Re-bottling Mead

[EndlessPurple]

I was curious about re-bottling mead into smaller beer bottles. For example, say I have several wine bottles filled and aged ready to be enjoyed, then decide I want to move some into beer bottles for entering in a competition.

Will this work easily or are there complications I need to watch out for?

or should I always just put aside about 6 beer bottles "just in case"?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[VCTFernandes]

I don't believe it could cause any trouble, unless you're really careless with oxygenation and/or sanitation.
There would be a small exposure to oxygen but I think it's way too small to be significant and there is a small risk of contamination with some super bacteria that enjoys alcohol...
Chances are you'll be fine

 

[paraordnance]

I've done it. 1 wine bottle = exactly 2 beer bottles. I siphoned with peice of 3/8" tubing with bottling wand on the end. Works great

 

[fatbloke]

If you were really worried about the small amount of O2, you could always cap with oxyen absorbing caps......

 

[EndlessPurple]

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to be sure there was not some random strange reaction that might occur from removing them from the bottle after a year or so.

I am not too worried about long term after transfer as it would be for more short term use. For example: putting into beer bottles for a competition the next week. I would definitely try to not slosh or shake while doing it - auto-syphon with bottling wand.

 

[paraordnance]

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to be sure there was not some random strange reaction that might occur from removing them from the bottle after a year or so.

I am not too worried about long term after transfer as it would be for more short term use. For example: putting into beer bottles for a competition the next week. I would definitely try to not slosh or shake while doing it - auto-syphon with bottling wand.

I'm not sure if its related to re-bottling or something also. I had some still mead that was bottled in some 12 oz bottles and I enter it to Mazer Cup 2013 where it scored 47/48 in Open Class category. It was really good. I had only 2 wine bottles of it left and wanted to enter local competition so I re-bottled to beer bottles and it only scored 37 in much smaller competition. I'm not sure why since I haven't got score sheets back just yet.
I've read about bottle shock previously and the fact that mead just like wine needs to spend few months in bottle to be in prime.

 

[EndlessPurple]

Once you get the score sheets back, please post the results that could tie in, if you don't mind. I've never heard of bottle shock before.

 

[Cyclman]

Bottle shock definitely happens. I tried a cab out of secondary, it was great. Bottled it, opened a bottle a few days later, just horrible. Tried another bottle a month later, awesome again.

Don't know why it happens, but it is definitely real.

 

[paraordnance]

Once you get the score sheets back, please post the results that could tie in, if you don't mind. I've never heard of bottle shock before.

Well, don't have a score sheets in just yet but that same mead got silver medal today at Meadlennium 2013 in 26C. But it has been in new bottle for over a month (was re-bottled for competition)

 

[EndlessPurple]

Congrats on the silver.

So overall, it seems like the verdict is to let the mead "settle in" to the new bottles for a month or more. Then all is good.

 

[huesmann]

What's wrong with just using a funnel, rather than bothering with siphon and wand, if you're just bottling for short-term transpo to a competition?

 

[paraordnance]

What's wrong with just using a funnel, rather than bothering with siphon and wand, if you're just bottling for short-term transpo to a competition?

It will oxidize. I would never use a funnel on my mead. If you follow the thread we are discussing "bottle shock" effect on mead here as well. It seems like it becomes rough around edges as soon as it was moved to another vessel. I would recommend to re-bottle your mead at least 1 month before competition date. I will post update here once my results are in and I can compare them side by side.

 

[ACbrewer]

It woudl be interesting for someone to rebottle a mead and the then do a comparison between the rebottled after a couple of days and original source and again after a month. I mean a few taste tests like this could establish bottle shock, and what sort of off flavors it gives.

 

[Klinzai]

I've done it. poured from wine bottles to beer bottles for competition. no tubes, no siphons, no special precautions. I popped the corks/swingtops, poured, yep poured freehand into the bottles and sent them off. Ribboned regularly. Think of it as a 4th/5th racking that enhances clarity even more if you are concerned with such things

 

[Hasher76]

Is it better to co2 fill the bottle first then transfer? I ask because I was wondering about this as my capsicumel seems to be a bit much to have in 22oz bottles and I want to split it into smaller bottles when needed and re-store it

 

[Raygina]

I have a question about rebottling mead for storage. We did several batches, but somewhere in the mix, some of the bottles aren't labeled. They are all bottled in the swing top bottles. Can we open them, and rebottle in wine bottles with corks once we figure out what is what?