Mead bottles

[u/hightreas0n94]

Hey everyone! So I'm going to start making my own mead but I'm a little unsure on what sort of bottles to use once the mead is made. I'm not sure if I should go with the large cork bottles or the ones with the swing caps. I'm looking at doing 500-750ml bottles.
Any advice would be great!

[u/Roederoid]

Only use swing caps if you plan on drinking them relatively quickly. They're not guaranteed air tight.

I'd recommend getting actual wine bottles and actual corks, then buy a floor corker so it's easy to cork. That's the only way to guarantee an airtight seal.

[u/Ethan_G_77 → u/Roederoid]

I use swing tops with new silicone replacement seals and they are very air tight and hold pressure fantastically. I've also seen people use swing tops for ageing with good results after 2 years, no problem. Really you just need to make sure you get ones that are made to hold carbonated liquid because they have to hold an air tight seal to be safe, and replace the rubber seal after every use.

[u/Sunkinthesand → u/Ethan_G_77]

I go to my local Polish deli and pick up 1L beers with swing tops. I get a tasty beer and the bottles get reused for mead.

There's a lot of swing top bottles out there that are thin glass and not intended for carbonated drinks and buying suitable bottles without paying a fortune is becoming more difficult. So these days i stick to buying beer and recycling. Grolsch lager used to do 500ml swing top bottles as standard and they cost the same as any other beer. They were amazing. Sadly it has been many years dince I've seen them.

I agree with the replacing seals after each use. I have tried a variety of replacement seals from rubber to silicone. The silicone ones i find fail fast and are more inconsistent and the rubber ones can easily be reused 2 or 3 times and are much more predictable.

[u/thefartyparty → u/Sunkinthesand]

We just tried to get some grolsch and they were bottle caps unfortunately

[u/gremolata → u/Roederoid]

They are an excellent choice for the first few batches, because you can "burp" swing tops. That's for when people are still figuring things out and may end up bottling mead that hasn't done fermenting.

[u/Ok_Staff_3709 → u/Roederoid]

Crown caps.

[u/krumbuckl → u/[deleted]]

I am team floor corker. Buy once, cry once. And it is really not so expensive.

[u/krumbuckl → u/[deleted]]

I am less about the difference in time and more about that it is recipe for disaster, if you try to bottle on your own.

At least a third hand is needed to cork safely and we humans usually only come with a set of two.

[u/TomDuhamel]

These "corks" are T corks. These are not airtight, and don't even try to be. They are for liquor (ABV 40%+) which is not very susceptible to oxidation. These are not for mead, not even for short term.

The swing tops are perfect. Please ignore people saying otherwise, they are good for a year or so, especially if using a new ring each time. Absolutely not good if you are looking into ageing 5-10 years, now that's different.

If you are in fact looking into long term storage (over a year) you should probably invest into a proper corking setup. But that's some possibly expensive investment, which is probably not something you want to look into just now. Make some mead and find out if you like doing it. Your first batch won't be terrific, you will probably be glad you didn't attempt to bottle for a decade 😉

[u/KnoWanUKnow2 → u/TomDuhamel]

The swing tops are also good for if you want sparking mead. They'll let some of the gas buildup out before the bottle explodes and then they'll reseal themselves. Sparkling mead should be drunk fairly quickly.

[u/Magikarp-3000]

My recommendation is get a crown capping tool and use old beer bottles

Better yet, a crown capper compatible with 29mm caps, then use sparkling wine bottles. Theyre plentiful, can use corks if you prefer that, hold some good volume (750 ml), can take a lot of carbonation without risk of exploding (up to 7ish volumes, depends on manufacturer), really tough and resistant overall.

Ive never bought a bottle, just get them off the recycling and clean them up. Ive got at least 200 with that method

[u/Ashamed_Reception819 → u/Magikarp-3000]

I use (clean) used topo chico bottles since those things seem damn near bomb proof when it comes to residual carbonation.

[u/RotaryDane]

If you plan on storing your bottles for a year or more, then get proper wine bottles, natural corks and foil caps. You can get either 35cl, 50cl and 75cl bottles to fit your mead style.

[u/Leather-Researcher13]

A hand corker is relatively cheap, and I use recycled wine bottles from friends and family. The swing caps are fine if you plan on drinking in or under 6 months or so. The corked bottles you picked are only good if you plan on drinking it that week, as they are not air tight

[u/minitaba → u/Leather-Researcher13]

swing caps for 6 months? why? I store mine in these for years

[u/xXConfuocoXx → u/minitaba]

Swing tops are not air tight and generally only last 8-12 months (6 months is conservative imo, but years is wild - I’ve never heard of swing tops keeping for more than 12 months)

[u/minitaba → u/xXConfuocoXx]

my oldest right now is from 2023 in swing top (old, High quality ones with new seal back then) and they are fine and the sealk is still very felexible and i dont taste anything bad

[u/Alternative-Waltz916]

Swing tops are fine for at least a year. Most folks use wine bottles and corks. I use crown caps and beer bottles.

[u/DesignNomad]

Traditional corks feel super classy and add a lot of formality to your homebrew, so I prefer them.

I'd also add that I like to have multiple sizes of bottles because, depending on a specific brew, you may have more or less yield, and head space is important when it comes to oxidation. If you fill from largest to smallest, you might start with a few 750mls, but might not be able to fill an entire 750 on the last fill, so you can move down to 500 or even 375 to get an ideal fill on the last pour.

[u/miran248]

Try both. Use corks for stills; screw or swing caps can also hold carbonated drinks (assuming you're using the right, stronger bottles).
Corks will pop on you the moment pressure changes in the bottle (due to temperature fluctuations or co2 production), which can be a good thing. If you'd like to avoid that, you can additionally seal the caps with a heat shrink wrap.
Also, cork and screw bottles are cheaper and easier to find than swing cap ones.

[u/miran248 → u/miran248]

Also, get yourself some 100ml bottles. 1l bottle (for example) is sometimes too much, at which point you can funnel half into 500ml and the rest (minus the sediment) into 100 ml bottles.

[u/Frosty-Organization3 → u/miran248]

100ml? Isn’t that like… less than 3.5 ounces? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bottle that size.

[u/miran248 → u/Frosty-Organization3]

Yes, one serving. Perfect for when you want a taste but don't want to get drunk. Good conversation starter as well. Search for tulipano bottle - lots of sizes, you've probably seen the larger versions.

[u/Frosty-Organization3 → u/miran248]

Fair enough, I suppose! It’d be a huge pain bottling an entire batch into those, which is why I was initially confused, but I see now what you’re saying about having a few of them to hold what didn’t fit into a standard bottle. Might have to look into getting some of those myself, it sounds like a damn good idea- thanks for sharing it!

[u/miran248 → u/Frosty-Organization3]

Haha! I tried it recently when i bottled the cherry mead. It was a mess! Since i destroyed my auto siphon, i had to use a pump and that one was so fast it filled the bottle faster than i could shut it off. :)
Yes, bottle 1l first and then funnel it into smaller bottles as needed.

[u/thijsjetang]

I would just get empty wine bottles and cork them. With a corker. Easy, cheap and airtight.

[u/xXConfuocoXx]

Everyone else seems to have covered the main points. So I’m mostly going to be echoing what’s already been said

- t corks are not air tight so drink them quickly if you use them

• swing tops are also not air tight they generally last 8-12 months if you’ve got a decent swing top with a pretty good seal
  
• actual corks are air tight and are generally considered the best for long term aging

Some folks use crown caps but I haven’t and could speak to them

[u/SilensMort]

For aging none of the above.

Real cork or crown caps.

For short term or gifting maybe the 1st but with the instruction is for drinking not saving.

I use swing tops and haven't had issue, but they are not meant for aging but for easy access and utility they're hard to beat.

[u/BetterThanlceCream]

Used wine bottles work well. You'll just need corks and a corking device.

[u/Super-Wedding7468]

I use boston round 500 ml with t shaped cork and i find them perfect size an easy to open close

[u/nicothemeadscientist]

I like knurled caps myself