"Correct" Bottle for Mead?

Is there such a thing as a correct bottle for mead? I don't recall seeing anything consistently used but I thought I'd ask.

Yeah it's a stupid question but it's one of those things that's stuck in my head. :cross:

what ever you can stick it in that looks old.

mead was already falling out of favor when other fermentables were getting common use and wineries breweries were standardizing bottles.

mead kind of missed it.

corked wine bottles might be the least wrong.

my 16oz caped newcastle bottles are very wrong

Agreed. Whatever you put it in. Wine bottles are the most common. Beer bottles, belgian bottles and champagne bottles are used and so are ceramic-style bottles. Usually it depends on mead style too. A beer bottle may expect a lighter, beer-like mead to be had.

Perhaps one of the good things about mead has by not being popularized back then, is that there aren't as many bottle preconceptions. Other than drinking horns and mazer cups, of course.

Mine's in a keg. I'm lazy.

Ooh, I like the ceramic bottle idea. Only thing with that is you can't see how pretty it is. I used a darker wildflower honey and it's like glowing amber ...

Of course I know I *can* put it in anything, was just curious if there was any traditional shape for it.

everything looks great and traditional in belgian bottles

Well I bottle mine in old amber beer bottles (Sam Adams, Flat Tire, Blue Moon, etc.)
with a regular oxygen absorbing crown cap and I slap a label on it. No problems thus far. If you want that Nordic feeling when you drink it, you could always sew up some little viking hats and put them over the cap

Technically, it's classified as a wine, so you could always cork it up as well. Either way, best of luck!

I use 1L swing tops. I try to avoid corking whenever possible.

I believe corked Wine bottles are what all the commercial meads are sold in, at least the ones I've seen. I use corked bottles and 12 oz beer bottles, Either way I pour into a wine glass, and wine stopper the beer / wine bottle.

I generally use various color wine bottles...sometimes the color has something to do with the type of mead. I use green for my cysers, for example, and I try to use clear bottles for meads that have a really nice color, like berry metheglins. The only thing I'm really strict on is that I do use brown glass for my hop metheglins.

I do bottle a few of every batch using standard 12 oz longnecks with oxygen absorbing caps for sending to competitions...

Meadiator said:

Well I bottle mine in old amber beer bottles (Sam Adams, Flat Tire, Blue Moon, etc.)
with a regular oxygen absorbing crown cap and I slap a label on it. No problems thus far. If you want that Nordic feeling when you drink it, you could always sew up some little viking hats and put them over the cap

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I always try to put some in a 12 oz just in case I compete but I think a perfectly clear still mead is not going to age well in a smaller bottle. That might be BS, but I wonder how it can possibly age consistently and correctly in that format.

Beernik said:

I use 1L swing tops. I try to avoid corking whenever possible.

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Is that just because you don't like corking or you feel it has some deleterious impact on the mead? I was leaning towards corking for the bulk of it because of the potential to positively impact the aging process. That and it's just cool. :rockin:

MarshmallowBlue said:

I believe corked Wine bottles are what all the commercial meads are sold in, at least the ones I've seen. I use corked bottles and 12 oz beer bottles, Either way I pour into a wine glass, and wine stopper the beer / wine bottle.

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I've noticed the "zorks" are pretty popular now. Kinda neat but they remove any benefit from the cork. Worrying about "classic" bottles and using a zork is probably setting myself up for a lightning strike.

biochemedic said:

I generally use various color wine bottles...sometimes the color has something to do with the type of mead. I use green for my cysers, for example, and I try to use clear bottles for meads that have a really nice color, like berry metheglins. The only thing I'm really strict on is that I do use brown glass for my hop metheglins.

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I was leaning that way - especially this particular batch causing me to ask the questions. I wish I could get a good picture of the carboy because it almost glows on its own. It's far too pretty to put in a dark bottle.

You know I have yet to try a well-made hop metheglin or a braggot for that matter.

[quote/]I always try to put some in a 12 oz just in case I compete but I think a perfectly clear still mead is not going to age well in a smaller bottle. That might be BS, but I wonder how it can possibly age consistently and correctly in that format.[/quote]

Why wouldn't it be able to? I've heard of a few people doing it before. I'll admit, though. I wasn't entirely sure, so I posted a thread about it. I'll get back to you on it if you plan on bottling this way for some reason, but I doubt you will.

LBussy said:

Is that just because you don't like corking or you feel it has some deleterious impact on the mead?

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I have a hand corker and corked 5 gallons of wine in 750mL bottles with it once. I decided that I didn't want to have that much of a forearm workout again unless I had to.

Flipping a cap shut is pretty damn easy in comparison.

I have one of those Colonna capper/corkers so I think the workout would not be as strenuous ... only the pure of heart uses one of those little corkers for a 5 gallon batch.

I've manage to avoid corking for a few years, but I may have to upgrade to one of those if I'm going to start doing more wines for my wife.

LBussy said:

I have one of those Colonna capper/corkers so I think the workout would not be as strenuous ... only the pure of heart uses one of those little corkers for a 5 gallon batch.

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I've done 10 gallon batches with a wing capper before and its not bad at all, it's all technique, put the bottle on the floor and put your weight on it.

Inner10 said:

I've done 10 gallon batches with a wing capper before and its not bad at all, it's all technique, put the bottle on the floor and put your weight on it.

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I've had some long sessions with wing cappers. If they are in good shape they are not horrible. The plunger style corker is a spawn of hell I think.

I picked this one up because I had neither anymore and knew I'd need both. I have yet to do a batch with it but testing is promising. It is certainly substantial, and the leverage/dimensions/physics is similar to that of a 1-ton arbor press I have so I'm sure it will do the job.

LBussy said:

I've had some long sessions with wing cappers. If they are in good shape they are not horrible. The plunger style corker is a spawn of hell I think.

I picked this one up because I had neither anymore and knew I'd need both. I have yet to do a batch with it but testing is promising. It is certainly substantial, and the leverage/dimensions/physics is similar to that of a 1-ton arbor press I have so I'm sure it will do the job.

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I typed wing capper but meant to say double lever corker. Not sure how I managed that...

The keys are right next to each other.

I use a "portugese style double lever corker" , Not sure what makes it Portugese, But it works great. Just put the bottle between your knees and use gravity to do the job.

I use the same one as pictured above, and do full batches (~ 2 cases of 750's) with it all the time. In fact, I've never used anything else! I do use it with the bottles on a low counter, which probably gives me a little bit of weight leverage compared with a standard height counter.

biochemedic said:

I use the same one as pictured above, and do full batches (~ 2 cases of 750's) with it all the time. In fact, I've never used anything else! I do use it with the bottles on a low counter, which probably gives me a little bit of weight leverage compared with a standard height counter.

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Yep it's a breeze but they are crap for long corks.

So is there any reason to NOT use beer bottles? I brew beer almost exclusively though I did try a couple one gallon meads but have been waiting to bottle because I don't have a corker. I guess I could just bottle it up similar to beer (minus the priming sugar)? Not sure why I never really considered this.

Nothing wrong with beer bottles, When you bring it to a party, sometimes people are a bit sketched out by de-labled brown beer bottles, and are a little more open to de-labled wine bottles. In my experience. They also forget to realize that its wine and should be in a glass, and just drink it out of the beer bottle!

But other than that, and the aging changes. Nothings wrong with beer bottles. I have a 12 pack of mead in my closet with 10+ empty de labled bottles waiting for their time to shine as well.

Awesome, I'll have to bottle me up some mead (in beer bottles).

I agree with the above on the beer bottling. I think if you were to dip the neck of the bottle in wax, it'll probably help clarify that it's like a wine and it makes it look pretty nice too.

All of my mead goes in standard clear wine bottles from lhbs. I make mostly melomels and all those colors are shame to hide

paraordnance said:

All of my mead goes in standard clear wine bottles from lhbs. I make mostly melomels and all those colors are shame to hide

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There is that...

Can't you buy clear beer bottles though? Other than already filled...

Brann_mac_Finnchad said:

There is that...

Can't you buy clear beer bottles though? Other than already filled...

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Absolutely ... and I think I will for this batch. All sorts of bottles out there, here's *a* source:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/

The reason I bookmarked that one is the clear swingtops they have:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/swingtopbottlesmi.aspx

Since I'm doing a one gallon batch and its very easy to transport, is there any reason not to just slowly pour the mead in the bottling bucket rather than siphoning it out? It's crystal clear and I don't even see any sediment at the bottom but wasn't sure if there was some reason from a oxidation standpoint that it'd be better to siphon the mead....From an ease standpoint, just pouring it in would be much quicker and easier.

There are some 16oz-22oz capped bottles out there. I use the green bottles Italian sparkling water comes it. The labels remove easily and they don't look like anything in a beer or wine store.

cincybrewer said:

Since I'm doing a one gallon batch and its very easy to transport, is there any reason not to just slowly pour the mead in the bottling bucket rather than siphoning it out? It's crystal clear and I don't even see any sediment at the bottom but wasn't sure if there was some reason from a oxidation standpoint that it'd be better to siphon the mead....From an ease standpoint, just pouring it in would be much quicker and easier.

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Meh, I've poured out of gallon jugs, just try to reduce splashing as much as possible.

cincybrewer said:

Since I'm doing a one gallon batch and its very easy to transport, is there any reason not to just slowly pour the mead in the bottling bucket rather than siphoning it out? It's crystal clear and I don't even see any sediment at the bottom but wasn't sure if there was some reason from a oxidation standpoint that it'd be better to siphon the mead....From an ease standpoint, just pouring it in would be much quicker and easier.

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I would imagine it's easier to not aerate when siphoning, but other than that if there's no sediment, nobody should send the mead police.

MarkKF said:

There are some 16oz-22oz capped bottles out there. I use the green bottles Italian sparkling water comes it. The labels remove easily and they don't look like anything in a beer or wine store.

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I don't recall seeing any water bottles with a pry-off cap (at least not Italian ones). I'll have to keep my eyes open.

S.Pellegrino sparkling mineral water 16.9 oz. larger bottles are screw caps.

Inner10 said:

Meh, I've poured out of gallon jugs, just try to reduce splashing as much as possible.

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Good to know. I can't imagine it is that much different than siphoning. Even that splashes a little.