T Top (Bartop) issue

[LeBreadbox]

So i'm having an issue with my T-top (bartop) corks (closures)

Once I got my liquor in the bottle, I shove the cork in... and lo and behold they eventually pop up...

I find that I have to fiddle with them individually to get them to finally sit tight and snug.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? are these defective corks? My supplier has suggested that perhaps I get corks with a small vent on the side (never seen other producers use that before)

Thoughts? ideas? random insults?

 

[Tom Lenerz]

Do you have a short neck? Low headspace seems to be the cause of this issue with one of our bottles. Especially bad with synthetic corks.

[bluefish_dist]

I have heard of people having an issue and fixing it with a shrink sleeve.  We do a top strip and shrink sleeve, no issues.  

I did heat some bottles one time for hot apple pie and the corks eventually popped out, but it took a lot of heat.   They shot out, not eased out.  We use Paulson T tops.  

[Skaalvenn]

It sounds like you'll need to either switch your bottles, or your corks.

Cork company A will have cork sizes with a +/- tolerance.
Bottle company B will have a bottle neck with a +/- tolerance

If cork company A averages too small, and bottle company B averages too large, you will have problems and vice versa.  Some manufacturers are just going to be far too tight or too loose.

[whiskeytango]

"corks with a small vent on the side" 

 

never seen these do you have any info on them?

[indyspirits]

We use Paulson Supply for our corks. Their customer service is second to none.  Our packaging uses a synthetic shank w/ shrink sleeve and we've not experience any problems.

 

 

[indyspirits]

12 hours ago, LeBreadbox said:

Once I got my liquor in the bottle, I shove the cork in... and lo and behold they eventually pop up...

What exact bottle & cork are you using? Does this happen with all spirits?

 

 

[Sudzie]

We have used Paulson for 6 years and their the best on all fronts. We have corks pop now and again, if we have our heat tunnel conveyor too slow or if the neck of the bottle becomes wetted with spirit prior to installing the cork.  If either of those two things don't happen then no problems.  

[Hudson bay distillers]

curious where are you sourcing your corks 

tim

 

[Rum]

Are they experiencing any temperature changes? Cold liquor when bottling then placed in a warm warehouse or something along those lines?

[bluestar]

Make sure you are using a spirit bottle design and not a wine bottle design. Wine bottles don't have enough head room for spirits. Make sure you bottle at RT or higher, avoid bottling at refrigerated temperatures. If the bottles are going to be exposed to heat or sun, you definitely need to further secure the bartop with an adhesive seal strip, shrink wrap, or both.

[LeBreadbox]

so it seems to be a "headspace" issue as suggested above.

as such the slightly vented T top sat a lot better, and am going to try with the shrink sleeves to keep them in place.

it's really a bottle headspace issue: and since our marketing was all done with said bottle, doesn't look like we'll be changing it anytime soon.

Non-synthetic corks seem to stick a lot better, the synthetic stuff really pops out unless its a slightly larger size than what I'm using. for instance, I used the Tapi ones i got as samples and they're like a mm larger and seem to stick same as the non synthtic corks.

cheapest option for us so far? shrink sleeves

[SLCDBD]

99% of the time this is an issue the bottling crew is overfilling the bottles. If you aren't already do intermittent fill level tests.

If you are using cheap chinese bottles, it's important to know ahead of time that the neck ID varies a lot compared to good quality european or USA glass in my experience.

Sometimes cheap glass has soot or other schmutz that lubricates the neck-internal surface. rinsing your bottles before filling can fix this issue.

Shrinks are really good at preventing t-tops from popping at high elevations/higher temperatures than what the product was bottled at.

I've had mixed results with the 'vent groove' synthetic shank t-tops.

 

[Errington]

I have had this problem with Supercaps.  In my opinion it is a design flaw from the manufacturer.  Find another supplier.

[Peter K - Berlin Packaging]

On 7/3/2018 at 6:21 PM, LeBreadbox said:

So i'm having an issue with my T-top (bartop) corks (closures)

Once I got my liquor in the bottle, I shove the cork in... and lo and behold they eventually pop up...

I find that I have to fiddle with them individually to get them to finally sit tight and snug.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? are these defective corks? My supplier has suggested that perhaps I get corks with a small vent on the side (never seen other producers use that before)

Thoughts? ideas? random insults?

 

Hello. There are many factors that can create pop us issues. Are you respecting the head space tolerance? Changing suppliers won't resolve your issue. 

Feel free to send me the bottle and stopper drawings and I will have a look.