Mead at Altitude

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granddeity

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I plan on brewing my first batch of mead very soon, and I have a question. I plan on bottling in wine bottles with corks. I live at 8500ft, and I was wondering if I bottle at 8500ft and bring it down to sea level is there a possibility that the pressure in the bottle will be enough lower than the pressure outside the bottle that the cork will be sucked into the bottle?

I have searched through much on homebrewtalk, and seen many discussions of high altitude brewing, but I have not seen anybody address this issue. If anybody has any thoughts or experiences with this I would be greatly appreciative.
 
Hm well it would be possible to calculate the force on the cork based on the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the bottle and the surface area of the cork. So if for example that came out to five pounds force then you could say yes or no that it would force the cork into the bottle.
 
well, according to the engineering website: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-altitude-pressure-d_462.html, atmospheric pressure at 8500 ft is about 10.7 psia (absolute pressure in pounds per square inch ). At sea level, the pressure is about 14.7 psia. The difference in pressure is 4 psia. The diameter of the neck of a standard wine bottle is about 3/4", giving an area of 0.44 square inches. The force on the cork is pressure times area, or about 1.6 lbs. I don't think that will give you any trouble, it takes me more than 1.6 lbs of force to remove a cork. Besides, shouldn't it get a little warmer at the lower altitude, and increase the pressure slightly?

tl;dr, it'll be fine.
 

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