Bubbles in Bottles

[evantaruna]

Hi. I fermented this mead for 3 weeks and I realized that it is time to bottle it. After bottling, I realized that there are bubbles inside the mead. Is it okay?

I hope you guys can help me.

Thank you.

 

[SimPilot]

Typically you'd want to make sure that your final gravity reading haven't moved for at least two weeks.... fermentation inside a bottle makes them go "boom".

 

[bushpilot]

I think you likely bottled too early. What was your indication that it was time to bottle?

Based on your response, I might un-bottle, putting it into a secondary vessel (carboy) to let it age and settle a bit, before bottling again.

As @SimPilot suggested, you may be facing bottle bombs if it isn't completely fermented.

 

[mashpaddled]

Depending on the gravity, three weeks might be a little early for some meads. If you didn't check the FG to ensure the mead was done, you may have some dangerously carbonated bottles.

That said, you may have some CO2 remaining in solution even with complete fermentation. If you didn't thoroughly degas you can retain some of that CO2 into the bottle. Not a big deal but maybe not what you intended.

The only way to know for sure would be to test the gravity. If you didn't test before bottling, you may want to sacrifice a bottle, test FG and see if you need to put the mead back into a fermentation vessel to complete fermentation.