What to do if you accidentally bottled carbonated mead?

[Mperkins]

I'm new to mead making, and I'm guessing I didn't degas enough on my last batch I bottle, because when I opened one to test it was carbonated.

My question is I am assuming I need to re bottle all of them in that batch, not to have any type of explosions, and I'm guessing it's because the temperature in the room has been stable that I haven't had any problems so far, or it's just leftover gas from not off-gassing enough, and not enough pressure to break the bottle.

What would be the best method to open the bottles remove the carbonation and rebottled them without spoiling the mead?
12 all together, basic clear wine bottles.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Is this a sweet mead? How did you stabilize it? Is it more carbonated than when you bottled it?

If it's just residual carbonation, that's not much of an issue, but if there's fermentation then you'll have problems.

Welcome to HBT!

 

[ShadesManna]

If you're not sure of the answers to RPh_Guy's questions, here are a few of the options you can use to avoid potential problems:

- Open the bottles, degas again, and re-bottle them. This will remove carbonation, but add the risk of oxidation and other contaminants entering the mead.

- Open the bottles, put them in one large container again (like your secondary fermenter), and wait until the bubbles go away. This will also risk oxidation and other contaminants, but not as highly as the method above.

- Open the bottles, add stabilizer (sulfites) to them to stop any possible fermentation, and re-bottle again. As with the above, this has risks of contaminants entering the mead.

- Keep the bottles as they are, and store them somewhere cold. If you keep the bottles refrigerated, if it is fermentation making the bubbles, the low temperature will halt it. Of course, once you moved the bottles back to higher ambient temperatures, the fermentation could start again, so it's pretty much a "store it til you pour it" kind of solution.

Hope you discover the cause of the bubbles, and if you'd like to get rid of them, hope you find the best solution for your mead.

 

[Yooper]

- Open the bottles, add stabilizer (sulfites) to them to stop any possible fermentation, and re-bottle again. As with the above, this has risks of contaminants entering the mead.

Unfortunately, sulfites are NOT stabilizers and will not stop an active fermentation.

They do help with the risk of oxidation, though.

First, was fermentation finished when you bottled? Any hydrometer readings.

 

[Mperkins]

It's a traditional dry mead
Starting reading was 90
Ending was 1.000

Its been bottled for about two months stored inside between 70 and 76 degrees.

I did not use any stabalizer at the time, I have them now and will in the future.
Campden tablets
Potassium sorbate

Side note, and I don't know if this helps, I just opened another bottle, it too was carbonated, glass hydrometer tested it, still at 1.000.

If it is residual carbonation, can't the bottles handle that?

And would it be possible to stress test them?

 

[Yooper]

The odd thing to me is that it stopped at 1.000. It should have dropped lower, and if it's still at 1.000 (assume you degassed the sample before taking the SG), I'm puzzled.

 

[Mperkins]

The odd thing to me is that it stopped at 1.000. It should have dropped lower, and if it's still at 1.000 (assume you degassed the sample before taking the SG), I'm puzzled.

I think you nailed it, just took another reading after degassing with a magnetic stirrer, and it dropped to 0.990

Does this make more sense?
Maybe I should have, but I was unaware the carbonation would effect it so much.

If this is the case, how dangerous would the others be if left alone?

 

[Yooper]

Well, they won't go any lower, if they are at .990. However, if it gets warmer the c02 could cause some explosions if you have it bottled in wine bottles with corks.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Or leaks if you store the bottles on their side.

 

[ShadesManna]

Unfortunately, sulfites are NOT stabilizers and will not stop an active fermentation.

Thank you for correcting me. Sometimes I get potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate confused.