Accidental Sparkling Mead

[Fisher kel Tath]

So, gave my brother a bottle of my Cherry Blossom Green Tea with Blood Orange (log which I made back in winter with bread yeast, and with family in town, we drank it saturday.

To my surprise, Even after stabilizing, cold crashing, racking off the lees, letting set for 2 months bulk aging before bottling, the mead had built up CO2 and was sparkling.

It's kinda neat, when me and my friends first tried it a month after bottling, I thought I noticed a slight tingle on the tongue from carbonation, but friends didn't when asked, and just wrote it off to it not being degassed 100%.

So a tip, when you first start bottling, use beer bottles, might not look fancy, but can hold pressure better.

 

[Tygia]

So a tip, when you first start bottling, use beer bottles, might not look fancy, but can hold pressure better.

I have become a big fan of bottling in beer bottles. They are the perfect size to share a glass of mead with a friend. I have more "give away" bottles so everyone who has been begging for a bottle gets one. If the empties aren't returned, it's no big deal-I can get them replenished quick enough! And for me, they store easier!

Oh-and Hooray for happy accidents! I love sparkling mead-you can't help but smile when you raise a class to your lips.
Tygia

 

[Chevette Girl]

I like to bottle my JAO's in screw-top containers for this very reason... so I can check on them without popping a cork or cap...

My first mead was an accidental sparkling mead too it's amazing what those yeasties will tolerate in some batches!

 

[Medsen Fey]

This is why we often harp on extended bulk aging which allows any refermentation to occurr without causing problems.

 

[wildoates]

This is why we often harp on extended bulk aging which allows any refermentation to occurr without causing problems.

I have let all my meads wait for soooo long in bulk aging that if any yeast are still able to ferment in the bottle I say all the power to 'em. It's kind of like your granddad managing to catch a hot young blonde to warm up his final years, really. Go grandpa.

;D

Which is to say it hasn't happened to me yet--although I have put some mead under crown caps so they will carbonate, but I haven't tried any of it. Yet.