Bottling the Mead

Mead v.1 was ready for bottling about a week ago, but I could not find time to bottle it.  May and June are always a crazy time at universities, so there have been a lot of demands at work.  Also, we've been working on a deck at home, which has used a lot of time on the weekends.

This morning, I had waited long enough and decided to go for it.  First, I siphoned the mead from its 3 gallon carboy into another one. Why did I do this?  There is a fine precipitate sitting at the bottom of the carboy  the result of clarifying the liquid.  It is easily disturbed, and during the bottling step, there can be a lot of movement of the siphon tube.  By transferring the liquid to a separate container first, it is easier to avoid disturbing those fine solids.  It has certainly worked out well in the past.  But this time, I managed to slightly disturb that precipitate and some of it got into the liquid.  It wasn't much, but there was a slight turbidity to the mead that I ended up bottling.  This is frustrating because the liquid was crystal clear before, and it was an avoidable mistake.  I just hope it settles out over time.

I used my auto-siphon to fill the sanitized bottles (pictured below).  The end result was fourteen 750-mL bottles of mead!  There was little extra, so I put it in a separate bottle and placed it in the fridge.  (This was so I could see what it tastes like when chilled.)

(1)  Bottling.  I don't really need to wear rubber gloves 

for this, but I was sanitizing with bleach solutions, and it was 

easier to just leave them on!

Several hours later, I am writing this with a small glass of chilled mead at hand.  First of all, this stuff is strong - certainly stronger than most wines.  You may recall that I estimated the alcohol content to be 15% or so.  It is obviously sweet, with a mild honey taste, and a hint of oak and cedar.  There is almost no acidity, and the finish is surprisingly clean.  And, yes, it is better served chilled, just like most dessert wines. 

When my wife tried it, she immediately looked up at me with her eyes wide, and said, "Yummy!"  This brings me to an important observation: this mead is ready to drink.  One doesn't need to age it for months and months before uncorking a bottle and pouring a glass.

My daughter asked if she could help make labels.  She drew a nice picture of a commercial bee hive.  From her artwork, I thought the name "Sunnyside" was appropriate.

(2)  Homemade bottle label.

Yesterday was summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.  If only I had bottled this a day before, I could have celebrated the longest day like the ancients - with a glass of mead!