Bottle Cork Sizes

[klickcue]

I know that some of you bottle wine and beer with cork.

Information from this page:
http://www.stpats.com/winesupp.htm

Corks for Belgian-style ales. 23.5 mm fits American champagne bottle with 16.5 mm opening. (This bottle will accept a standard 26 mm American crown.) 25.5 mm fits bottle with 18.5 mm opening. For example, Duvel, Chimay, Unibroue bottles. To be sure, measure the bottle opening with calipers.
~16-19 mm of cork should be left outside the bottle.

As a rule of thumb, the cork should be 6 mm larger than the bottle opening for still wine, 7 mm for beer and low carbonation wines, and even larger for champagne. Of course, there are many variations due to non-straight bottle necks.

Important Information for Natural Cork Use
1. Store corks at ~70 F for at least 24 hours before use.
2. Bottles should be left upright at ~70 F for a minimum of 2 hours after corking.
3. Fill level. There should be 15 mm of headspace between the bottom of the cork and the wine.
4. Do not moisten (soak) or heat these corks before use. They have surface treatment for easy corking and soaking removes the coating.
5. Bottling temperature should not exceed 60° C.
6. Internal bottle neck diameter should be minimum of 6 mm less than cork diameter for still wine, 7 mm for sparkling wine up to 1.5 bar pressure (21.75 psi).
A cork is compressed a great deal during corking. For example, a 24 mm diameter cork is compressed to 16 mm (and then expands to 18 mm, the diameter of the opening in the bottle). The bottle is sealed tightly as the cork relaxes from this compression. The relaxation does not happen instantly---it typically takes about 3 hours to reach 95% expansion and up to 24 hours for full expansion in the neck of the bottle. If the cork is cold, the cork looses its elasticity and will not relax properly. If you lay a bottle down before the cork has fully expanded, wine can fill the space between the cork and the bottle, causing a poor seal including possibly leakage.

[Blktre]

Excellent post Chris! Thanks!!