Mead- Caps or Corks?

[Ant]

Hi everyone, my Mead is ready for bottling soon and I have some nice bottles which are capped. Will these be ok for Mead or are corks much better?
I'm probably only going to leave it until Christmas to drink as I only used a cheap honey and don't think its going to be amazing!
Cheers

 

[charlie_mead_face]

i'd say get some screw top wine bottles (75cl) from a pub or ask some friends if they have got any thier recycleing or if you do use corks get synthetic ones.
PS how many times have you racked it? and have you degased it?
PPS if you did your mead in a 5l demi you'll get 5 1/2 bottles so i put the 1/2 in a beer bottle.
PPPS if your worried about it not being good and your leaving it till xmas you could add some festive spice: cinnamon clove ect or i've just bottled one and on its last rack i added the rind of an orange to infuse.

 

[Ant]

I started it in a fermenting bucket then siphoned it off into a dj under airlock.
Yesterday I racked it again to get it off the sediment and got a hydrometer reading of 1.012. Its not fermenting as much as it was but there are a few bubbles appearing now, it's got a nice colour now aswell.
Thought I'd leave it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.
I like the idea of addidng spices but I might start a fresh one if can find a good recipe.
I was going to use 500ml Apsull Cider bottles which I've kept and cap em.

 

[charlie_mead_face]

caps will be fine the only thing i'd say is try and remove the gas befor bottling or you'll get a partially fizzy mead which i think has a bit of a weird feel to it. what honey and yeast did you use? i found a great site that does cheap (but very good) honey in bulk http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/honey-in-bulk/

 

[Ant]

I used Asda's own honey. Up to now it doesn't taste that bad but I reckon theres room for improvement. Maybe it'll taste better in a few months. I used Youngs Super Wine Yeast.
There is a bit of headspace in the dj, should I worry about that?
Cheers for the link, i'll take a look :thumb:

 

[charlie_mead_face]

no thats fine it will soon be full of co2 plus honey has antibacterial properties so infection risk is pretty low. as you let it mature the taste will improve but the original taste of the honey will dictate the final product. here are a few more links that helped when i first got the mead bug
http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/mead-recipes.htm
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editori ... honey-mead
http://www.simplynatural.org.uk/acatalo ... achet.html
hope they help :

 

[Ant]

Cheers for the links!
How do I go about de-gassing?

 

[charlie_mead_face]

you can get a de-gaser (http://www.brewsmarter.co.uk/23-litre-d ... -136-p.asp) that fits in a hand drill (i made my own with an old drill bit) or a really cheap way is clean out a 2l fizzy drinks bottle fill it 3/4 full of your brew, squeeze all the air out and put the lid back on and shake it till it stops exspanding then its ready to bottle. :