using a synthetic cork on thier bottles. I got in touch with the manufacturer and they said they were not importing to the US yet. Maybe they have started.

A warning on the plastic champagne corks. I used them when I first started bottle conditioning Belgian beer. Over half the bottles ended up with no carbonation even though I could see krausen had gotten up into the corks. On further inspection I noticed tiny cracks in the corks that did not have carbonation.

[snowtiger87]

Bump.

I still would like to know about those rubber/hybrid corks.