How to Bottle Mead, Wine and Cider - Bottling your Brew!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- How to Bottle Mead, Wine and Cider - Bottling your Brew! You made a mead, a wine or a cider, and now it's time to store it. How to bottle it? What do you need to bottle your brew? Does the type of bottle matter? What are some safe practices for bottling your brew?
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Did my first bottling early this morning. 6 bottles of sweet red wine and 5 bottles of basic mead. Both absolutely delicious. I would not have been able to do it without your videos,
Yeah I started making some mead too after watching their video, but I'm a bit hesitant to rack it, the beverage has become too precious for me haha! Seeing this though gives me motivation, so this afternoon I'm going to take the reading and rack it for the first time. Hope I don't spill it :)
@@HueghMungus I know what you mean by your mead being "precious". I used to buy commercial cider and just consume it without even thinking.
But now I've started brewing my own cider, wines and meads, I find I drink a lot more sparingly - slowly sipping and savouring every drop, because I better appreciate how much time and effort goes into making it.
@@Anomander64 Hi, thanks for replying to me, now I feel obligated to reply back. Now I made two batches of mead. First one in a huge container of plastic, second one in a bottle like CS Mead used.
I've taken a reading of the brew 2, which gives me 13.4% ABV. As the holder I used was too big for brew 1, so leas and mead was more mixed, I couldn't read it. (Totally different case if I made 30 gallons for brew 1 haha!) (So I had initially 30 gallon container with 3 gallons in it, and a second container like CS Mead's)
Now I've poured everything from the first brew into a glass container (leas and all). I might have bothered the yeast/killed the yeast, so I will let them both rest for a few more weeks. Then use the batch 2 to take another reading and then rack them both. Hopefully they'll be clear and done for Christmas season :)
Great video :)
Tip for people using corks for their bottles (for gifts or just nice looking).
Keep the bottle standing upright for 3 days before you lay it on the side.
When squeesing the cork into the bottle opening, it takes roughly 48 hours (depending on a ton of valirables) for the cork to expand fully and seal correctly. Laying it down the same day, and you will probably experience "cork bleed" where you see your brew seep out around the cork ... I learned this the hard way :p
Good tip!
Labeling your brews and later cleaning your bottles can be a pain as well. I know folks use tapes for a quick and easy label but you can alternatively use copy paper. Instead of an adhesive, just wipe down the back side of the paper with a think layer of Milk (must be real milk from an animal and not vegetable based) and apply it to the bottle. It will hold firmly in place until gets saturated with water and you are ready to use the bottle for something else.
I normally leave them standing up for 24-48 hours and I have not had any issues with brew seeping out. I have noticed some of the older brews do seem to have some that worked its way into the cork though. I might try leaving it standing up for longer to see if that prevents it.
I think my first batch of mead is almost finished so this video could not have come at a better time.Love from South Africa.
My auto siphon came with a clip to hold it in place which makes it super easy to start if you're just one person.
Thank you for showing this. Beginning home brewers struggle with this a lot! The tip about labeling one’s bottles is something a lot of beginning brewers also forget about. I use masking tape as well and use the widest kind I can find: it has enough room on there for a name, inoculation date, starting gravity, final gravity, bottling date and ABV. Adding both dates kind of gives me an idea of how long it took for my brew to finish before bottling it, which I like… although that information is in my brewing journal as well.
Speaking of brewing journals: I know you’re not really into those Brian although you do have one (yup: watched all your videos, tee-hee!) but the most practical (for me!) that I found is a recipe binder with removable pages and tabs. I can take out a page to write comfortably and divided my journal into categories: recipes I want to make but haven’t made myself, repeat brews, metheglins, melomels, … and the fact that I can move pages around means I can put as many or few pages I want in each section. It.s A5 size which to me is the perfect size and if I run out of pages I can buy any old kind of A5 size paper with standard spaced perforations. A simple office perforator can punch the holes if the paper isn’t pre-perforated.
Confession: I always chucked when you referred to it as a "springy thing". After losing two bottles of good Viking Blood Mead a few weeks ago... I broke down and bought one.
I did that as well, it was less than $10 and worth every penny.
I always recommend a quick taste test right before bottling as well. That taste test will help make sure you are not bottling something that is still gassy. I usually let them naturally degas when I shifted to the "last" racking having to sit a minimum of 2x the time it took to get there (fermentation + secondary + any additions). While that normally works I have still had a couple of brews that the gravity was stable for 4+ months but they refused to naturally degas. One of those I bottled and blew the corks on every single one :(
Here in Australia, we don't have 1 gallon carboys - the vast majority are 5 litres, and they have a narrow throat, so many auto siphons won't with inside the throat. Smaller auto siphons don't reach the bottom of the carboy, leaving too much brew behind, so our only alternative is a very tall, thin one. The joys of living in the antipodes.
I actually started pasteurizing my 1 gal carboys leaving the airlock on. Once ive done the 140 degrees for 20-30 mins i let them cool overnight and bottle the next day. If you think Cold Crashing clears a brew??? Try this!!! Completely crystal clear next morning every time!!!
I have been collecting nice looking bottles (from family/friends) from whiskey, gin, vodkas, interestingly shaped wine bottles, etc. Aiming to get 4-5 of each style and then I will be bottling each of my meads into different bottles. I also use a smaller bottle for the last one, as you never get five 750ml bottles at the end. Just an idea for others, and it's fairly easy to remember what is what without any labels, unless you have too many brews ;)
Great video.
Perfect timing for me to watch! I just bottled by myself last night and had a dickens of a time. I appreciate all your tips. Thanks for making these videos.
Thank you for watching!
I hope you saved that little whispy bit in the bottom of the fermenter for John 😜😜😄
LOL
Looking forward to your next brewing series. I started brewing like you this fall and I am currently brewing both Blackcurrant wine and Strawberry wine with berries from my garden.
Ive mentioned this before on a previous video, but you can drop the siphon tube in without the racking cane in it and then put the racking cane in while pushing down the stem valve, it works for me almost every time
PCOL (Pickle) the paint can of levitation, and BOSL (Bossel) the book of supplemental levitation.
BOSE book of supplemental elevation?
3 years in I can finally bottle my brews....lol jk great video guys as always.
Great video, as usual! Looking forward to more new brews! 👍👍
I'm not sure if I missed it, but which mead was this? Only curious, keep up the good work
After racking you can set your fermenter at an angle so the fall out/lees will settle on an angle making the next/final rack cleaner.
You can, if you have the space or method to secure it, absolutely.
Guy guys, Edward from Sydney Australian. First, you made me really interested on making mead and my first once was ginger mead and we love it!! Been looking at clarifying “ WAIT! I know clarity means nothing. And I watch your clarity vid”. But I’m one of those curious people. So question: have you tried eggshells for clarification? If so what’s the outcome?
The introdution was a surprise. XD
I recognize that partial bottle :)
just found your videos today, as after rennaisance fair in minnesota i am intereseted in making my own mead. I already make my own moonshine (which gotten pretty good with a solid 130) and wanted to venture out into mead. i'm about 7 videos in on your channel and cant wait to watch more. One thing i didn't see that i would like to suggest, is rhubarb mead. please please please do one. its my wifes favorite and would like to incorporate that into a mead so we might be able to drink it together. Thanks and looking forward to watching more stuff from you and your wife
oh, and noticed in a video a couple years ago you said you would like to do this full time. I subbed and subscribed to you and wanted to know if youve made that happen yet?
We would make rhubarb if it were readily available here in Florida.
YES! We do this full time now, for about 15 months.
@@CitySteadingBrews I live in Wisconsin now and it's a little more accessible. I made my first 2 two gallons n batches yesterday from your videos. Traditional and viking blood (raspberry's though instead of cherry), excited to see how they turn out
Brikings are back with bottling the brew. 👍
Useful information as always. Thanks guys!
Love you guys keep up the great work!
For degassing, an other youtuber suggested in his video to use a vacuum pump for wine bottles. The kind you use to put a pressure cap on opened wine bottles. Have anyone here tried that? Sounds like something much better than using those drill attachements and stirring the brew for 20 minutes ;)
We did a video on that :)
@@CitySteadingBrews Gonna have to find it then LOL!
Today I found some Cherry wine and Elderberry wine at my local Aldi. €3.60 for 0.75L. They come in the **EXACT SAME** fliptop bottles I've been using for the last three years. Those bottles cost me about €2.20 a piece.
The cherry is a bit 'meh' but the elderberry is pretty good. But for that price it's darn tasty.
Buy the bottle, get the wine for free.
(Hope to get some more tomorrow.)
i think Bach was a nice touch, one of my favorites.
I have gone away from using the bottling wand. I used both the 750ml and 375ml bottles. Unfortunately they have those bases that are raised. There is no space in the bottom to properly press the stem valve down, so it won’t flow properly. Really frustrating. So I use silicone tubing with a clip on it. Messier and riskier but faster and less painful.
I just push the wand to the corner in those bottles.... seems to work just fine.
I have question, I made 5 gallon batch of terditional mead about 3 months ago using D47 starting gravity was 1.110 now its at about 1.02. I racked it off to 4 1 gallon jugs to see if that would help and about 1/2 gallon to a small jug with blue berry. The jug with blue berries is done 1.000, same mead just blue berries add. I have tried fermade o to help thinking it was a nutrient issue. if you have any ideas i would love to hear them. Also i love your videos they got me into making mead and now its one of my favorite hobbies.
Racking it will actually slow fermentation. Best to just let it go. But, using D47, starting at 1.110 and going to 1.020? you're already at 12.15%. The blueberries may have given a bit more sugars or fermentables to work through. Some amount of nutrients also, but there are so many factors here that it's hard to say. However, racking does remove a considerable amount of the yeast colony thereby really harming further fermentation.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you for the advice, that's my plan just let it go and check it weekly to see if sg changes.
Very new to home brewing but this channel has been a big help!. I’m trying to make cider from apple juice. I want to carbonate it by using priming sugar. I really don’t want there to be left over yeast at the bottom of the bottles. Could I cold crash rack and than still carbonate it like usual? (I hope this makes sense)
You rack it, then carbonate it. Though, using natural carbonation there will always be a tiny amount of lees in the bottom of the bottle due to it being a tiny fermentation.
@@CitySteadingBrews thanks for the quick reply. Keep up the amazing content. Every time I scroll through your videos I get new ideas!
It’s kind of funny that you showed how to do it alone cause I had to bug my husband to help me rack my beginner mead off the fruit cap the other day. When we bottle if he’s busy I might just try it myself
Some of the bottling canes (like the one I have) allow the brew to flow if they simply rest on the bottom of the bottle so it's much easier to do it yourself as you don't have to press down. They stop flowing when you lift them up. If you have one of those then it's much easier. The hardest thing is if you have some leese left on the bottom and you don't want to disturb it, but a double rack (and then wait a week perhaps to let things settle) should solve that problem.
@@theastronomer5800 my plan is to rack it off to a pitcher and then into bottles cause letting it sit for a week it definitely had more fallout.
I didn't do a 3rd rack after oaking a bochet, really wish I had. It has goop in the bottom of the bottles.
Rack your bottles :)
Does that little bit of air in the top pose any risk for acetobacters (not sure if that is spelled correctly)? I would assume no, but it always worried me when I bottled that I was skipping some step to remove the O2 in the neck of the bottle. Pardon the silly question.
Once your brew goes over ~10% the chances of anything happening with it are very small. If your bottles are undisturbed it's also likely that there is just a tiny bit of CO2 left which will de-gas over time and form a small protective layer above the brew (even with brews that appeared to be de-gased (which is the case after a few months), when I bottled and then open them a month later you can hear just a little bit of gas coming out).
I made a mistake in bottling some wine and I have sediment in the bottom of the bottles. I saw your video on not using a coffee filter and was wondering how I could get the sediment out at this late stage.
You don't really. Just pour carefully. It happens.
Question for you. After you have finished the bottling do you store the bottles you leave for a year upright or do you store them horizontally in a wine rack and rotate them.
Ta.😊
Upright, unless you use corks.
@@CitySteadingBrews 👍
When you use screw tops how tight do you apply the cap?
Just finger tight.
Noob question: You talk about degassing, and also avoiding oxidation, but many people degas their wine using a power drill attachment which seems very intense, so how is such vigorous-degassing-then-siphoning any different from just doing a nice sloppy pour from vessel to vessel? Thanks for all the info. Cheers!
It’s completely different. The drill is contained within the fermenter and is not meant to splash. It also forces the co2 out the narrow opening. Pouring would collect air as it travels and oxidize the brew. That all said… we let time do the degassing for the most part.
Ahh ok its that positive CO2 pressure pushing oxygen away then? Think I get it. Cheers!
More or less.
I am asking a question that is off topic. I apologize but not sure which video it would fall best under so I just decided to ask it here after watching your latest (this) video. So I noticed the other day while my wife and I were shopping that the wines she buys in the store often times have an ABV of around 6%. I didn't even think that was wine but I noticed many of them are low like that. My questions. Is that wine? Since my wife and her friends are fine with an ABV like that should I be making a lower ABV than say 12% to match what they are already drinking? If I wanted to make a wine with lower ABV say not over 10% what yeast would you recommend? This is for mostly fruit wines. TIA
I've never seen any wine at 6%.... the easy was is just use less fermentables.
@@CitySteadingBrews I was surprised too but several of the ones we looked at and a couple that she liked are 6%
So is there a particular bottle that is not a champagne bottle that can be used without burping for carbonating a brew?
You only want to use bottles made for carbonation if carbonating… or did I misunderstand?
@@CitySteadingBrews
Well, certain gigantic websites don't really specify which bottles are made for that and most brewing sites I have read say you have to burp them lest they explode. So as for carbonating bottles, I'm just trying to pin down the right bottles. I have plenty of the Otis swing tops, but they're also not clear about carbonating.
I reuse bottles that held carbonation or use swing tops. They are normally made for it. As for the burping… if you carbonate correctly there is no need.
Just been apprehensive about carbonating some of my stuff due to boomage.
@@PacesIII you can always store the bottles in a heavy duty tote, or cooler for safety and contain possible mess in case of boom age until you get comfortable with the process
I've had a bottle exlopde first time doin wine. It was in a separate room and it stained walls. Glass were suck in the ciealing. Sounded like a granade when it exploded in the middle of the night. scary stuff. Not making that mistake again!
Is there a specific alcohol that it has to be in order to store it at room tempature?
Not really. Any abv level can be stored but higher as in double digits will likely last longer.
Hello Brian and Derica :) Sorry if I missed you mentioning it, but could you recommend an auto siphon? I bought a non-auto siphon, and had a couple of infuriating moments spilling my brews and so on. I started googling for one, and... the reviews on most are pretty bad. I am not quite sure what to get. Yours looks like really nice quality.
amzn.to/3JNCIrq is the one we have.
when you finish with the brew, can you reactivate the yeast with warm water and some more yeast to start a new brew?
In theory, yep! Some do that. However, you don't need to add more yeast... that's the idea. I have tried a few times with less than stellar results.
I cannot find glass one gallon bottles. Will sterilized plastic one gallon containers work?
Typically final bottling is done in smaller than one gallon sized bottles. As this is for long term storage and serving, most often less than a gallon is best. I would not store alcohol for long term in plastic.
@@CitySteadingBrews not to just store in but to Fremont in and transfer to 750ml glass containers.
Oh! I'm sorry. As you posted this question on our Bottling video I mistook your question as in regards to final bottling. Yes, you can ferment in food safe plastic buckets. The lids sometimes don't seal very well and if you can't find a lid that is already grommeted for airlocks you can drill them and grommet them yourself.
when you have your bottles in the star san and you pull out the bottles i get the big chug bubbles. are there an easy way to get them out lol.... i used the recommended star san to water ratio. or just let it air dry upside down and wait lol
Just pour really slowly :)
Can you just wrap the syphon in cheese cloth to filter everything and rack it once?
Lees will just go right through cheesecloth.
I’m making a mead and all my other brews have came out pretty strong so far. (14/19%) So I was thinking if I pulled my current brew out of primary fermentation early and then pasteurized it, the end result would be the lower ABV result I’m looking for. Am I missing steps or am I doing things correctly?
That works, or next time just add less honey to begin with.
Do you ever find it necessary to wax seal any of your brews?
I would reserve that for gifts. Doesn’t add anything other than aesthetics.
Hi sir, gud evening. I'm doing grape wine businesses in a small scale. I do bottling with just simple pump. Is it correct or should I do any changes. Please do advice
Honestly if you're doing this as a business, it's your call.
Which means I'm not wrong. Thank you sir
Hi sir, thank you for responding for my query. I have another question, I had started producing 80 kg of grape wine and left it for fermenting on the 16th of September, but it's still bubbling. How long should I leave it for it to continue bubbling? Please do advice
Is a US gallon the same as a UK gallon?
No. US gallons are 3.785 liters and UK is 4.5.
I watched a video about a commercial wine maker that explained their process. They pass the wine through several layers of filters before bottling. Could we not use some kind of filtration to prevent any remaining yeasts from getting in the bottles?
My dad does that for his wines (you can buy small units for wine making). They are not cheap and the filters cost a bit of money too (they are garbage after one filtration). They work great for wine, however, for mead I have heard that they can remove some of the flavour and/or aromas.
There is no worry about the dormant yeast being in the bottles, you don't see it and it won't do anything if you don't add anything to your bottled brew. If you give your meads 3-4 months they should be crystal clear also. Cheers!
I have a question about siphoning. I purchased the siphon on the site, but I'm having trouble siphoning a 5gallon Carboy. The siphon isn't long enough to go all the way to the bottom of the Carboy. What solution would you suggest?
The obe on the site is for smaller carboys… we have a larger one in our shop… (driving and cannot get the item link sorry) but here is our shop and you can search www.city-steading.com/shop
@@CitySteadingBrews Awesome! Thank you. I've been to your site tons of times and never realized there were two different sized siphons lol
Do you guys ever cork your bottles..
Not really. We love swing tops.
Is 1.040 good for a starting point ? Beginner brewer here . Also I used red star premium blanc . Not sure of the specs, for the yeast.
It can be, depending on what you are making. We have a lot of video recipes on the channel, what are you making and I can suggest a video for you :)
@@CitySteadingBrews I’ll keep it short, I’ve got 2 gallons of cherry juice 100% . i puréed a bag of natural cherries , and 6.5 lbs of honey , also heated a half gallon of drinking water with a orange and black tea mixed well and used red star champagne yeast “ premium blanc “ this is my first brew and im hopeful it turns out good the mead has a wonderful taste already . Not sure about the yeast tho
Are you sure it's not 1.140 instead of 1.040?
@@CitySteadingBrews yep it’s in the beer section of meter
What is your batch size in total? I ask because with juice and that much honey in 3 gallons your gravity should be much higher, as in more like 1.090 or 1.100.
I have what looks like dormant yeast floating in the top of my cider in a 3 gal carboy, is this normal?
How long are you into the fermentation? First few days there may be some yeast stuck near the top, normally we give our brews a swirl for a few seconds 2-3 times over the first week (to remove some gas and help the yeast mostly) and then leave them.
Long term, I have had on several of my brews a very thin white film floating around, if that's what you mean then this is normal as well.
@@theastronomer5800 thanks I’m on 1 year ferment in secondary
Question, why don’t you pour it into the bottles
Pouring can introduce oxygen, which can cause off flavors or even vinegar.
Can a person use 16oz Boston Round bottles?
So long as they are food grade, glass preferably and the brew is still, you can use almost any bottle.
@City Steading Brews awesome thanks I don't plan on bottling til after pasteurization to insure no bottle bombs. But I haven't seen any videos on them so I wasn't sure if they were a fatal flaw. Lol thanks again.
They just aren’t that common I guess?
In my opinion, bottling is the best part of making mead. The reason? Because that means it is ready to drink. :-)
Love this channel!
Glad you enjoy it!
♥☺♥
I just quirked my first bottle and put it into a wooden box just incase.
epoxy a couple of rare earth magnets to you pitcher and the paint can will be fixed no balancing and the magnets will last your life time and possibly the next brewers life time...
Where is Webol? 😱 The white bucket of levitation
I am a little intoxicated from the mead another brew ??? shit im out
Sc