Old bag of corks, salvagable or firestarters?

[Goofynewfie]

a friend of mine quit wine making about 10 years ago. the other day he was going through his basement and found an open bag with a few hundred corks in it but they are dried out. is there anything I can do to make them usable? when I corked a couple bottles they would not go in all the way and then when I pulled them out with the corkscrew they disentigrated.

 

[saramc]

Do not use them in your wines. They are dry dry dry and will crumble into pieces. Perhaps make a corkboard, some trivets, list them on eBay/Craigslist as project quality only, not for bottle use.

 

[jhoson]

Since a question about corks was raised, it got me curious.

How much "life time" does a unused cork in the open bag have? Even better, is there a way to prolong this? A right way to store it and such?

 

[Yooper]

Since a question about corks was raised, it got me curious.

How much "life time" does a unused cork in the open bag have? Even better, is there a way to prolong this? A right way to store it and such?

If they are hard, they are no longer usable, so storing them in a cool dry place in a plastic bag so they don't dry out would be a good way to store them.

 

[hmillard]

Bin them.even if they were still good, cork in a haven for all sorts of nasty microbes.