13,586
edits
Changes
m
no edit summary
Actual mushrooming of the cork can be accomplished manually by hand, though be aware that flaws in the bottle may cause the neck to break, which would be a very dangerous situation if you are applying the downward force by hand. It can more easily and safely be applied with a bench capper. Put the cage on the cork and compress both with a bench capper. Hold the bench capper arm in place with your shoulder/armpit, leaving both hands free to orient and twist the cage. Special cage twisting tools are available, though pens such as sharpies or some interchangeable screwdrivers are about the right size. You could also use twist lock pliers if you have them around. There are also machines available that will semi-automate this process for commercial brewers.
====Adjusting to Wire Twists====The wire cage needs to be tightened under the lip of the head of the bottle in order to secure corks from being pushed out by the beer's carbonation. Typically 4-5 twists are done with wire cages to prevent them from becoming brittle or inconveniently removable. However, with thinner bottle necks or , longer wires, or a particular wire twisting tool, more twists may be necessary in order to tighten the wire around the neck under the lip. Modifying the wire cage tightener is a hack to work around this problem. See [https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1959272164100988/ Andrew Holzhauer's post on MTF] for an example of how to modify the wire tightener to account for thinner bottles while still twisting the wire only 4-5 times.
===Cork and cap===