Wax seal question

I'm bottling my first mead this weekend and I have a couple questions. First is how high on the bottle do I fill to? My second question is how long should I wait after corking (natural cork, BTW) before I seal some of the bottles with wax?

MrWildcat2U said:

I'm bottling my first mead this weekend and I have a couple questions. First is how high on the bottle do I fill to? My second question is how long should I wait after corking (natural cork, BTW) before I seal some of the bottles with wax?

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Well, as most wine bottles are sold according to volume i.e. 750ml, that'd be the first level to see how it works and where the likely position of the cork is gonna come relative to where the mead stops..... you might need a little more, or even a little less.

As for how long to wait, well I'd get all of the mead bottled first, then give it a day or two, then set up the wax heater and do all the bottles......

There's no strict timing for the wax, but if you were a registered mead producer, then you'd probably have to get bottles from a reputable glass dealer to ensure that they hold what they're supposed to. I don't know if you have those sort of standards in the US, or whether it just has to be at least what it says on the label.

Just a tip for when you are waxing if you are new to it. Once your wax is up to temp, use a knife of some sort and fill in the top of the bottle with wax (the cork is generally slightly recessed) let that cool and then dip the bottles. You will get a much cleaner finish than if you just dip it, took me a bit to figure that out. Good luck!

bubbachunk said:

Just a tip for when you are waxing if you are new to it. Once your wax is up to temp, use a knife of some sort and fill in the top of the bottle with wax (the cork is generally slightly recessed) let that cool and then dip the bottles. You will get a much cleaner finish than if you just dip it, took me a bit to figure that out. Good luck!

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damn fine tip that one....