Bottle stoppers - safe in the refrigerator?

[jschoolcraft]

This is a question from my Dad after sharing the spectraply bottle stoppers I made and I'm not sure what the answer is so I'm bringing it to the collective.

My initial thoughts are:

It depends (well, that's an absolute) on material and finish.

Material wise:

- Resin: should be fine
- SpectraPly: should also be fine. I'd expect it to be dimensionally stable but maybe the humidity or temp change would cause problems?
- Wood: probably less fine

Finish wise:

- Unfinished: non issue
- Plastic polish: should be fine, it's basically no finish
- Friction Polish: no idea
- CA: no idea

How wrong am I? Anyone have any experience?

 

[Curly]

We have had temperatures getting down to minus 40C and I haven't seen any issues with those kind of materials, other uses of course. I don't see any problems with the finish you mention too. Soaking wet maybe. You could do samples and put them in the cold and see how they fair then you'll know for sure.

 

[bugradx2]

I have one that my wife refused to let me sell because she liked it. It's a hybrid bottle stopper blank that I finished with GluBoost. It's been in and out of the fridge a few times and has not shown any issue thus far. Probably been in use 6 months to a year?

When I was deciding what finish to use I reached out to GluBoost about cold exposure and told them it was going to be on a bottle stopper. They said there should not be any issue. So far, that's been true for us

 

[monophoto]

I suspect this is one of those questions that is best discussed late on a Friday night over a pitcher of beer - great fodder for debate, but with little or no practical significance.

One potential issue is wood movement; wood expands and contracts mainly with changes in moisture content. Metals and plastics may also exhibit some dimensional instability based on temperature, but not as much as wood. That said, the turned wood portion of a typical stopper is probably going to be one inch in diameter by perhaps 1.5 inches long, and the kind of dimensional variation that can be expected (perhaps 8-10% across the grain) is unlikely to have any significant impact on anything.

And I don't think that getting cold is, by itself, likely to cause a problem. The temperature outside my house right now is -7C (~19F), and the trees in my yard don't seem to be bothered at all. However, a greater problem could present itself when that cold wood is removed from the fridge - humid air can condense on the surface, and if allowed to remain, over time it could lead to failure of whatever finish has been used on the wood, or it could result in mold growth. That said, I suspect that in most practical situations, a stoppered bottle will be placed in the fridge one day, and removed the next. After emptying the bottle, the stopper will be (should be) rinsed off and dried for storage.

In my family, we take a couple of different approaches to avoiding this problem. My solution is to stick with red wine - it never goes in the fridge. On the other hand, my sister's solution is to always finish the bottle.

 

[bugradx2]

I suspect this is one of those questions that is best discussed late on a Friday night over a pitcher of beer - great fodder for debate, but with little or no practical significance.

One potential issue is wood movement; wood expands and contracts mainly with changes in moisture content. Metals and plastics may also exhibit some dimensional instability based on temperature, but not as much as wood. That said, the turned wood portion of a typical stopper is probably going to be one inch in diameter by perhaps 1.5 inches long, and the kind of dimensional variation that can be expected (perhaps 8-10% across the grain) is unlikely to have any significant impact on anything.

And I don't think that getting cold is, by itself, likely to cause a problem. The temperature outside my house right now is -7C (~19F), and the trees in my yard don't seem to be bothered at all. However, a greater problem could present itself when that cold wood is removed from the fridge - humid air can condense on the surface, and if allowed to remain, over time it could lead to failure of whatever finish has been used on the wood, or it could result in mold growth. That said, I suspect that in most practical situations, a stoppered bottle will be placed in the fridge one day, and removed the next. After emptying the bottle, the stopper will be (should be) rinsed off and dried for storage.

In my family, we take a couple of different approaches to avoiding this problem. My solution is to stick with red wine - it never goes in the fridge. On the other hand, my sister's solution is to always finish the bottle.

I think we may be related as we have a similar approach to red wine! (my wife likes whites to stay cold)