Is bottling mead in beer bottles a bad thing for aging?

1.If you just bottle your mead in 12 oz. beer bottles, crown cap, and wax seal, will you have any problems when it comes to aging?

2.Does the size of the bottle itself matter?

3.Using this method, how long will it stay drinkable?

4. What is the best method to keep a bottle of mead as long as possible without oxidizing?

 

Honestly if you have a decent amount of sulfites and a good seal I don't see why it wouldn't last many many years.

 

I've got a dry mead from late 2010 that I stored in beer bottles, unwaxed. The last one I had, a month or two ago, was the best so far.

 

It's not that it's not going to age nicely. What you may find is a mild to moderate difference between the flavors in each beer bottle. This is why we age as much as we can in the carboy before bottling.

However, nothing is particularly wrong with bottling in beer bottles with crown caps. I do it!

 

Just out of curiosity, why would differences in flavor be produced simply because of the bottle?

 

Less temperature stability and different oxygen levels in bottles.

 

Sounds like another addition to my list of mead experiments that needs to be done........

 

So if I bulk aged a mead for about a year and then bottled it, do you think this would take out those negative factors? Or at least reduce them?

 

I'm glad someone is asking this. I was wondering about this myself. Though, provided they dont spoil, subtle differences in each bottle sounds like a bonus.

 

If you can, I would bulk age until it's how you like it, then bottle.

 

Which is exactly how I manage this part of the process.

If you want to bottle in beer bottles, then that's fine.

Some people worry about the slightly larger air space, in relation to the the amount of liquid in a beer bottle (when compared to the size of a wine bottle), and use oxygen absorbing caps - which is equally fine.

If I use beer bottles, I just try to store them up right. Because there's no cork that needs to be kept moist like with corks and wine bottles, plus even brand new caps will have been rattling around in a bag or box prior to purchase and keeping them upright, helps remove any chance of liquid contact with steel that might have been scratched by the edges of other caps and in theory could rust over time (it's not generally a problem, because there's the plastic seal piece built into the cap - but some people like to be very anal in their precautions).

Then, at least in theory, it should at least last as long as the sell by/use by date codes used on beers, probably much longer, as meads are much higher alcohol and don't degrade like beers do. So I'd have thought that once in the bottle, and capped, you should have 2 to 3 years at least, probably much longer.

 

I put a lot in 16oz bottles but any size works. Crown caps are underrated, I've had up to four years with regular crown caps, most around 2-3 years.
wax makes no difference.
All the long term bottles/caps were sanitized with iodophor.

I just can't seem to keep it around longer than that

 

FWIW, I have a couple of meads that have been under crown caps for 20+ years, and they're fine.

I would recommend reducing the head space, if the recipe is one that is prone to oxidation.

Ken

 

New mead maker here........first real attempt about 4 months in to my first batch. Would there be a way to know whether a particular recipe is prone to oxidation? I did a basic recipe using a 11 pounds of a good orange blossom honey and water to 5 gallons and did staggered nutrient additions and aeration with DAp and Fermaid K. 71B-1122 yeast. I've racked twice, very clear and now cold crashing at 0.998 with the plan to backsweeten with the same honey and verify fermentation does not restart before bottling in a few months. Trying to avoid sorbate if I can. Trying to decide on bottles to use........thanks.

 

I have a few bottles remaining from batches that I made in 2010 and the ones in beer bottles/crown caps have held up A LOT better than the wine bottle/zorks.

I've use a lot of flip tops, but I do not have a crown or zork bottle of the same batch to compare them too. I'd say that they performed closer to the crown caps than to the zorks. A few bottles have some oxidation issues after 3 years, but I think that a lot of their problems happened before they were bottled. I think mead is much more forgiving and hid the problems during the first year or two. Also, I'm sure my palate and technique has improved so that I am much more aware of the defects.