[Phil_M]

A while ago, I bought a Colonna capper/corker. At the time I didn't have a capper, figured might as well get one that could cork Belgian-style bottles as well.

After reviewing BYO's article on the procedure ( https://byo.com/videos/item/1886-corking-belgians ) I had a few ideas on how to improve their process. To me, the toughest part would be consistently eyeballing how much of the cork protrudes from the lip of the bottle.

So, I had a friend of mine 3D print me a spacer:





It's recessed such that it sits on the corking mechanism, and is sized so 5/8 inches of cork is exposed.





Don't have pics of the final product…phone died before I could get the pics off of it...

[reverseapachemaster]

Are you still having to pull the plate under the bottle to get the cork removed from the white guide piece?

[Phil_M]

I'm working on that next. I measured the shelf height, I'm just going to get a block of wood that size and use it in place if the plate. Could get it 3D printed too, but it would take forever to make. Gluing some boards together will work just as well.

Then instead of having to wriggle that shelf free it'll just be a simple block to remove, much like the spacer.

[Pinski]

Clever.

Are you happy with the Colonna in general?

[Phil_M]

Eh.

It's not perfect, but the price was reasonable. Aside from the tweaks I've shown here I've had to fix the arm of the mechanism. It's a metal arm that was pressed into a plastic piece that drives the press. When bottling the arm just popped out of the piece, ended up hammering it back into place as firmly as I could. Since then it's held up fine so far, but it's still a concern.

I guess my overall view is that it works, and is pretty versatile. Only real gripe is the cost, $80 is a lot of money for a plastic product that requires some fiddling to work properly.

[reverseapachemaster]

It's definitely not a perfect piece but I needed it mostly for capping 750s with 29mm caps with the occasional corking. 95% of the time I use it for capping 750s so it does its job perfectly.

I compared it against the floor corkers and it didn't make sense to opt for either model. I don't have the storage space for either and it would have added a bit of cost for the more expensive corker plus having to buy the 29mm bell. I don't use the colonna enough to have justified the added space and cost. If I corked more beer I probably would have.

[Phil_M]

I opted for it for similar reasons. Didn't have a capper at all, figured I'd just go ahead and buy one that had some growth potential.

It works. It's not perfect, but it does always get the job done.

[Pinski]

Good to know, I have a wing capper that still works but it getting a bit sticky on the caps.  Would like something with the versatility to do standard & 750ml caps and corks.

[Phil_M]

Pro tip: The scoop from the Vittles Vault I use to store my grain fits perfectly over a Sutliff pipe tobacco tin, and the resulting rig is the perfect sized spacer for a colonna capper.

Just corked 22 570ml Belgian bottles…everything worked very smoothly. Still don't think the Colonna is perfect, but it performs more than adequately.