Ageing Mead in jars

tenchu_11 · 04-14-2010, 06:15 AM

I live in rural alaska and just shipping bulk honey here is expensive let alone gallon carboys. Since friends and family go out berry picking we have quite a few gallon size jars, has anyone tried aging mead in glass jars? I would like to add some habiscus my mom brought from mexico in one jar and try fruits and spices in another. Any negative side effects anyone could think of?

**Yooper** · 04-14-2010, 01:36 PM

How big is the headspace? I'm trying to picture if they are wide-mouth type jars. If there is a wide opening, that wouldn't be a good idea. I use those Carlo Rossi wine jugs.

Dr_Gordon_Freeman · 04-14-2010, 01:43 PM

Lots of people use jars or crocks for fermenting mead/wine/beer. Just go with it!

Emerald · 04-14-2010, 02:01 PM

I've been thinking of trying something to that end-- I have a foodsavor vacuum packer and it has the mason jar lid attachment that lets me store my dry goods like herbs and baking extras in my big widemouth mason jars, by sucking all the air out and the lids do stay on quite tight. For the herbs and such it really works well.
Now I am thinking of taking some of my apfelwein and putting it into the mason jars (pint and quart) that have the wide mouth and vacuuming all the air out and seeing how they age in the mason jars. it would help on storage and if it works mason jars and good lids and rings are quite cheap and easily available.. but I don't want to try this on my meads until I find out if it works or not..

do you have the foodsavor? and mason jars? it might be worth a shot.

tenchu_11 · 04-14-2010, 10:10 PM

Well yeah, it would be a mason jar. i'm asuming I could use food grade sealant to help with any contamination. Although wouldn't a 15% Alcohol level help deter any infection from wild strains?

whitcode · 04-15-2010, 02:38 AM

One possibility would be to seal the mason jar with paraffin wax.

malkore · 04-15-2010, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr_Gordon_Freeman

Lots of people use jars or crocks for fermenting mead/wine/beer. Just go with it!

fermenting and aging (as the poster asked) are two very different things.

for aging you want it sealed. canning jars do not seal unless you boil/can them accordingly as they need negative pressure (a vacuum) to seal.

I wouldn't do it.

**shanecb** · 04-15-2010, 10:49 PM

Well one reason it may be a bad idea, is that any sugar you might introduce (such as putting berries or other fruit into the jars) could renew fermentation, which wouldn't be good in a sealed container unless you stabilized it chemically first (not hard to do). I guess it might work if you were to stabilize, flush the headspace with CO2, and get a really good seal on the jar somehow. Otherwise it might not work out too well.

Fletch78 · 04-16-2010, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malkore

fermenting and aging (as the poster asked) are two very different things.

for aging you want it sealed. canning jars do not seal unless you boil/can them accordingly as they need negative pressure (a vacuum) to seal.

I wouldn't do it.

+2
The canning jars are worthless without the canning process. If you are just going to screw the lid on, you might as well use any jar. It will work for moonshine, but pricewise, you should at least be able to get a cheap wing capper. I know yall have beer bottles in Alaska.

Texron · 04-16-2010, 01:48 PM

I am constantly hearing discussion sabout headspace, and understand the reasons why. But, why couldn't you just purge the headspace in your container with CO2? Its heavier than air and will displace the oxygen in just a matter of seconds.