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Mead bottling questions
I have four two-gallon batches of mead and braggot I brewed last summer and fall that are in need of bottling.
Firstly, I'm wondering if I should prime them like beer. I didn't take any gravity reading and I can only assume they are finished fermenting, however I imagine there are many residual sugars that would cause them to carbonate without the addition of priming sugar. Has anyone bottled mead without priming with luck? Or would you reccomend I prime with corn sugar? More honey?
Secondly, I'm torn between capping and corking. I've met others who cork their mead, but I don't think it's necessary aside from making them less likely to explode maybe? I'd kind of like to cork them to make them pretty in their bottles, but aside from that is their any real advantage to corking over capping the bottles?
As you may be able to tell I've had some experience with bottles exploding in the past, so keeping this from happening again is a priority; practicality and asthetics come second. ;-)
I searched the forums but didn't find any pertaintent answers. Thanks for your advice.
I have a mead going that I plan on corking in wine bottles. But I was not going to prime it or have it sparkling. as far as I know if you overprime with corks the bottles will still explode, or pop the cork. If you plan on having a spakeling mead you are going to need a champagne or Belgian beer setup with corks and wires. You probably already know this but I thought that it was worth restating.
ID
I have capped sparkling mead. In fact I like to use the small 8 oz. coke bottles as they are a thicker glass and are able to handle more pressure safely. It can still be a little scary if you don't stabilize them and force carbonate. I've been lucky and not blown any bottles (with mead) but I did push a cork out and dump mead all over the carpet in my closet on a mead that was supposed to be still.
I did do a few melomels that had aged for months and i assumed were stabilized that I capped still and within a few months were sparkling. I didnt add any priming sugar. Needless to say they are all being refridgerated now to try and avoid any bottle bombs.
Its a tough thing to naturally carbonate mead effectively. I recommend The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm to help you through different techniques and processes.
I have been making mead for about 6 or 7 years now and I have only used corks for my meads. I like to split my batches into still and sparkling. I prefer the sparkling whereas most of my friends like the still. I did a sparkling ancient orange back at Yule and used the wrong type of bottles. Ended up having to refrigerate them to keep them from pushing the corks out even with the use of baskets. I bottled some peach melba mead last weekend and turned 3 - 750ml into sparkling but this time used heavy Tuaca bottles for it with corks and baskets. The tuaca bottles are great because they have a nice even groove around the neck which is perfect for seating the wire basket. The last time I primed with honey and this time I primed with sugar. Only time will tell the difference and success of the carbonation.
I have the book mentioned and it is not that clear when it comes to carbonating your meads. I think there is about 3 pages that lightly hit upon it. So for me it has been trial and error in what works and what doesn't. Hope this helps.
Tess
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