suggestions on how to remove a broken cork?

[aggiesipper]

Its in my bottle of JW gold and its less than 1/5 gone.

I guess thats a bad sign for blends. :

[parvus]

I was thinking about this the other day, and one idea I had was to empty the bottle into another vessel, and set fire to the cork that is left behind. I imagine if you got it to burn long enough, it'd either fall to pieces, or you'd be able to break it up with a piece of metal or something. Then you'd need to really seriously sterilize and clean out the original bottle, and return the whisky to it.

Perhaps another way to do it would be to pour enough wet sand into the bottle so that with a little manipulation, you get the cork at the shoulder of the bottle. The sand would give you something to press the cork against, making cutting/breaking the cork easier?

My ideas are pretty far fetched, but i really can't think of another way of getting a big piece of cork out of a bottle. Compressed air perhaps?

[Deactivated Member]

Decant the whisky and lay the bottle on its side overnight, with a small dish of cork food under the open mouth of the bottle.

Or make a loop out of a coat hanger and use it to pull the cork up to where you can get a corkscrew into it, and pull it out. If you can work it out, get the coat hanger out before you do the heavy work.

(I thought the latter idea would sound less far-fetched if I gave the other idea first.)

[parvus]

I really don't think you'd be able to apply enough pressure to put a cork screw into it with your coathangery technique. I think the coaxing with food ideas is quite reasonable. Either that, or talk it out of there with reason, in a calm quiet voice.

[aggiesipper]

and everone went to work on their stocks

PS, I tried the corkscrew. It pushed it farther down the neck. So far, its still not floating.

[hpulley]

I always use a corkscrew. If that fails, your only option may be to push the cork down with a knife and pour the whisky into another bottle (or have a party and finish the thing off).

BTW, I've had broken corks only in my most expensive single malt bottlings so I don't think it was anything to do with it being a blend. I _have_ had many breakages from Diageo though so perhaps they have or had a bad cork source for a while?

Harry

[Aidan]

You could inject air through the cork, but who had this kind of equipment?

You could use one of these - http://freepatentsonline.com/5829644.html

[Di Blasi]

I would pour the remaining whisky into another container, but through a coffee filter or cheese cloth, obviously unused! This filters the cork out of the good stuff of course! And then take a dish cloth or something similar and fold and roll into itself, with a corner on top, kind of like folding a paper airplane, and then the "nose" of the plane, ie the corner of the cloth, gets folded down. It works best with a thinner restaurant napkin that has been pressed, even starched, as it retains it's form better. Then put the napkin/cloth inside the bottle and jiggle the bottle until the cork falls into the napkin, into the "nose." Pull the napkin out of the bottle, with the cork in it. It's probably not easy to understand it here, but ask your local bartender or anyone else that knows "bar tricks!"

[irishwhiskeychaser]

A long thin clean wood screw and screw driver might work better than a cork screw. You need some thing to screw into it and grip but sometimes cork screws are too crude. I have used this method on both broken whiskey and wines corks. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. Be carefull and apply as little pressues as possible while screwing, pull it slightly when you have a small grip (to tighten seal) screw a bit more and again pull etc keep doing this until the screw it totally through the cork. Once inbedded you can use pliers to pull it out hopefully. If you can't get a screw long enough tie a bit of wire around the top of a smaller screw and use the wire to pull out the screw and hopefully cork.

[Di Blasi]

Or heck aggiesipper, just break the damn bottle, easier!

[parvus]

I would pour the remaining whisky into another container, but through a coffee filter or cheese cloth, obviously unused! This filters the cork out of the good stuff of course! And then take a dish cloth or something similar and fold and roll into itself, with a corner on top, kind of like folding a paper airplane, and then the "nose" of the plane, ie the corner of the cloth, gets folded down. It works best with a thinner restaurant napkin that has been pressed, even starched, as it retains it's form better. Then put the napkin/cloth inside the bottle and jiggle the bottle until the cork falls into the napkin, into the "nose." Pull the napkin out of the bottle, with the cork in it. It's probably not easy to understand it here, but ask your local bartender or anyone else that knows "bar tricks!"

That pretty damn clever, and doesn't involve burning things or using sand. What the hell was I thinking.

I'm going to try this out some day, thanks.

[rthomson]

Depending on whether the broken cork is still in the neck and, if so, how far down it is you could use the wine bottle trick. Take a corkscrew and screw it in at an angle. If the angle is large enough the pressure will be toward the side of the bottle and won't push the cork further down. Then, push the cork screw against the top of the mouth; in this way the corkscrew is acting as a lever and the mouth of the bottle is acting as the fulcrum. Slowly press on the lever, with the pressure focused on the fulcrum, and move the cork upward.

Of course, wine corks fit in the neck much more tightly and the cork's pressure increases the effectiveness of this method.

Ron

[Lawrence]

You could always push in the cork and drink the whisky.

[rthomson]

Well, sure, but that doesn't allow us to show off any neat tricks or come up with the most unnecessarily complicated, yet elegantly technical suggestions. Now where's the fun in that?

[Lawrence]

I once saw a man pull a cork from a wine bottle with a cloth knapkin, it was quite impressive although it did take him 30 minutes or so. Happily I didn't bet against him.

[Deactivated Member]

iwc, I think that's the first really good screw I've seen in this forum.

[Jan]

iwc, I think that's the first really good screw I've seen in this forum.

That's a cheap one TH

[Jan]

I think most suggestions is perhaps overly complex, allthough quite inventive

Would'nt the simplest solution be to remove the whisky to another container - let the cork dry over night and the use something long and sharp (screwdriver, thin knife, etc.) to break the cork into smaller pieces and then let gravity do its trick ?

Chers
Jan

[Deactivated Member]

iwc, I think that's the first really good screw I've seen in this forum.

That's a cheap one TH

Yeah...if I had any shame, I would feel it now.

[Lawrence]

Would'nt the simplest solution be to remove the whisky to another container

I think I suggested that!

[Aidan]

Aidan,

if I am correct, such an item was featured in "Diamonds are forever" in the final scene on the ship, by the "waiter" Mr. Wint to open a bottle of claret.

If it wasn't, it should have been.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

iwc, I think that's the first really good screw I've seen in this forum.

You should of seen her friend

[Muskrat Portage]

Aggiesipper:
I had a thought last night (Down! Tattie', down!) that may help. There's a type of "cork screw" that has two thin metal prongs that slide down the sides of the bottle between the cork and the glass. The handle is then given a slight twist and the cork pulls out smoothly. I've only seen them in retaurants, but may do the trick. ( Either that or some complex Achimedian screw arrangement).
Musky Pete

[Deactivated Member]

I've never been able to figure out how to use those! Wouldn't it just push the cork into the bottle in this case?

[Muskrat Portage]

Mr. T.:
Yeah I would have initially though so, but nothing ventured nothing gained. When using this type of cork screw on wine bottles, the corks seem to flare out and (due to the back pressure, I assume) don't get shoved down. So it would be worth the risk, wouldn't it?

I had a cork break off on one of my bottles last month and I was able to use a regular corkscrew carefully to remove the remains. Luckily enough of the top half was left to recork the bottle. Musky Pete

[Lawrence]

When using this type of cork screw

Since Mr.T is involved in this conversation I feel obilged to point out that, technically, this device is not a cork screw.

[Muskrat Portage]

When using this type of cork screw

Since Mr.T is involved in this conversation I feel obilged to point out that, technically, this device is not a cork screw.

Quite right, Mr. Picky totally missed that one. I pondered what to call it and decided on "cork screw" simply because I don't remember what it's really called. I didn't think two pronged cork remover would do. Anyone?
Pete

[Lawrence]

I think that 'ambi-dextrous two pronged cork remover' might do the trick, either that or...... cork screw!

[Deactivated Member]

Mr Picky has been vacationing in the Eyesores.

[Jan]

Mr Picky has been vacationing in the Eyesores.

Oh – did the poor thing finally need a break to recuperate from the abuse of the English language, heaped on his frail shoulders, by us inconsiderate grammar vandals?

I actually kinda miss him – as a non-native English speaker, I found his occasional quips quite educational…

Cheers
Jan

[Deactivated Member]

Mr Picky thanks you, Jan.

For those not familiar, the Eyesores are a group of islands off the coast of Spine.

[Lawrence]

Jan, don't encourage him, let him have his vacation in peace. Technically, the eyesores are (way) off the coast of Portugal.

[Deactivated Member]

He'd have told me that if he'd been here....

[aggiesipper]

managed to get it out on the third try - took about 3 mins..
thanks


I also tried the JW blue from a collectors 200ml set. I think the gold blows the blue away. I thought the blue was kind of bland really. Not much for the nose.[/b]

[MGillespie]

Aren't the Eyesores in the Southern Hemisphere?

Mark