Bottles

[Purdaddy]

I'm a few months away from bottling, but better to be prepared. I know this may be redundant, but anyone have a cheap website that supplies bottles for mead? I'm going to end up with a little over five gallons. Amazon had one package for about 50 bucks that included a corker, 12 bottles and 12 corks (I know that's not enough bottles / corks). Doesn't seem like the best deal since I've found plenty of (manual) corkers for cheap. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ace_Club]

If you're still months away from bottling, start hitting up family and friends for empty wine and champagne bottles. The wine bottles you can cork, and the champagne bottles (at least some of them) you can cap with a normal bottle capper.

You should easily be able to collect enough empties to cover your bottling needs.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You can often get bottles for free from bars or restaurants if you ask them; you'll likely have a harder time scrubbing them though as they usually don't rinse them. If you feel like buying new bottles, you can get them at any homebrew supply shop or online, here's a good link to get them: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=wine+bottles
Hope that helps. Regards, GF.

 

[Bush_84]

I've gotten my bottles from three sources. Friends and family is one. Just remind everybody to keep their beer bottles and wine bottles. Beer bottles work well if you want to carbonate your mead, and I believe they are easier to get. The second source is restaurants. Your best bet is to check out an Italian place. My parents have one in their town that my dad can get boxes and boxes every week. So check that one out! Maybe start with something like Olive Garden or a small family Italian place. If they serve wine, check it out. The third (and the messiest) is to check out a recycle drop off station. We have one in town, and I've gotten a ton of bottles from it. It's kinda dumpster diving, but I refuse to buy something that I can easily get for free. I have easily gotten 100+ beer bottles this way.

All will likely require some cleaning, but I just soak them overnight and it works just fine.

 

[Purdaddy]

Thanks, awesome advice. I'm gonna start emailing places soon. Anything free looks good to a college student.

 

[BrewinME]

A college student having trouble finding alcohol bottles? My dorm has recycling for glass. I just hit it up after every friday night.

 

[MeadWitch]

I work at a hotel and the bar has tons of beer bottles for my cider, but I get all of my mead bottles from a friend who works for Water to Wine. Wine bars are an excellent place to get bottles. You do have to put in a bit of effort in cleaning and removing labels but hey they are free and free is goooooood!

 

[Purdaddy]

Another question, may be a bit unorthodox but....how do mason jars work with mead? (non carbonated)

 

[NWMOBrewer]

if you insist, http://morewinemaking.com/view_prod...les_-_Green_Bordeaux_Style_750ml_-_Case_of_12

and check a LHBS for a cheaper corker. I found a pressure corker for less than $10 at mine. I'm getting it for my first mead

 

[Texron]

I have started bottling my wine and mead-12 bottles in a wine bottle that would make a nice gift-and the rest go into beer bottles. Crown caps are real cheap and everyone has an opener for them. I'm not to hung up on appearances for my own stock and thats what most of what I make goes into. To me, family and close friends, we're are all just fine with the beer bottles!

 

[MeadWitch]

Another question, may be a bit unorthodox but....how do mason jars work with mead? (non carbonated)

Never tried it but if that is all you got, go with it. I use mason jars for canning so I cannot really see much difference. How would you seal them? With canning either the contents are hot causing the lid to seal while cooling or a hot water bath is used to seal the lids.

 

[Bush_84]

Head space may also be a concern. With wine you just have a small area in the neck, you will have a larger surface area exposed to air in a jar.

 

[Purdaddy]

After some searching I've found plenty of reuseable wine bottles in some recycling bins (thank you, holidays.) Only question is, aside from re-corkable bottles, how about bottles with twist offs? Would it be okay to clean / sanitize, then just put the twist off back on after I bottle some mead in it? Or, just cork a bottle with a twist off? Or avoid said bottles all together. Thanks again, sorry to be so annoying with these questions.

 

[mindghost]

After some searching I've found plenty of reuseable wine bottles in some recycling bins (thank you, holidays.) Only question is, aside from re-corkable bottles, how about bottles with twist offs? Would it be okay to clean / sanitize, then just put the twist off back on after I bottle some mead in it? Or, just cork a bottle with a twist off? Or avoid said bottles all together. Thanks again, sorry to be so annoying with these questions.

I too get most of my bottles from the wine I drink and the recycle bin. Even if it is a twist off, I just cork the sucker

 

[MeadWitch]

After some searching I've found plenty of reuseable wine bottles in some recycling bins (thank you, holidays.) Only question is, aside from re-corkable bottles, how about bottles with twist offs? Would it be okay to clean / sanitize, then just put the twist off back on after I bottle some mead in it? Or, just cork a bottle with a twist off? Or avoid said bottles all together. Thanks again, sorry to be so annoying with these questions.

I avoid twist off bottles altogether. They just don't have the qualilty of appearance I am looking for. After using the best quality honey I can afford and first rate ingredients for my meads, why would I put it in a second rate bottle? Just saying......

 

[Bush_84]

I'm not sure the necks are meant/built to be corked.

 

[cinderbike]

I hoard the martinelli's sparking cider bottles. They can be capped with a standard capper and hold 750mL.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

The local meadery I visited on Sunday used a bottle (750ml) that had a glass cap with an o-ring to seal. Very nice and formal looking arrangement. I'm definitely saving those bottles when they are empty.

Anyone know a source for those bottles? I have in mind to brew some mead primarily to give as Christmas presents next year, and some nice bottles would be a nice touch.

 

[virginiawolf]

I had made 2 different batches of mead one a year and 2 months ago and one about 8 months ago. I transferred both batches into secondary carboys and was aging them. Finally I got tired of it taking up my basement space and carboys so I put it in 1 gallon jugs with cheap type twist on tops and pop top bottles. I blasted co2 into the bottles before bottling and into the slight space before the cap. Is new twist on cap unacceptable? Do I have to use a cork? I've only bottled beer before never wine. I dont want the 1 gallon jugs to spoil.