Requirements for bottling?

[ValerianNightmares]

I'm currently in the process if making my first batch of mead, my first ferment ever actually, and I'm starting to think to the future. I realize I don't know that much about bottling.

Mainly I'm wondering, if I want to bottle it and put it on the shelf, what do I need to do first? Does it have to be a certain alcohol level first for it to be shelf stable? Or does the CO2 do the preserving?

I'm planning on making it a sparkling mead too, will the carbonation kill the yeast and stop the ferment, or am I going to have to stow this in the fridge? I would hate to set it aside to mature only to come back to a spoiled or exploding mead.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'll answer what I can. It doesn't need to reach a certain alcohol in a broad way of speaking. It does however need to be finished. A dry mead should be finished around 1.000 and stay there for a few weeks before you bottle. (after aging, bulk aging as opposed to bottle aging is said to be a better practice for consistency)

If it is a higher finishing gravity, you'll want to think about stabilizing with sulfites and sorbate. If the yeast was just stalled and resumed without stabilizing, then you run the risk of bottle bombs.

To make it sparkling, you can not stabilize it before hand, you need the yeast to do a small amount of fermentation inside the bottle. You need bottles "approved" for carbonation. Beer bottles, champagne bottles, and those belgian corked bottles are all ok. Regular wine bottles are a no no. Regular wine bottles can not withstand the kind of pressure that carbonation would present, and explode or blow its cork. Basically if it held carbonation before, it will hold it again.

to cork wine bottles you will need a corker, or use those Zorks (but I haven no experience with those) and beer bottles can use the standard crown caps with a wing or bench capper.

 

[Thundernick]

I don't have experience with making a sparkling mead, all I know is to be careful or you might get bottle bombs.

As far as bottling in general, here's what I usually do:

1.) Stabilize using potassium sorbate (skip this step if you want carbonation)
2.) Wait a day or two
3.) Sanitize bottles, buckets, tubes, spoons, anything that will or could touch the mead
4.) Siphon from carboy into bottling bucket with spickot
5.) If you plan on back sweetening, heat some water and honey/sugar to dissolve the sugars. Mix with stabilized mead. If you're making a carbonated mead, be careful with this step and don't add too much sugar or you'll get bottle bombs.
6.) Either siphon or use a bottle wand to get the mead into the bottles
7.) Cork
8.) Label
9.) Store

 

[VCTFernandes]

That's just me, but For a first ferment I would go with a simpler recipe, like Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (google it). You will learn a lot from it with less risks of making something undrinkable.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I haven't made a Joes yet, and Im doing okay for myself. I only had one stalled blueberry batch form low nutrients. JAOs are supposed to be pretty good though. And I do want to make one.

I would get the hang of doing still meads before doing carbed ones, especially if you haven't bottled anything before. Take it in steps, not everything must be done all at once.

 

[ValerianNightmares]

I guess I should be more specific about what I'm doing and what I intend. . I currently have the mead (a basic honey and water recipe) in a half gallon primary (I'm going small batch for starters). I'm going to watch the air lock, and when it's almost done bubbling I intend to bottle it into a half gallon swing top.

I read a guide that said to carbonate mead you add 2/3 cup honey per 5 gallons mead just before bottling. By my calculations that's about 1 tablespoon for a half gallon.

So I will add maybe 2 teaspoons to be on the safe side, then "cork it" with the swing top to let the secondary fermentation turn it into a sparkling mead.

Now at this point I'll have a sealed bottle with active yeast in it, right? Can I really just stow this bottle in the basement for a few months and it won't spoil on me? I've read some places that if I stow this in the basement for a few months it'll actually get better?

All my preservation experience is with jams and jelly, where you don't stow something in the basement unless you've boiled the life out of it in a air tight, sealed jar. Feels counter intuitive to me to think I could do it another way.

 

[Thundernick]

As long as the container is certified to withstand the pressure and your formula/calculations are accurate then you should be fine.

As long as you were sterile when making the mead, the alcohol will preserve it fine. It typically does tend to get better with time because the off flavors die out.

But then again I'm only on my 3rd batch, so I'm not as experienced as some of the other people here...

 

[Xygonn]

Just wait for the mead to finish. If you are following a recipe, the final gravity should be the same or very close to the final gravity of the recipe (assuming your OG was close to the recipe OG). Add some bottling sugar or honey (or really any sugar) to a bottling bucket. I recommend dissolving the sugar or honey in relatively hot water (less oxygen and easier to mix) before putting it in the bottling bucket.

This is a good calculator for priming/bottling sugar amounts, I don't recommend going above 4 volumes (I'm not sure how bubbly you want it).
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

Rack the mead into the bottling bucket with the sugar in it. This should provide sufficient mixing. You then bottle from the bottling bucket. This process should be done using a bottling filler. If you don't have one, get one. Fill the bottle all the way up. When you remove the wand, it leaves the right amount of air space at the top.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/spring-tip-bottle-filler.html

I've never made a sparkling mead, but I've made several beers, and only blew up one bottle.

I would not recommend making a sweet sparkling mead using bottle carbonation.

I'm making a sweet sparkling mead now, but I am using forced carbonation in a keg.

The bottles should keep indefinitely in a cool area or even on a shelf at room temp.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

When the bubbles stop in the airlock does not mean its done fermenting. My three honey traditional hasnt had airlock activity for several days but I can still see the bubbles going up the side of the carboy. Don't bottle it until its done fermenting. Then add the honey before you bottle it so you can control the amount of pressure going to be put on the bottle. If you're not in control of the pressure, it may explode on you and make a big mess, and possibly hurt somebody.

 

[Kdog22]

+1 on making sure the fermentation is done. Then add priming sugar or honey as needed to the bottling bucket. As i understand it, it does not carb near as fast a beer, so give it time after bottling.

 

[ValerianNightmares]

Okay, a lot of food for thought here. Thanks to everyone for your help.