DIY bottle caps. What can you do with wine corks? This procedure is not necessary if frequent direct impact on the object is not planned, for example with hands, water, etc.

Have you ever wondered how and from what such a common item as a wine stopper is made?

I invite you to look at an interesting photo report from a wine cork factory.

The cork appeared in the form in which we know it relatively recently, only in the 17th century, along with the appearance of the glass bottle in mass use. Before this, cork was also used, but not in such quantities. They preferred to seal the vessels with rags and pieces of wood, which over time gave the contents an unusual taste, or even spoiled it. Cork does not swell as much as wood, and when properly processed it does not spoil the taste of wine or cognac, which is important.
Cork is made from the bark of the cork oak tree, which grows only in a few countries in Europe and on the Mediterranean coast of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In other countries, cork oak practically does not grow. The largest harvest of cork bark can be obtained on Portuguese plantations.

The first time the bark is removed from an oak tree is after it is 20-25 years old. Over the next ten years it should be restored. In addition, the bark can be removed only in a certain season, when it practically peels off on its own. The rest of the time the tree can be damaged. The bark is not removed all at once, but in certain sections, so from the outside the trees appear half naked. From the bark taken from one oak tree you can get a thousand corks. The highest quality bark is considered to be taken from a 150-year-old tree. An oak tree that is more than 200 years old begins to get sick and no longer produces high-quality bark. It is uprooted and a new tree is planted in the vacant space.

This is the only tree in the world whose bark can completely regenerate. Cork oaks are marked so that they know when the next harvest can be harvested from them. For example, the number 7 means that the last time the bark was removed from this tree was in 2007.

The cut bark is sorted. The first grade is sent to a factory where they make corks for fine wines and cognacs, and the worse ones end up at a plant for the production of building insulation and noise absorbers.

Cork oak bark is dumped into huge piles right on the factory grounds. Before putting the cork into use, it is kept in the open air for several months.

First of all, the raw materials are subjected to heat treatment. The cork is boiled in a huge cauldron, and at the same time all sorts of spider bugs that managed to live in it are destroyed.

Then the bark is cut into strips, after which it is again sorted, washed, disinfected and again soaked in water.

Corks are cut out of these blanks, and the cork chips, to which a binder is added, go under the press.

Rejected corks are covered with cork dust and used for mid-priced wines. And the simplest and most widespread corks, including those for champagnes, are made from cork chips, the pieces of which are glued together with special glue. Such glued corks are also found in wine bottles of the middle and low price categories, designed for quick sale and short-term storage.

Various finishing materials are made from the remaining waste. You cannot enter the workshop from which the cork comes out already packaged without headphones and a respirator - it is very noisy and dusty here. The cork sheets come out from under the press very hot. After they have cooled, they are sent for further processing - cut into standard plates.
If you cover a room with this material, you can even walk on your head - the neighbors still won’t hear anything. Builders also love cork because, unlike plastic panels, it does not emit toxic gases in the event of a fire.
As for bottle caps, their quality used to be checked manually. Since the cork oak bark plates have different sizes and thicknesses, not all operations were trusted to automatic machines. A worker directly involved in cutting out corks pressed his foot on the machine pedal about ten thousand times a day. Now, in modern factories, electronics completely control the entire process. Of course, in such a serious production, labor safety training programs are required for workers, which ensures their safety.

The finished corks are carefully sorted. This is done by a special machine. It “scans” the surface of the cork, and depending on how many cracks and defects it detects, it directs it to one or another basket. After which it is again checked for quality. The corks are then washed, bleached to remove harmful substances, and placed in a 12% alcohol solution for 24 hours.

Solid corks are ideal for long-term storage only if the necessary conditions are met (humidity, contact of the wine with the cork). Coated corks (coated) are also suitable for storage, but not for too long. Glued and pressed corks allow wine to be stored for only a few years, after which there is a risk of spoiling the contents of the bottle.

The cork dries out, which can cause the wine to spoil due to air access. It is incorrect to store wine bottles vertically on supermarket shelves. Just a few months of vertical standing under powerful lamps in a store - and such a wine can deteriorate or greatly lose its taste.

Only natural cork allows the wine to “breathe” and, in contact with the wine, complements the bouquet in a certain way. Bottles sealed with natural cork can be stored for decades and even centuries (under special conditions). For such a long “collaboration” with cork oak, winemakers have studied all the properties of cork, and most eminent wine critics believe that natural corks not only preserve, but also improve the aroma of wine. However, there is a small percentage of defects - a natural price for “naturalness”.

Not only construction materials are made from production waste, but also bags, aprons, shoes and even umbrellas! Cork production is virtually waste-free. Besides everything else,

The cap on a Chinese thermos broke.
Only old Chinese thermoses (I have 2 of them) keep tea and coffee hot all day when traveling and they don’t taste like anything other than tea and coffee. But the cork should only be made from cork oak. There are no equals in terms of thermal conductivity. Soft enough not to break the flask when it cools when the stopper is pulled in. Unfortunately, they dry out and die, crumble. We don’t grow cork oak, otherwise I would cut it myself. And only plates made from glued cork crumbs are on sale. And it is not known what is in the plate for rubbing skis with mastic. Or in polystyrene foam, which 90% of advisers advise to cut out of instead. You can, of course, glue and coat the cork with sealant (go find some food grade) or wrap it in foil (paper-based!). But why are there no factory-made stoppers and flasks for Chinese thermoses on sale? This happened in the USSR.

I found a person on the Internet who makes ANY custom-made stoppers from cork oak. And there was even a telephone. But Ukrainian. I was afraid to call.

A good option was suggested to me by LiveJournal user Penkin .

Here's his recipe:
We take a plastic bottle (milk bottles with a wide neck are good), so that the neck approximately coincides in diameter with the diameter of the neck of the thermos. Next, we take bottle caps and stuff them inside this neck - so that the part sticks out in one direction (this sticking out part will be the stopper that will lock the thermos). In my case, it does not fit perfectly tightly, but it works.

Thanks to him. I think that by adjusting it can be achieved that the screw cap-cup, when fully screwed, will gently press the entire system to the neck. + Seal the cracks with food grade sealant and make something like a gasket between the neck and a piece of the bottle on the plastic collar from the sealant.

And I tried one more option: (see option Cork No. 5 below)

glued together 8 whole wine corks (it turned out that half of my stock - corks glued from cork oak chips - are poorly suited for such work, although I see such in Penkin’s photo), having previously turned them on round and flat rasps (all that remains is to cut and grind the perimeter according to sample size). I have a problem, I need to seal the gaps between the parts. It seems that food grade sealant is best for this. I found CEMLUX 9014, the best in terms of price and quality, but I don’t see it in retail.

I tried to find cork bark for sale, there are only pieces

or plates and tubes

They are all thin and wow expensive. Aha, this seems to be what we are looking for! for terrariums! here is a 1 kg plate for 353 rubles, however, you have to go beyond the Moscow Ring Road, but it seems like misinformation, in other places the same one costs from 1,000 (!!!) rubles apiece, from this you can already cut out circles of the required diameter, albeit of small thickness, then glue it together.

Along the way I found something interesting:

"Bark is harvested after the tree reaches 25 years of age. Using a special ax, the bark is chopped along and around the tree trunk, and then torn off with the pointed end of the tool. The material from the first collection is used very rarely and only for technical purposes. Only cork bark has full properties oak of the third harvest.

Natural cork cork is harvested in the summer on days when there is no hot wind. A new full-fledged layer of bark is formed only 8-9 years after harvesting. After collection, the bark is dried directly on the plantation for six months and only then sent for further processing."

That's why it's so difficult to buy spare plugs. I think this is the most expensive part of a Chinese thermos.

Crap! Or maybe it’s easier to order in China? By mail via the Internet?

Let's get down to business.

“If I decide to do something, I’ll definitely drink it.”
Vladimir Vysotsky

PLUG No. 1

I started by trying to revive an old, shriveled, but familiar cork.
I took an ancient medical plaster 2 cm wide. It caked so that it was soaked through with glue and became sticky on both sides of the tape, which makes it unsuitable for ordinary purposes, but it was just fine for me - double-sided eco-friendly Velcro. I wound about 5 layers of plaster on the cork and reached the desired diameter (the easily inserted cork hung in the neck approximately halfway up its height). I added one and a half turns of food foil on top, which stuck perfectly to the patch. At the same time, it 100% does not allow glue to leak out. I inserted it into the neck and twisted it a little - the plug went in deeper and the seal became perfect.
PS: You need to wind the patch so that the taper of the cork is maintained, then when plugging and twisting, a small annular tubercle of soft patch under the foil is formed between the edge of the neck and the metal top. Using this tubercle it is easy to remove the stopper from the thermos.
PS: There is room for further improvement following example No. 2 with a handle (see)

PLUG #2

In the second thermos, the cork was preserved much better, however, it also shrunk a little. In order for the neck to be plugged tightly enough, it must be pushed all the way to the aluminum cap. As a result, it is very difficult to open the thermos; when the contents cool, the stopper is pulled in completely and only the lid protrudes above the neck. It is not glued to the cork, but is simply slightly rolled and held in place due to the taper of the cork. You pull the cap - the thin metal unclenches - and the cap flies off the cork; you begin to pull it out further, with your fingers and nails - the cork begins to crumble and break.
This is how, in most cases, it becomes unusable, you have to cut off a layer of the cork in order to put the cap back on (it’s unreliable, you have to roll it up, wrinkle it), and the cork ends up dangling in the neck - and then a plaster and foil come into play.
I thought, why not, before the cork completely dries out, screw a handle to the top of the cork to remove the cork. The material is the same cork, only not a wine cork, but a champagne cork (its integrity is not damaged by the corkscrew). Even if it is not whole, but glued together from pieces. At first I made a short one, but, after reflection, I decided to increase its length so that when screwing on the top-cup, its bottom would press the entire system against the neck of the flask, but very gently, so as not to break the fragile glass. This ensures an almost complete seal when the thermos is inverted. In addition, for reliability, before assembly, I removed the metal lid, coated it inside with nail polish (I often use it as glue) and carefully rolled it again. To fasten the structure, I used a galvanized screw with a wide washer head, deepening it 5 mm into the handle. I filled the body of the screw and the recess in the handle with glue and closed it with the same glue with a decorative top made from a piece of the narrow end of a champagne cork.
PS: The height of the cup is different for different thermoses, so the calculation is done locally. Examination. We insert the system tightly into the neck. We slightly bend the top of the cup inward with our fingers and screw it on. If at the very end of screwing we see how the deflection of the top of the cup straightens outward, the result has been achieved. If this happens earlier, grind or cut off the top of the handle. Well, or you will have to not screw the cup to the end of the thread, which is worse.

PLUG #3

In embodying Penkin's idea, I improved it somewhat.

The photo shows that I cut off the thread completely, but not right down to the collar, but leaving a small piece of the neck without a thread. This allows you to rest against the neck of the thermos not with a rigidly oblique thread, but with the smooth plane of the collar, while at the same time slightly penetrating into it with the protrusion of the neck. You can, of course, also moisten the joint between the flange and the protrusion with sealant, but absolute tightness can lead to the fact that when the contents cool completely (especially if there is a lot of air in the flask and little liquid), the flask can break due to the resulting vacuum. After all, a rigid structure, unlike a soft cork, will not be able to be pulled in.
I insulated the top of the structure with sealant. Since it practically does not come into contact with the contents, I allowed myself to use the most common white Moment sealant, and not food grade, which is expensive and difficult to find. As a result, the contents should not cool down as quickly as without sealing.
I made the sealant convex, accurately calculating the height of the structure (in my case, it is without sealant - 35 mm + 1 cm protrusion of the sealant). The convexity of the sealant gently and elastically rests from the inside into the center of the lid-cup when screwing (soft metal allows 2-3 mm of play) and ensures reliable tightness when turning the thermos over.

PS: We check the accuracy of the assembly according to example No. 2 (see)

CORK #4

I was not satisfied with the QUALITY of cork No. 3, and I made changes.

1. Reduced the number of cork parts from 5 to 3, using ONLY champagne corks. This made it possible to push the parts into the neck with greater effort, and the protruding cork parts began to fit more tightly into the neck, ensuring greater heat retention. Yes, and it looks prettier. Although there was a slight ovalness of the plastic when squeezing the pieces in, this did not interfere with the tight contact of the structure with the flask. If No. 3 was loose in the neck, then No. 4, starting from the cork part, tightly but effortlessly touches the flask.

2. I poured the sealant inside the structure not only from above, but carefully between the pieces up to the very collar, so that the liquid from the thermos did not penetrate between the parts of the stopper, dangling in it with the threat of souring. At the same time, No. 4 became 2 times heavier than No. 3!
3. Covered the structure with the convex part of the sealant with cling film for a better presentation of the structure

After a day, the film can be removed and the sealant can be dried without it. The complete impression was that the film was never removed. But she’s not there!!! Beauty!!?

PS: The sealant is very smelly (smells like vinegar essence), so it is better to dry it on the staircase for at least the first three days.

CORK No. 5, etc. – dead-end options

1. I spent a lot of time to carve and glue this ikebana with nail polish.

But due to the beauty of No. 3 and No. 4, further processing was considered inappropriate due to excessive labor intensity.
2. You could, of course, buy real cork and food grade sealant and build an almost copy of the original. But it’s expensive and takes a lot of time.
3. I’m also too lazy to search on the Chinese Internet. If you suddenly, in gratitude for my work, send the link you found to purchase on eBay the exact stopper you need for a thermos, I will be grateful and will place it in this epoch-making post, but I doubt whether I will bother ordering when I already have even 2 backup options : for one thermos No. 1 and for another No. 3.
4. Once upon a time I came across on the Internet an option for expanding the plug by drilling it in the center and hammering it into the hole of a cylinder of a slightly larger diameter. Before hammering, the cork must be steamed!!! If anyone tries and succeeds, the wind is in his sails.

Have you ever wondered how and from what such a common item as a wine stopper is made?

I invite you to look at an interesting photo report from a wine cork factory.

Of course, in such a serious production, labor safety training programs are required for workers, which ensures their safety.

Not only construction materials are made from production waste, but also bags, aprons, shoes and even umbrellas! Cork production is virtually waste-free. Among other things, it is an indispensable material in the manufacture of life-saving equipment. On water, it can withstand much more weight than its own, and practically does not absorb moisture.

Cork is made from the bark of the cork oak tree, which grows only in a few countries in Europe and on the Mediterranean coast of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In other countries, cork oak practically does not grow. The largest harvest of cork bark can be obtained on Portuguese plantations.

Cork oak bark is dumped into huge piles right on the factory grounds. Before putting the cork into use, it is kept in the open air for several months.

First of all, the raw materials are subjected to heat treatment. The cork is boiled in a huge cauldron, and at the same time all sorts of spider bugs that managed to live in it are destroyed.

Then the bark is cut into strips, after which it is again sorted, washed, disinfected and again soaked in water.

Corks are cut out of these blanks, and the cork chips, to which a binder is added, go under the press.

If you cover a room with this material, you can even walk on your head - the neighbors still won’t hear anything. Builders also love cork because, unlike plastic panels, it does not emit toxic gases in the event of a fire.

As for bottle caps, their quality used to be checked manually. Since the cork oak bark plates have different sizes and thicknesses, not all operations were trusted to automatic machines. A worker directly involved in cutting out corks pressed his foot on the machine pedal about ten thousand times a day. Now, in modern factories, electronics completely control the entire process.

I advise you to watch the video, where you can learn even more about the traffic jam than from the post)

It is very difficult to organize a stable fermentation process without a water seal. Experienced home winemakers and moonshiners know this. Although nowadays you can buy a factory-made water seal, it is easier to make this device yourself from scrap materials, spending just a few minutes. We will consider the most successful designs further.

Why do you need a water seal? During fermentation, carbon dioxide is actively released (about 4 cubic meters per 1 liter of alcohol produced). The accumulation of carbon dioxide can lead to high pressure in the fermentation tank, which can lead to an explosion. The gas must be removed, but this must be done so that oxygen does not enter the container. The fact is that oxygen activates the activity of bacteria that convert alcohol into acetic acid, and without access to air these bacteria are inactive.

A fermentation air seal is a valve that removes carbon dioxide while preventing air from entering. Without this device, winemaking is impossible, otherwise young wine immediately turns into vinegar. Moonshiners are still arguing about its necessity, but it is better for beginners to install it.

There is an opinion that mash should “breathe”, so a water seal is not needed. In fact, mash oxidizes no worse than wine. It’s just that during the period of active fermentation, the carbon dioxide released prevents oxygen from reaching the surface. But as soon as the alcohol bacteria do their job, their vinegar “colleagues” immediately get to work, turning the alcohol into acid. If such mash is not distilled in time, it will simply turn sour or an unpleasant sourish taste will appear in the moonshine. The exit rate also drops.

The mash under a water seal can stand without distillation much longer and not oxidize. All the alcohol produced by our friendly bacteria is stored.

1. Classic water seal(lid, tube, jar). The simplest and most reliable kit. It is enough to make a hole in the lid of the fermentation tank, insert the tube and seal the joint with glue. Place the other end in a jar of water.

1 - mash (wort); 2 - plug; 3 - tube; 4 - water

Disadvantage: with a small tube diameter, the water seal can become clogged with foam, so I recommend using large-diameter tubes rather than thin capillaries.

assembled kit

This water seal allows you to accurately determine the readiness of wine or mash. If there are no bubbles in a jar of water for 1-2 days, then the unsweetened mash is ready for distillation, and the wine is ready for draining from the sediment.

One of the variations of this design is a water seal made from a dropper. More details in the video.

During fermentation, an unpleasant odor appears. This is very important for apartment residents who do not have the opportunity to take the container with mash into a non-residential premises. You can get rid of the smell by releasing carbon dioxide into the sewer. You just need to improve the jar into which the fermentation products fall.

gas drainage diagram

Gas enters the jar through a tube from the fermentation tank, overcomes the pressure of the liquid column (h) and goes into the sewer. The water column serves as a kind of barrier that prevents gases from the sewer from entering the fermentation tank.

This design resembles a steam chamber for a moonshine still. Two holes are made in a jar with a tight lid, then they are connected to the tubes and sealed. A modernized half-liter jar is filled to 1/3 of its volume with water, the inlet tube is lowered into the liquid by 1-2 cm, and the outlet tube is lowered into the washbasin.

operating device

2. Medical glove. Simple design suitable for wide-mouth fermentation containers (jars and bottles). In essence, this is not a water seal, but it works no worse. The glove shutter is often used by women, since its construction does not require drilling, soldering or gluing anything.

1 - bottle; 2 - glove

A small hole is made in any of the fingers of the rubber glove with a needle. Next, the glove is put on the neck of the container. To prevent gas pressure from tearing off the glove, the attachment point with the neck is covered with an elastic band or tied with thread.

fermentation glove

Disadvantage: due to the too large diameter of the neck and high gas pressure on containers with a volume of more than 20 liters, it is very difficult or even impossible to securely fasten the glove. The smell of fermentation will be present in the room.

During active fermentation, the glove inflates; when the process ends, it deflates again.

extravagant option

3. Cotton plug. The neck of the container is plugged with a stopper made of cotton wool or other porous material, through the structure of which carbon dioxide can escape. But the cork does not provide complete tightness, especially at the very end of fermentation. The pressure in the bottle drops, as a result of which air begins to enter the container. Another drawback is that it is very difficult to understand when fermentation has ended.

1 - bottle; 2 - plug

A cotton plug is used if for some reason it is not possible to install a more reliable structure.

4. “Quiet” water seal. The release of carbon dioxide is accompanied by characteristic gurgling sounds. There are people who are annoyed by this. The author of the following video solved the problem by creating a water seal from a syringe and a plastic bottle. This water seal will take a little more time to make than in previous cases, but you will have a device that resembles store-bought options.

Apart from silent fermentation, this design has no other advantages.

How to make a cork aslan wrote in April 10th, 2013

This is the only tree in the world whose bark is capable of completely regenerating. Cork oaks are marked so that they know when the next harvest can be harvested from them. For example, the number 7 means that the last time the bark was removed from this tree was in 2007.

Cork oak bark is dumped into huge piles right on the factory grounds. Before putting the cork into use, it is kept in the open air for several months.

First of all, the raw materials are subjected to heat treatment. The cork is boiled in a huge cauldron, and at the same time all sorts of spider bugs that managed to live in it are destroyed.

Then the bark is cut into strips, after which it is again sorted, washed, disinfected and again soaked in water.

Corks are cut out of these blanks, and the cork chips, to which a binder is added, go under the press.

Not only construction materials are made from production waste, but also bags, aprons, shoes and even umbrellas! Cork production is virtually waste-free. Among other things, cork is an indispensable material in the manufacture of life-saving equipment. On water, it can withstand much more weight than its own, and practically does not absorb moisture.

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Cork, in the form in which it is known today, appeared in the 17th century, at the same time as the glass bottle. Before this, it was also used, but in isolated cases. Most often, containers were sealed using rags or pieces of wood, which led to damage to the contents and deterioration in taste. Unlike wood, cork does not swell much, and with proper processing, the taste and smell of the drink do not deteriorate.

General information

Bottle stoppers differ in shape and design. During the manufacturing process, special components are added that improve the protective function and act as an exclusive sign of the quality of the drinks.

The stopper is tightly inserted into the neck of the container, retains its properties for a long time and is a product of natural origin, like a good quality drink. Making corks takes a long time and is difficult. The bark of a cork oak tree is initially removed when the tree is approximately 30 years old. This material is not used in production, since wine bottle stoppers are made only after the 3rd removal. The second layer grows for about another 10 years. The production technology consists of several successive stages: six-month drying, careful selection, washing and treatment with a disinfectant solution.

Classification by material of manufacture

Bottle caps come in different varieties. It all depends on many factors, including the purpose and material of manufacture. The most common types of traffic jams:

cortical;
plastic;
metal;
rubber;
from foil;
synthetic;
glass.

Cork stoppers for wine bottles (also found among some types of champagne). Plastic bottles with soft drinks are sealed with plastic caps, and containers with mineral water and beer are closed with metal caps. Rubber products are used. Many medications are sealed with foil stoppers.

Synthetic corks based on polyethylene are distinguished by the fact that they do not allow moisture to pass through and are easily pulled out with a corkscrew. The quality of these products may vary, but silicone ones are considered the best in this category. The advantages of glass stoppers are ease of opening and closing, interesting appearance. Experts recommend using them for wine that is not designed for long-term storage.

Separation by design features

Bottle stoppers are also available in microgranular, screw and yoke types. Microgranulated has a uniform structure, high elasticity and resilience. The production technology is quite new: food glue and a waxy substance of organic origin (extracted from...) are added to cortical granules no larger than half a millimeter in size. The entire process takes place under high pressure.

The screw plug has a low cost, eliminates the risk of developing cork disease, but is not strong enough. Made from aluminum alloys and synthetic gaskets. Bottles with a yoke cap can often be found in cosmetic stores and on olive oil counters. Good tightness and the possibility of repeated use make the yoke stopper stand out from the rest.

Manufacturing Features

The cork compresses well, and thanks to this property it can be inserted into the neck of the bottle, where it will press tightly against the walls of the vessel due to its elasticity. This is achieved by thoroughly impregnating the material and heating it with steam (boiling). If the cork dries out, it will become hard. In production, it is pushed through a tube into the neck.

In order to protect the material from the effects of liquids in the bottle, it is treated with paraffin at high temperatures. The cork begins to harden when cooled, so it is kneaded in a special press to restore its elastic structure.

Production of wine stoppers

Bottle stoppers made from natural materials are an ideal closure method that is aesthetically pleasing. The product is resistant to temperature, it is lightweight, allows the required amount of air to pass through well, and does not rot. Regular natural cork can last about 50 years.

Production begins from the moment the layer is cut from the tree. The bark is stored in special rooms for one year, after which it is processed under high temperatures. Then it is cut into plates and sent for sorting. Strips are made from the plates, followed by turning out cylindrical plugs. The standard length is from 2.5 to 7 cm. It is believed that the longer the length, the higher the price of the drink.

The next stage of processing is grinding the cylinders to ensure a perfectly smooth surface. After this, the product is bleached and impregnated using wax. The final step is to burn the brand name onto the cork or print it under pressure. Sulfur dioxide is often added to the bottle under the cork to preserve the drink.

Yoke plug

You can often find square bottles with a yoke cap, which are produced by many manufacturers for the purpose of long-term and proper storage of various liquids. In most cases, containers are made of glass. As a rule, it is small in volume, which is ideal for home storage of salad dressings and olive oil. Liter glass bottles with a stopper of this type are used for bottling lemonades, liqueurs, liqueurs, etc. For beautiful containers in the “vintage” style, the neck of which is widened, a yoke stopper is an excellent way to keep, for example, milk fresh.

Bugel plugs consist of a cap made of high-quality and safe plastic and a wire holder made of stainless steel coated with chrome. These reusable products help keep bottled drinks fresh for a long time.

Advantages of a yoke plug

Bugel products are widely used for sealing vessels, while ensuring high tightness and reliability of packaging. By using these bottle caps, you can be sure of ease of use and preservation of the properties of the drink. Repeated use allows for significant savings.

Bugel plugs are a worthy alternative to products of natural origin. This type is rarely used for wine, since, according to experts, a wine bottle loses its centuries-old aesthetic appearance. However, environmental and cost-saving considerations may in the future displace classical ideas about bottle capping options.

Cork oak bark is dumped into huge piles right on the factory grounds. Before putting the cork into use, it is kept in the open air for several months.

First of all, the raw materials are subjected to heat treatment. The cork is boiled in a huge cauldron, and at the same time all sorts of spider bugs that managed to live in it are destroyed.

Then the bark is cut into strips, after which it is again sorted, washed, disinfected and again soaked in water.

Corks are cut out of these blanks, and the cork chips, to which a binder is added, go under the press.

I advise you to watch the video, where you can learn even more about the traffic jam than from the post)

Glass containers, unlike plastic bottles, are suitable for reuse. For example, a beautiful wine bottle in which you can store home-made wine will not only preserve the taste of your drink, but will also be more appropriate on the holiday table. Very often, factory bottles are closed with a cork stopper, which cannot be used to close the neck again - it, as a rule, becomes several times larger than the neck of the bottle. Even if you cut the cork with a knife, the initial tight closure of the bottle will not be achieved, and besides, the cork cork is not very durable. And if we are talking about a 10-liter bottle, then no old stopper will do at all. In the not-too-distant past, our grandmothers used to cap bottles with corn on the cob. Agree, during technological progress, closing the bottle in this way is out-of-date and inconvenient. In our article we will tell you how to make a stopper for a 20 liter bottle with your own hands so that it is beautiful, convenient and reliable.

DIY silicone bottle stopper

This unique and useful craft can be made in several ways. Next we will look at the most interesting of them.

Method No. 1

How is a cork made? To make a stopper for a ten-liter bottle, you need to prepare the following components in advance:

100 gram plastic cup for the mold;
Starch;
Silicone sealant.

Important! One package of silicone sealant comes out with 3 plugs.

Place ¾ of a package of starch on the table and make a hole.

Important! To prevent the silicone from sticking to the table, you can place glass on the surface.

Using a professional silicone gun, squeeze the silicone into the starch funnel.

Important! The amount of silicone matches the size of our workpiece, namely a plastic cup.

Then mix silicone and starch until smooth. To prevent the silicone from sticking to your hands, dip them in starch and begin kneading the ingredients, similar to kneading dough.

Important! When kneading silicone, it is important to achieve such a consistency that the dough is not too hard and does not have loose formations. Otherwise, the finished cork will let air through. The ideal mixture for cork production should resemble plasticine and not stick to your hands.

The dough for the preparation must be thoroughly mixed so that the silicone is completely saturated with starch, roll it well on the table and give it a cone shape.

Important! The more starch the mixture contains, the tougher the cork will be.

Then sprinkle the prepared cork a little with starch so that it does not stick to the plastic cup and easily comes out of it when completed.

Important! To get rid of excess air, make small punctures on the bottom of the glass with a needle or awl.

Next, place the raw material in a plastic cup and, using screwing movements, distribute the mass tightly and evenly throughout the entire container.

Important! It is not at all necessary to use a blank in the form of a cup. If it is difficult to choose a blank for your bottle, roll the cork tightly by hand, measure its diameter with a caliper, and leave it to dry on a flat surface.

In this form, leave the workpiece to dry for 3-4 hours. After the time has passed, we remove our cork from the workpiece.

Important! To speed up the drying process, after 30 minutes, place the container next to a hot surface or place it near a radiator.

You can use a kitchen knife to smooth out any unevenness or reduce the diameter of the finished cork.

Important! Silicone sealant has a specific smell. To get rid of it, you need to place the finished cork first in hot water, then in cold water with the addition of soda for a while, or simply take the product out into the fresh air.

The cork is elastic and tightly closes the neck of the bottle. It is perfect for a 10-liter bottle with a thread and a bottle with a conical thread, they are also called “Cossack” bottles.

Important! For wine enthusiasts, you should drill a hole in the cork to allow air to escape from the bottle. To do this, the diameter of the hole should be slightly smaller than the drainage that you will use.

Method number 2

The next method is quite labor-intensive and requires much more time to manufacture than the previous one. But for those craftsmen who like to tinker with the tool, you can use this option.

To make a bottle stopper using the method that we will discuss below, you will need to prepare some auxiliary tools, namely:

A pea or corn tin;
Soldering iron;
Gun for liquid silicone;
Sandpaper;
Construction hair dryer;
Liquid silicone.

Sequencing:

At the first stage of making a cork, you should make a mold into which liquid silicone is poured. To do this, cut off the top and bottom of a tin can, and as a result, we get a cylindrical blank.
Then cut the blank vertically to make a rectangular tin.
Using a caliper, measure the diameter of the bottle neck with a compass, twist the tin to the desired size from the bottom, gradually expanding it upward.
When one edge meets the other, put notches on top and bottom, connect the notches with an oblique line and cut with scissors.
Carefully shape the workpiece into a cone shape with your hands, maintaining the size along the entire length of the workpiece.
Unfold your workpiece and sand the beveled and smooth edge of the tin with sandpaper.
Connect the two slices end to end and use a soldering iron to fix the workpiece in this position along its entire length. You end up with a cone-shaped glass without a bottom.
Next you need to solder the bottom. First, sand the bottom cut of the workpiece with sandpaper.
Take one of the cut parts and solder the bottom with a soldering iron, trim the edges with scissors.
Next you need to solder the handle. To make it, you can use rigid wire or a metal tube.
Sand the handle location and the edge of the wire for better adhesion of the material. The mold for casting a silicone cork is ready, now you can start making the cork itself.
Take a hair dryer and set the temperature to 120 degrees.

Important! A construction hair dryer will serve to heat the mold so that the silicone does not harden during filling and even distribution inside the mold.

After the mold has warmed up, use a glue gun to fill it with liquid silicone.

Important! The tin mold should be constantly held over a stream of hot air.

Once the silicone is completely poured into the container, leave it to harden.
Finally, use pliers to bend the soldered edge and pull out the plug.

DIY bottle caps

You can quickly and without tools make an alternative to bottle caps.

Method No. 1

To implement this stopper option, you will need a plastic bottle with a cap that matches the diameter of the bottle neck.

Manufacturing sequence:

Fill a plastic bottle with up to half of the water and close the lid tightly.
Turn the bottle over and lower it into the neck of the bottle.
The device tightly and securely closes the glass container.

Important! For winemakers, it is necessary to drill a through hole in the lid and bottom of the plastic “stopper”, pass the hose through and close the neck of the wine bottle.

Method No. 2

You can make new creative stoppers from old cork wine stoppers that don't fit the diameter of the neck. For this you will need:

Kitchen knife;
Cork plug;
PVA glue;
Wooden spools of thread of different colors.

Preparation method.

Plastic bottles are universal containers that can be reused. To provide such functionality, it should be supplemented with a stopper that limits the flow of liquid.

Simple options

You can make a stopper for a bottle in various ways. Let's consider the algorithm for obtaining a silicone plug:

Initially, we purchase starch and silicone sealant. You will also need a plastic glass, which should be the same size as the diameter of the hole in the bottle.
Initially, ¾ of a package of starch and silicone is mixed (the volume of a full glass). It is important to knead the “dough” thoroughly to give it a uniform consistency.
When the mixture is ready, a plug is formed from it. It is placed in a glass. To prevent the silicone from sticking, the container is also covered with starch. It is also important to make several holes in the bottom of the glass. This will allow excess air to escape.
After this, the cork should dry for about 4 hours. When it is ready, it is taken out of the glass and leveled with a knife. To get rid of the smell, the workpiece should initially be kept in hot water, and then in a solution of cold water and soda. Then you need to dry it thoroughly in the fresh air.

If you need a drain hole, then you can make one in the plug using a small drill. If desired, you can form a small spout that will be used for pouring water.

We use wood

Wood is a unique material that perfectly retains moisture. Therefore, plugs were previously made only from it. This process is quite simple and consists of several steps:

Select timber with a thickness slightly larger than the diameter of the neck.
Then a small cone is formed from it. The easiest way to do this is on a lathe. But if it is not there, you can sharpen it with a sharp knife. During manufacturing, it is important to constantly monitor its shape and fit it to the hole. The plug should fit perfectly into the gap, sealing it.
For versatility, a small hole can also be made in the stopper to allow liquid to be poured.

If you don’t want to waste time, it’s better to purchase a special plastic design that can be matched to different neck diameters.

Cork oak bark is dumped into huge piles right on the factory grounds. Before putting the cork into use, it is kept in the open air for several months.

First of all, the raw materials are subjected to heat treatment. The cork is boiled in a huge cauldron, and at the same time all sorts of spider bugs that managed to live in it are destroyed.

Then the bark is cut into strips, after which it is again sorted, washed, disinfected and again soaked in water.

Corks are cut out of these blanks, and the cork chips, to which a binder is added, go under the press.

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Plastic bottles are versatile containers that can be reused. To provide such functionality, it should be supplemented with a stopper that limits the flow of liquid.

Simple options

You can make a stopper for a bottle in various ways. Let's consider the algorithm for obtaining a silicone plug:

Initially, we purchase starch and silicone sealant. You will also need a plastic glass, which should be the same size as the diameter of the hole in the bottle.
Initially, ¾ of a package of starch and silicone is mixed (the volume of a full glass). It is important to knead the “dough” thoroughly to give it a uniform consistency.
When the mixture is ready, a plug is formed from it. It is placed in a glass. To prevent the silicone from sticking, the container is also covered with starch. It is also important to make several holes in the bottom of the glass. This will allow excess air to escape.
After this, the cork should dry for about 4 hours. When it is ready, it is taken out of the glass and leveled with a knife. To get rid of the smell, the workpiece should initially be kept in hot water, and then in a solution of cold water and soda. Then you need to dry it thoroughly in the fresh air.

If you need a drain hole, then you can make one in the plug using a small drill. If desired, you can form a small spout that will be used for pouring water.

We use wood

Wood is a unique material that perfectly retains moisture. Therefore, plugs were previously made only from it. This process is quite simple and consists of several steps:

Select timber with a thickness slightly larger than the diameter of the neck.
Then a small cone is formed from it. The easiest way to do this is on a lathe. But if it is not there, you can sharpen it with a sharp knife. During manufacturing, it is important to constantly monitor its shape and fit it to the hole. The plug should fit perfectly into the gap, sealing it.
For versatility, a small hole can also be made in the stopper to allow liquid to be poured.

If you don’t want to waste time, it’s better to purchase a special plastic design that can be matched to different neck diameters.