The ultimate corkscrew

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Fri May 12, 2006 5:04 pm

Thinking about the corkscrews that I've owned and seen, all were designed around one or more of four objectives:

- Cheap

- Stylish

- Quick

- Effortless

However, studying t the decayed remains of an old cork, and considering the physics of successfully removing such a cork from the neck of a bottle in one piece, I realise that quite a radical new design is needed to produce the ultimate corkscrew for ancient bottles.

But before I start spending money on this project - are there any clever gadgets out there that have beaten me to it?

Tom

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:41 am

One technique that I found successful on a few occasions, was to drill a hole in the cork with a drill before inserting the corkscrew.

You can see a picture there :http://www.frederickblais.com/virtual_tasting/drill.jpg

It is very effective because you can work on the cork without putting any real pressure on it, something you can't do with regular corkscrew.

Another invention I saw last year, was as gas system. You insert a needle trough the cork, then you put gas between the liquid and the cork, with the pressure the cork will get off the bottle. I have never tried it though.

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sat May 13, 2006 12:10 pm

Fred,

I remember the gas type from the 70's, but haven't seen one since.

I imagine there's a possibility that the bottle might explode - which would be manna for the lawyers..

Aside from completely re-engineering the conventional corkscrew, I'm going to try a simple experiment using a liquid nitrogen canister, of the type used by plumbers to freeze pipes.

My theory is that if I sink a corkscrew into a cork that offers little resistance, is clearly decayed, and therefore likely to fail, I will leave the corkscrew in situ and squirt the top of it with the nitrogen, where it emerges from the cork.

Metal conducts heat (and cold) very well. This stuff is so incredibly cold it will very quickly freeze the cork around the screw. A damp cloth around the neck of the bottle should make sure the cork doesn't freeze onto the glass.

The semi frozen cork should (in theory!) be easier to withdraw.

I have a Croft '55 that has a failing cork and needs to be drunk or re-corked.

As soon as I can get hold of a nitrogen canister, I will put the theory to the test.

If it fails, I will console myself with the contents of the bottle!

Will report!

Tom

jon bricken · Post by **jon bricken** » Sat May 13, 2006 12:50 pm

Fred:

My father owned on of the gas type of corkscrews.

It had a long needle to insert into the cork until it passed thru entirely, then the gas was injected using a button on the top which released it from a cartridge in the handle.

It worked well but it was more of a novelty and never really caught on.

I believe that people thought the gas would harm the wine's flavor.

I vacillate back and forth between a Rabit type and the old standard two handled variety.

I do agree with you that a better extraction method is needed.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Raj Patil · Post by **Raj Patil** » Sat May 13, 2006 1:02 pm

I love my Ah-so opener from germany for opening port. Never knew about it until this forum.

randomguy · Post by **randomguy** » Sat May 13, 2006 1:15 pm

Unfortunately, corkscrews tend to be stainless steel, which does not conduct heat well at all. Have you calculated the thermal conductivity of a corkscrew?

Second, cork is a really poor thermal conductor as well.

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:13 pm

Nitrogen boils at - 196 C, which is fantastically cold. The thermal conductivity of all metals is very high compared to cork, but even there the temperature gradient should produce the desired result within a minute or two.

The biggest potential hazards with my theory seem to be;

a) Accidental frostbite - I'll wear gloves!

and

b) Rendering the metal of the corkscrew so cold that it becomes brittle.

I plan to wrap a wet towel round the neck of the bottle immediately after squirting, and then again when I see the moisture left behind start to freeze.

Tom

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:22 pm

All I got to say is my port tongs work everytime...no more broken corks

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:33 pm

Yes, but tongs are not very useful when you want to re-cork...

Tom

Raj Patil · Post by **Raj Patil** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:00 pm

be careful not to get the glass cold enough where it would shatter under the pressure

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:03 pm

Tom, please film yourself doing this. I'd be realy curious to see how you are going to execute all this.

The problem will probably be to control the temperature. The frozen cork will probably increase in size due to the water it contain and be harder to extract. My feeling with a crumbly cork is that you are going to come out with the wick and a hole in your cork :o

About recorking, tell me you don't recork a Croft 55...

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Sun May 14, 2006 3:50 am

About recorking, tell me you don't recork a Croft 55...

The bottle is quite badly ullaged, with sugar crystals forming on the end of the cork, which is soft and slightly damp to the touch.

The cork is clearly decayed, so it's a good test bed, - if everything goes pear shaped I can always drink it!

I don't have the means to film the action, but I will describe the outcome - good or bad!

Tom

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:10 am

Tom,

Surely you can find something a bit more down-market to try this on before using a Croft 55 as a lab rat

I hope your description doesn't end with "......and it was at that point that the bottle shattered and the Croft 55 flowed onto the kitchen floor

"

Please try to borrow a mobile phone with a videa camera in it - this could be the first video clip for Roy's new TV series, FTLOP Bloopers

Good luck !

Derek

Philip Harvey · Post by **Philip Harvey** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:19 am

Fred,

How does drilling the cork before sending the corkscrew in help? After all, the drill makes a hole straight down while the corkscrew is a helix and doesn't therefore follow the drill hole.

Is the function of the hole to equalise the pressure behind the cork so that when the cork is pulled, a partial vacum (or rather a drop in pressure) doesn't form in the airspace, which would normally 'pull' the cork back?

What's the theory?

Thanks. Philip

Derek T. · Post by **Derek T.** » Mon May 15, 2006 5:36 am

Philip,

I would guess that removing some of the mass of the cork by drilling a hole would result in the cork coming under less pressure when the helix of the screw is inserted. It's much like drilling a hole before inserting a screw in wood. Although the screw is always bigger than the hole, the existence of the hole reduces the chance of the wood splitting as the bulk of the mass of the screw has a space to fill rather than making it's own hole by forcing the fibres of the wood apart.

I doubt that it has anything to do with equalising air pressure inside and outside the bottle.

As an aside, I opened a bottle of Gould Campbell 1977 at the weekend which had a fairly loose cork but had not leaked. When I inserted the corkscrew (just a normal T shaped open helix) the cork started to push down into the bottle. I managed to get the corkscrew all the way through the cork by applying upward pressure as I turned the screw. Once the screw was in the cork I then released the upward pressure and simply turned the cork in the neck a few times to release some of it's grip on the bottle. Althought the cork was very soft I managed to get it out in one piece - 8)

Derek

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:12 am

Well, I don't have Croft '55 all over the kitchen floor

I took some photos, but have no idea how to post .jpg's here - perhaps someone can tell me!

I chipped off the old wax and cleaned the top of the bottle.

I then blasted the top of the corkscrew until both it and the top of the cork was heavily frosted.

After a minute or so I breathed on the neck of the bottle, and saw ice form, so I wrapped the neck in a wet teatowel for a few seconds before pulling the cork.

Two thirds of it slid out graciously, nicely frozen, but I'd been too hasty - the bottom part remained in situ and had not frozen

I managed to tease out virtually all that remained, and immediately re-corked it. I had tried sterilsing a couple of corks in boiling water, but they swelled up so much I couldn't get them in the machine - so I used a dry cork instead.

The machine required a lot of downward force -

- and left the new cork slightly proud of the bottle - which is irritating - I don't think I did anything wrong though...

I shall now leave the bottle upright for a few days to let the cork settle before laying it down.

Tom

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:00 pm

Tom, if you want to send me the pictures by email, I can put them on my website with links to them on the forum.

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:17 pm

There you have the links for the pictures.

http://www.frederickblais.com/virtual_t ... %20001.jpg
http://www.frederickblais.com/virtual_t ... %20002.jpg
http://www.frederickblais.com/virtual_t ... %20003.jpg
http://www.frederickblais.com/virtual_t ... %20005.jpg

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:38 pm

Nice frost and buy the looks of the last pic, I would say that cork really did crumble

Tom, thanks for sharing the pics.

Fred, thanks for posting the links.

Tom,
I think your new name should be Uncle "Mad Scientist" Tom...just kidding of course

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:06 am

I don't think I have the nerves required to do what Tom has just done - thanks for the pics and the links guys. If I have any recorking that I need to have done, I will find a suitable "outsource partner".

But Tom's posting did make me think. Why are corkscrew threads all round? Surely a corkscrew would be more effective for ancient corks if the helix were made of a flat, teflon coated material.

Has anyone ever seen a corkscrew with a flat helix rather than a wire / round helix?

Alex