Bottling Question

[nigelportman]

Hi
I am ready to bottle my first mead.(Joe's Ancient Orange and Spice)
It seems to have turned out O.K.
The big question is.Do I need to prime it with sugar,honey or whatever?
Would appreciate a little help here.
Cheers.

[Mamgiowl]

Hi Nigel, and welcome to the forum.

You would only need to prime the bottles if you want a sparkling mead. IMHO mead doesn't really lend itself to sparkles, but that's just my taste. No doubt others will give you more info soon, so hang around.

[Richard S]

Nigel

Are you talking about sweetening the mead? If you are then you need to make sure that it has been stabalised properly in order to prevent fermentation kicking off in the bottle. I recently sweetened a bottle of mead using sugar and it turned out fine. John the Fat Bloke will explain in great detail the ins and outs of making adjustments to mead.

[nigelportman]

Hi Richard.
As this is my first mead,I don't really know.Does it need it,can I just bottle without adding anything?
Is it a dry mead?
Thanks for the help.

[fatbloke]

From my understanding most meads don't lend themselves to carbonation/sparkling.

There are a few recipes that suggest it, but they tend to be very light, varietal honey meads i.e. to be a bit "champagne like".

JAO isn't one of them.

If it tastes Ok as it is, then just bottle as normal, if you're thinking of needing it to be sweeter, then it should be "stabilised" before sweetening - then bottled as normal.

Most bottles become "wine bombs" if you sparkle them - the exception being champagne type bottles. They're made to take pressure - but you'd also need the correct stoppers, wire securing cages and probably foil caps to make 'em look the part.

regards

JtFB

Edit.........p.s. erm, if it was made with bread yeast it will probably be sweet (a hydrometer test will confirm that i.e. gravity over 1010). if it was made with wine yeast, then it's possibly medium i.e. gravity between 1000 and about 1005, or possibly dry at < 1000. JAO actually suits being medium or sweet (though not as sweet as some "dessert" meads I've tried - gravity IRO 1030 to 1040).

If it's finished fermenting i.e. the same gravity 3 days on the trot, cleared, racked and otherwise ready to go, then you should be able to bottle as normal.

[Richard S]

Hi Richard.
As this is my first mead,I don't really know.Does it need it,can I just bottle without adding anything?
Is it a dry mead?
Thanks for the help.

Only you can tell if it is better dry or sweet (individual taste and all that). Pour some into 2 glasses, sweeten one with a little sugar and taste them both then decide which one you prefer.

[nigelportman]

Many thanks for the assistance Mamgiowl,John and Richard.
That answers all my questions.
You have been a great help.

Cheers.