Mead bottling: 12 oz, 22 oz, other..? - Page 2

MeadManiac · 08-04-2008, 02:49 PM

I always use wine bottles and generally I use the 375 ml for sweeter meads and meads with fruit in them. For plain meads I use the 750 ml bottles. For me, once that bottle is opened it needs to be finished

MeadManiac · 08-04-2008, 02:51 PM

I always use wine bottles with mead and generally I use the 375 ml bottles for very sweet meads or meads with fruit. I use the 750 ml for regular, medium or dry meads.
For me, once the bottle is opened It needs to be finished off!

Ecnerwal · 09-07-2008, 03:45 PM

I have 3 bottles left from a batch bottled in 1996.

Plain old gold-colored crown caps, and one Grolsh, since I was still using those way back then. A crown capper is much simpler, at least if it's a bench model. That and a jet carboy and bottle washer should be early purchases - they will serve you well for a long time.

While this batch did spend a few years ('97-2001 or so) being weirdly bad to drink, it was not an "oxygen in the bottle" sort of weirdly bad to drink, just a long-term aging issue, and it got better. Since 2001 this stuff has been great.

I think oxygen in the bottle is an overblown concept whipped up to sell things you don't need, unless you are really messing up the bottling process. There's nearly always some CO2 coming out of solution as you move the mead, beer, or cider around, and since CO2 is heavier than air, that will tend to fill the headspace of the bottle at capping time.

gratus fermentatio · 09-08-2008, 08:48 PM

+ 1 on 99's philosophy!

**stromam** · 03-20-2010, 02:19 PM

+1 Ecnerwal

I agree with you on the co2. My only concern with regular bottle caps would be dry rot of the gasket material. I know I see it a lot at the chemical plant I work for, but I think its more a function of frequent use. Also I don't know what the gasket material is made of on the bottle caps.