9 replies to this topic

[Thirsty]

I have a lambic in a primary that has been there for 21 months, I think it may be time to do something with it soon. So I plan on blending it with a low profile wheat that I will overfruit with raspberries. This should make a nice blended framboise. When done I will have 11 gallons of it, so I was planning on kegging all of it, then bottlegunning 1 whole keg into champagne and belgian bottles and traditionally corking them, then using the other keg to fill a case or so of regular bottles for comps and samples, then drink the remaining 1/2 keg left. So I am contemplating whether to drop the dough on a Ferrari corker, or go with the Colonna corker. Seems that the Ferrari truly has lifetime quality, but I have heard even with the capper housing it is not great for everyday capping, making it a really nice piece of equipt I may use once a year if that. The colonna seems up to multiple tasks, but is the quality sufficient? Does anyone have any testimonials with either or both of these?

[strangebrewer]

Funny, I just bottled, corked, and caged my Belgian quad on Monday night. I use a Portuguese floor corker to do the job. I already own 2 bench cappers in addition to my floor corker so I couldn't justify the Ferrari, at least not the variety that puts closures on bottles .All I do is slip a #6.5 stopper (skinnier side up) over the plunger on the floor corker and set the depth to around the middle. Set that way the stopper acts as a rubbery stop and it will plunge the cork 50-60% of the way into a Belgian bottle. The only issue I've ever had is sometimes the bottom of the iris will catch the bit of the cork that is still sticking up. I use a dowel rod to push the cork the rest of the way through while pulling down gently on the bottle. For twisting the cages I highly recommend getting the proper tool. There is a reason that tool exists!

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

Funny, I just bottled, corked, and caged my Belgian quad on Monday night. I use a Portuguese floor corker to do the job. I already own 2 bench cappers in addition to my floor corker so I couldn't justify the Ferrari, at least not the variety that puts closures on bottles .All I do is slip a #6.5 stopper (skinnier side up) over the plunger on the floor corker and set the depth to around the middle. Set that way the stopper acts as a rubbery stop and it will plunge the cork 50-60% of the way into a Belgian bottle. The only issue I've ever had is sometimes the bottom of the iris will catch the bit of the cork that is still sticking up. I use a dowel rod to push the cork the rest of the way through while pulling down gently on the bottle. For twisting the cages I highly recommend getting the proper tool. There is a reason that tool exists!

Genius!!! I set my floor corker to the shallowest level, but it still pushes the cork to deep.

[Thirsty]

Sounds like I will order the Colonna. A believe in quality multi taskers.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I have a lambic in a primary that has been there for 21 months, I think it may be time to do something with it soon. So I plan on blending it with a low profile wheat that I will overfruit with raspberries. This should make a nice blended framboise. When done I will have 11 gallons of it, so I was planning on kegging all of it, then bottlegunning 1 whole keg into champagne and belgian bottles and traditionally corking them, then using the other keg to fill a case or so of regular bottles for comps and samples, then drink the remaining 1/2 keg left. So I am contemplating whether to drop the dough on a Ferrari corker, or go with the Colonna corker. Seems that the Ferrari truly has lifetime quality, but I have heard even with the capper housing it is not great for everyday capping, making it a really nice piece of equipt I may use once a year if that. The colonna seems up to multiple tasks, but is the quality sufficient? Does anyone have any testimonials with either or both of these?

I wouldn't keg the half going into champagne bottles. I'd bottle condition them, shooting for 3+ volumes.

[Thirsty]

I wouldn't keg the half going into champagne bottles. I'd bottle condition them, shooting for 3+ volumes.

I pretty much do that, I use my keg as a bottling bucket, add my sugar, and use the bottlegun to fill my bottles. This gives me a closed system that I can purge with CO2, and purge my bottles as well as I fill.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I pretty much do that, I use my keg as a bottling bucket, add my sugar, and use the bottlegun to fill my bottles. This gives me a closed system that I can purge with CO2, and purge my bottles as well as I fill.

Cool. The 2 biggest flaws I see in homebrewed belgian styles are under carbonation and too sweet. I should start doing it your way, but I figure the yeast will take up any O2 introduced during bottling.

[Thirsty]

but I figure the yeast will take up any O2 introduced during bottling.

I dont necessarilly know this to be true. Yeast are not in an aerobic stage at that point, and will not consume O2, (I think, but could be completely wrong here!?)Got the colonna in today and just bench mounted it. It is awesome, and can cap my champagne bottles too! So those of you who do cork, do you soak your corks first? I got the Belgian style corks from NB, they are a good quality, just wasnt sure if I was supposed to soak or oil them first.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I dont necessarilly know this to be true. Yeast are not in an aerobic stage at that point, and will not consume O2, (I think, but could be completely wrong here!?)Got the colonna in today and just bench mounted it. It is awesome, and can cap my champagne bottles too! So those of you who do cork, do you soak your corks first? I got the Belgian style corks from NB, they are a good quality, just wasnt sure if I was supposed to soak or oil them first.

I pitch fresh yeast when bottling belgians, so for me it is a new fermentation. The yeast will pick up the O2 before eating the priming sugar.I toss the corks in some starsan before corking.

[MtnBrewer]

I pitch fresh yeast when bottling belgians, so for me it is a new fermentation. The yeast will pick up the O2 before eating the priming sugar.I toss the corks in some starsan before corking.

+1 to all of the above.