If you have your own microbrewery, you might want to give an additional seal to your bottles with wax. It is simple to do, but it can be time-consuming if you want to seal several hundred bottles. For large numbers of bottles which need to be sealed, get additional help, since several people can dip bottles into the same pot of wax at once. As the old saying goes, "Many hands make light work," and they will when you need to seal bottles.
Instructions
1. Place the large pot of water on a stove and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Check that the bottles and corks are clean, dry and the corks are firmly in place.
2. Clip the candy thermometer to the side of the large bowl so that it does not touch the side or bottom.
3. When the water is boiling, put the bowl on top of the pot. Put the wax into the bowl.
4. Continuously stir the wax as it melts. Adjust the height of the thermometer so that the tip is inside the wax.
5. Melt the wax and bring it to a temperature of 160 to 170 degrees F. Adjust the temperature of the stove to maintain this temperature.
6. Hold a bottle from the bottom and turn it upside down to dip the cork and top into the wax. Leave the top of the bottle in the wax for a count of 15.
7. Pull the bottle straight up out of the wax. The extra wax will drip off the bottle into the rest of the melted wax. After most of the dripping has stopped, turn the bottle upright and set aside to completely cool.
8. Repeat with the remaining bottles until all of them have been sealed with wax.
Tags: