Wine cork extraction test to ISO 9727-5

Case study

Wine cork pull-out test on a motorised stand with custom fixture

Wine cork pull-out test system of a motorised stand with cork screw and bottle fixture

Solution

Motorised tensile tester
Digital force gauge with display or data acquisiton software
Bottle clamping fixture and cork screw accessory

Benefits

Quick results displayed immediately
Adustable fixtures enable a range of bottles to be tested
Data storage of extraction force

Requirement

The customer, AMORIM & IRMÃOS, S.A – Unidade Industrial da Valada, required an economic and easy-to-use system to test the extraction force of corks from glass wine bottles. The test specifies a speed of 300 mm/min according to ISO 9727-5 and the corkscrew should be applied to a depth of minimum 3 mm below the base of the cork.

Solution

A corkscrew with a ‘loop handle' was used so that it could be placed easily in a fixed test hook. The corkscrew was first screwed into the cork by the operator ready for loading onto the hook. The bottle was then held down to the base plate of the test stand by a collar mechanism, positioned over the neck of the bottle.

The collar mechanism was made freely adjustable on two rods to allow testing of bottles of varying heights. The peak tension-force to extract the cork was then recorded on the gauge.