Wedding Mead

Ok, so, I have been domesticated and will be hitched on June 2. I have 2 gallon batches of rather nice JAOM (started in mid-November) that we are going to be putting into little swing-top bottles as favors for 2 of our tables.

The bottles just came in.

Do you think I should bottle these bad boys now? How should I store them?

Right now I have them in secondary (think, split up into big Johnny Walker handles...)

Thanks for your advice

:fro:

The question I would have to ask first is "is the JOAM completly clear and droping no sediment"? I would assume that it would be by now but we know what you get when you assume. If that is all clear then there seems to be big debate on the aging process. Bulk aging is just keeping in secondary after racking off all possible sediment and letting it sit. Then there is your thought of letting it age in the bottle. The con that a lot of people bring with that is that each bottle will age differently and each bottle will have a slightly different taste. Personally I don't care. This mead is not going into a judged competition where multiple samples are needed so if it is easier on you. I would say go for it & just bottle it.

Awesome, thanks Arg. I was worried about bulk aging because one of the batches has a bit of headspace.

Its clear as a bell (really really pretty JAOM). Hope everyone likes it .

CreamyGoodness said:

Awesome, thanks Arg. I was worried about bulk aging because one of the batches has a bit of headspace.

Its clear as a bell (really really pretty JAOM). Hope everyone likes it .

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Yes, concur there. Get it racked and clear. That way you'll know how much exactly, you have to bottle etc. Whether you'd need to change to smaller bottles etc to make sure everyone gets a schlurp....

I figure once its all bottled up it can hang out in the nice cool and dark basement of my f-i-l.

It doesn't really matter if each bottle tastes slightly different, unless your guests are going to be drinking from each others' bottles.

Once I get them in their little swingtops, is there anything I should do with them? I know that sounds obvious but I tend to pour from secondary into glass into James and don't really bottle as a rule...

I think it came out looking quite pretty. The light yellow is the Basswood variety, where the deeper amber is "wildflower."

Looks fine....presuming that the slight cloudy appearance is crappy focusing on camera...

The nature of bread yeast and it not flocculating very well, I'd have said that to make sure you don't get any possible sediment dropping out before the big day, to have racked it too a bucket, then running it through a 1 micron filter prior to bottling.

Either way, some poncey ribbon and bows should do the trick.....

thanks bloke . I figure if there is a little yeasty cloudiness still there it should clear up and drop to the bottom by the time of the wedding.

I would have let it settle longer, as long as you can before the wedding, in order to clear a bit more. It's not too late to do that. Sediment in wine is a bit unappetizing to most non-winemakers.

Thing is, you could have read the bible through it (if you had one laying around), it was that clear. Only when I started to bottle did I agitate the lees :-(.

huesmann said:

I would have let it settle longer, as long as you can before the wedding, in order to clear a bit more. It's not too late to do that. Sediment in wine is a bit unappetizing to most non-winemakers.

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That's why it's a good idea to rack once or twice more before you bottle. Or use a fining agent that produces better flocculation.

Looking at your bottles I think you're going to end up with a small amount of yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottles. I know you were worried about headspace, but I would have racked it at least once maybe twice more.

If you have access to co2 you could have put a co2 blanket into the carboy after each racking to reduce the change of oxidization.

thank you for all the feedback guys. Live and learn, right? I warned the inlaws about the possibility of sediment, and they all played it off as if it were a non-issue. Good folks, those .

Where did you get those awesome bottles?

BrewerJack said:

Where did you get those awesome bottles?

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Possibly someplace like this: http://www.specialtybottle.com/swingtopbottlesmi.aspx
or this:
http://www.essentialsupplies.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=MET200&dept=Glass

It was indeed specialtybottle.com. SWMBO got them.