Waxing wire

[bovillia]

All;

So it is time to bottle, and while waxing is an amazing finish that I do really like, I reserve it for my 'reserve' batches...and I only do this because I have not came up with a good way to break the wax and drink the product without destroying the wax art. So the only bottles that get wax are the ones meant not to be drank.

I like to use 22 Oz bombers with tasting corks for bottling my bourbon, and I got to looking at a bottle of Knob Creek I have, and I see that they use a ribbon of something under the wax to give you something to pull on to separate the lid.

My question to you is will a small piece of fishing line tied onto the cork part of the tasting cork and wrapped around and left sticking out, then waxed over, will this let me pull the string(with pliers or whatever) and sever my wax cleanly to keep the art of it mostly intact?

How do other people prepare their bottles for waxing?

Thanks

[DFitz]

I've used wax. Never had a problem removing the wax at the very top and removing the cork leaving the remaining wax in tact. In the future I'm going with twist off caps and heat shrink tubing. I may reserve waxing for holiday use, gifting etc.

[S-Cackalacky]

Never tried it myself, but what about holiday wrapping ribbon. It can be torn into very thin strips and would have a nice look to it.

[bovillia]

Thanks guys, I wrote this and figured what the heck, I'll give it a shot with an empty bottle and a tasting cork.

I wrapped the cork with 2 loops of fishing line and then pushed it the rest of the way in, I dunked it a few times to get it to where I wanted it, cooled it in water, and pulled on the string. It cut a nice line in the wax, and when it went to pull on the cork, the top of the cap wax part came off, and it opened just fine.

I do think that i am going to wait to wax for special occasions or by special request. In the past I have crimped the bottle with a standard bottle cap and waxed over it, It works well and looks great, but then again those kind of bottles are not meant to be opened, rather sit on the shelf and be marveled at.

FYI, I am using cheese wax(what i had on hand,and it works great)
In short, fishing line works good. I answered my own question with a short walk to the kitchen and at the expense of a bottle and tasting cork....and my fishing line.

[Grappa-Gringo]

I've waxed on my last Christmas bottles... Bourbon and Spiced Rum... a brick of wax was relatively cheap, melted it down in a double boiler type of set up using tin cans... So that I wouldn't ruin wifey's pots...lol.... I didn't use any string.... but in hind sight, I kinda like the way you pull a tab or string, to open up the wax of a bottle. Kinda classy...
The bottles I use are small 375ml sized... kinda like the small ice wine bottles... I cork them and then dipped them.... slap a home made lable on it and there ya go....
gg