Questions after first time bottling with wine bottles / corks

[andrewmaixner]

So I did a 1gal wine kit last year, bottled n beer bottles, just to try it. It was ok, so I bought and made an expensive 6gal kit of winexpert eclipse lodi zinfandel, let it age for 7 months, and bottled it today.

It is very good, so I am happy with that.

I had some equipment problems, though:

1) my beer bottling wand did not work in wine bottles, due to the huge hump in the bottom preventing me from depressing the "go" button at the bottom. I ended up detaching the wand and just moving each bottle above/below the liquid level in the carboy to fill it.
What is a better method / tool?

2) the Double Lever Corker I got made a mess of the top of my corks, which were aggregate center with a top and bottom plug of solid cork (the best ones my local HB store had). I believe it's purely a cosmetic issue, but I am annoyed.
The plunger is not as wide as the cork, but the cork and plunger must be forced through the shaping cone in order to fit within the bottle, so the top gets messed up and looks indented, has edges torn off, etc.
What is the solution to this annoyance?

 

[WI_Wino]

Flat bottom bottles are easier but I've used the spring loaded bottle fillers on punted bottles many times. Just takes a little practice to get it in the right spot.

I never had good luck with the hand corkers. I struggled with them for years until I bought a floor corker. Probably my best wine making investment. Some LHBS rent them out. Otherwise the Portuguese floor corkers are cheaper than the large Italian corkers but still have a good rep.

 

[JJack887]

You're stuck with indentation with hand corkers. I've never had a problem with mine, and I put PVC foil over my bottles so you can't even see the corks. I recommend buying a floor corker if you're doing big batches. Hand corkers are fine, though, in my opinion.