Bottling JAOM v1

I bottled my first mead; Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead.

I’ve read and received lots of different advice about bottling; specifically how to sanitize the corks. Some folks say don’t bother. I boiled the corks for 5 min before bottling. I’ve seen others suggest steaming them. I’ve learned that by boiling or steaming you can get “cork water” dripping into you mead which can impart a “corky” flavour to it. I’m thinking next time I’ll just cork the bottles and not worry about sanitizing them but I’ll read up on it more before then.

The original SG was about 1.128. I took a hydrometer reading: 1.034; which is weird because it was 1.030 when I racked it. I’ve got pictures of it; can’t explain.

Pictures show:

• The SG reading: 1.034
• Three different views of a glass of the mead. It’s golden and very clear.
• The mead bottled.

I actually got 4 full wine bottles and a little more. The smaller bottle in the last picture was almost full after bottling. We drank the rest.

 

 

 

I’m still ambivalent about the taste of this mead. It’s … interesting. I keep coming back to it but I’m not convinced I like it. I guess I was hoping for more of an orange-like flavour and that’s not really there.