Right I'm about to bottle my second batch of red wine. The first turned out well but the corks were a bit of a pain to get out of the bottles. They tight, brittle and extremely difficult to remove without a load of bits dropping back into the bottle.
Last time I just gave the corks a quick wash in a bowl of starsan and then bottled them with my corker. Is there something else I can do to make the corks easier to deal with or do I need better corks? I just bought a random bag of corks from one of the HBS last time.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
They sound like a lower quality cork!
However soak in hot star-san for 30 mins or so, that should well wet them out and make them easy to fit. Keep the bottles on their sides to keep the corks wet. Just before openning plunge neck of bottle into hot water (not boiling), this will expand the glass a little. Finally use a good quality corkscrew with a true spiral not one of those nasty chrome screw yoke with the 2 wings.
If all else fails but more expensive corks or the synthetic ones
I had the same problems with cork, along with some seeping out and gathering mould.
I always use synthetic corks now. They seal better and stay together. They're about the same price.
Screw caps and polyethylene corks can trap undesirable gases inside the bottle running all aroma. The second aspect of aging is oxidation process what can be stopped by hermetic cork.