Sunday, December 6, 2015

Save 65%: Hack Your Own Coravin Argon Gas Capsules

The Coravin Wine Preservation System is fantastic. It’s an easy way to dispense wine without pulling the cork since the device cleverly replacing the excess volume with argon instead of oxygen (the enemy of wine). You can pour just a glass or two at a time and easily save the rest of the bottle for later.

However, the Coravin Argon Capsules are almost $10 each. And while they claim to pour 15 glasses of wine, they never seem to actually make it that far. As a result, we end up going through a capsule for every 2-3 bottles meaning there’s a “Coravin Tax” of up to $5.00 per bottle. Ouch!

Turns out there’s a cheaper way. While the Coravin Capsules claim to be proprietary, the metal cylinder is just a standard 3.5” food grade argon capsule. The only unique part of the capsule is the plastic cap.


This cap houses a very important rubber o-ring that ensures a good seal between the capsule and the Coravin. So, all we need to do is remove this cap from a used capsule and we can use it with much cheaper non-Coravin capsules!

To do this, grab a pair of channellock pliers for the metal body and a smaller pair of pliers for the cap. Grab the capsule with one set and the tip of the plastic cap with the other. Make sure you have a secure grip on both and turn counter clockwise if you’re facing the top of the capsule. With a little effort, you’ll unstick the glue and at which point you can easily unscrew the cap.


There are plenty of options for 3.5” food grade argon capsule. The cheapest I’ve been able to find are for another, much less effective, wine preservation system called Preservino. These capsules come in either a 4-pack or an 8-pack and in the larger case are only about $3.50 each for a savings of $6.50 per capsule!


Simply slip the cap you removed from the Coravin capsule onto one of the standard capsules. Pop this new capsule in your Coravin and you’re in business!


43 comments:

kellyJJ said...

"Simply slip the cap you removed from the Coravin capsule onto one of the standard capsules."
Slip? The top of my Coravin capsule is threaded so there's no slipping at all.
this is post outdated or did you simply misspeak? Using his hack requires threaded argon capsules.

Thomas said...

No threaded argon capsules needed. The interior diameter of the plastic cap including the threads is the same as the thread-less standard capsules. It requires a little pushing, but the plastic cap fits just fine on the standard capsule as pictured.

kellyJJ said...

Thanks, I will give it a try.

Truffaut said...

How did it turn out?

Thomas said...

Works great! The capacity of the new capsules its a little less than the Coravin ones, but still a huge cost savings. Haven't bought a Coravin capsule since.

Unknown said...

can you purchase the threaded cylinders for the ReServe system and use them? they are threaded

Cartridge Man said...

Low-cost iSi argon cartridges can be found here: http://cartridgehombre.com/

WINARO - WineSaver said...

In Europe many take the cartridges from Winaro
http://www.winaro.de/winaro-winesaver-shop/winegaz.html

or Amazon
WINARO

Kim said...

Thank you for this post. There is also a company that makes fittings to hook-up the Coravin to an argon tank. Check out www.bottlethief.com if you have a minute.

Unknown said...

Hi,
I just bought an adaptator aand tubing from them for my restaurant in France and I will let you know the outcome of it.
Guy
Fontainebleau, France

adivis12 said...

Hello Guy,

Can you please comment on how this worked out? Does it work as advertised?

Unknown said...

I bought the adaptator from bottlethief in California and received after 5 days. Took me 2 minutes to mount it on the Coravin then plus in the hose onto a 2.2kg disposable Argon can.
It works tremendously well and it's saving a lot of money!
Splendid!

Gio D. said...

Gio DeGarimore
Or just buy this: https://www.bottlethief.com/product-page/argon-gun

Unknown said...

Hi Guy,

my problem is the correct misure to the adjust the system for the pression? Do you know the correct way?
Thank!

Unknown said...

Hi Tommy,

Have U check the " zzysh wine cartridge " out? I am planning to use these as alternative since the bottle also threaded. Would U please post a close up photo of the spend Coravin. I want to make a comparision of the threads. I am a new user, haven't got a spend cartridge. THX.

marknivenczy said...

Thanks, Tommy.

I had a feeling that you could just swap the plastic top onto a generic cartidge.

Looks like $5 per generic cartridge is the going rate.

MorningWino said...

Hello Mark

Wondering where you found cartridges for $5?

Also, has anyone tried using CO2? Much cheaper and seemingly should work but I haven't tried as yet.

Cheers!

Unknown said...

You can't use CO2, it will dissolve into solution and make sparkling wine under pressure...

sage533 said...

xxysh cartridges are too short. However if you put a pad on the cartridge they work fine. Thye are 30% smaller than coravin cartridge.

loul13 said...

You can Use wikeeps threaded capsules..they fit perfectly once the adaptor is on. Plus the best mix ever for the wine: 79% Argon / 21% CO2... with the same quantity of Gas..made by Linde gas in Europe http://www.wikeeps.com/en/product-category/refills/
They ship all over the world for affordable price.

MorningWino said...

You can also use a $5 off coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond and get 2 Coravin capsules for $15, or $7.50 each. Not the lowest price but easy to get quickly.

JWills said...

Has anyone tried ReServ, Pek, or Preservino? The later two are about $4 each. ReServ is $6.50. All are on Amazon. Looked at Wikeeps but they are over $8 each with shipping to US. Thanks.

MorningWino said...

I haven't tried those 3 referred to by Unknown. I have purchased the ZZYSH argon wine cartridges on Amazon. About $5 each including $5 shipping. They don't get great reviews but I've made them work. Since they're shorter then the Corvin cartridges I placed some dimes in the cartridge holder to equalize the length of the two cartridges. Here's the link

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B01M61TOSI/ref=acr_search_see_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

The Corvine black plastic tips are difficult to remove. I put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees. Much easier to remove

Anyone find any other alternatives?

www.9964s.de oder www.9974s.de said...

Here is a Video about the Hack
https://youtu.be/1XWnMa7YAwk

Vinod47 said...

Just recently came across this and it works great. The Coravin rubber cap comes off easily with two channel-lock pliers, however, it doesn’t easily slide onto the Preservino cartridge. To achieve the snug fit required, I placed the cartridge on a solid surface, rubber cap upward facing, and firmly tapped the Coravin rubber cap with a rubber mallet, and it fits nice and snug. I wish I would have come across this a while ago...thanks!!

Unknown said...

I (RBE) just bought a 4-pack of Preservino capsules on Walmart.com for $13.68 ($13.99 minus $0.31 savings for using store pickup) plus tax (6% at the store I had it shipped to), for a total of $14.50, or $3.63 per capsule.
I plan to use these in my Coravin system by removing the black caps from the Coravin capsules and putting them on the Preservino capsules as described above. Thanks, Vinod47, for the suggestion of using a rubber mallet to get the caps to fit snugly on the Preservino capsules. I will update my results after I receive the capsules.

Winey Guy said...

Apparently, the Winearo replacement argon cartridges are not available in the USA.

Dale said...

Has anyone tried the cartridges form CartridgeHombre.com? Seems like a good deal @ 5.72 dollars per cartridge including shipping, which in the US is $7.20 for 10 cartridges.

Cartridge Hombre Argon Cartridges, 10-pack

Unknown said...

The Preservino capsules I (RBE) got from Wal-Mart were about half the cost of Cartridge Hombre (see comment above).

Unknown said...

Anyone with links on where to buy threaded standard capsule, please post.

Unknown said...

Cartridge Hombre has right-sized replacement cartridges, and they have worked for me. You can find them by searching eBay, where their online shop is located. Really good guy owns it and is very helpful...Capsules are threaded as well.

Sudz said...

Ok.. just ordered the Preservino capsule's at WalMart.com. I used the YouTube instructions to soak the capsule in acetone overnight. Twisted right off the next day. Hoping I'll have good luck using the preservino capsules. Thanks for the help!

Wine Guy said...

I found the best way to remove the Coravin cap is to place it upright in a vice and GENTLY heat the middle of the cartridge with a heat gun or torch. NOT TOO HOT! The glue will soften and you will be able to easily remove the cap without mangling it with the pliers. Any residual glue can be cleaned out by screwing the cap on and off using a COOL capsule. Hope that helps.

Danimmel said...

Can’t seem to find Preservino capsules currently. Any leads? Thanks ahead.

Unknown said...

All this requires to buy coravin capsules before !
Unless the caps are available on the market !!

Unknown said...

From Angil

Unknown said...

The german video says to soak the cartridge in acetone to dissolve the adhesive, has anyone tried this?

Anonymous said...

Yes, it works great. Use plumbers tape if it doesn't seal correctly. Works great!

PacoBell said...

Is that really such a financial burden? I mean, you presumably bought the Coravin itself, so you clearly have disposable income. And you only really need to do this mod once and keep swapping the cap each time you change the cartridge. You're saving money in the long-run, so why be penny-wise and pound-foolish?

loul13 said...

Hi Guys,
we live in Europe and here we have these available https://www.wikeeps.com/en/product-category/refills/
they work perfectly once the black adapter has been retrieved (soaked into acetone) !

SRJ said...

Wikeeps sounds dangerous. There is 80% argon and 20% CO2, and for CO2 is acidic it will change the acidity of your wine.

Donse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Donse said...

Rubbish, sorry:
CO2 will work just fine (remember high-shcool and Daltons Law of Gas?).

It's perfectly inert at lower temperatures (below welding) and will instantly balance out w. partial pressure of CO2 in atmosphere (pressure here being this moderately low too). Hence great for shielding at planet surface temperature (and below), and you will certainly not be given any chance to notice at all when used this way.

We've used CO2 for shielding wine for over 7 yers now here. Sucessfully 100%.
Not quite the longeviety (I'd say app. 90 percent of Argon).

But sooooo much cheaper ;o)

Enjoy!
Donse