Sparkling mead?

[MJuric]

From reading a few things here, there and everywhere on this it would appear that the process to get a sweet sparkling mead is rather difficult sans draft carbonation. Since I have a Keg system for bear this is not that big of a problem. The issue I have is two fold. First, what pressure? Second, how do you get the carbonated mead into the bottles without making them flat and or having them foam all over the place? I occasionally take beer out of the kegs into ceramic tops and it's usually a pain in the rump and a mess. Any suggestions on pulling this off?

~Matt

 

[Medsen Fey]

First, what pressure? Second, how do you get the carbonated mead into the bottles without making them flat and or having them foam all over the place?

~Matt

The pressure needed is directly related to the temperature. A cold mead requires less pressure to achieve the desired level carbonation. It is practical to think in terms of volumes of CO2. Beer usually has 2-3 volumes of CO2 where champagne runs 4-6. For any volume selected, as the temp goes up, pressure goes up - 4 volumes at 30F is about 20 psi, but at 75F it is 57psi. The higher volume you choose the more challenging it is to bottle. Once you decide on the level of CO2, there are calculators to make it easy to determine pressure like this one
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?17250426#tag


To bottle a force carbonated beverage it is best to chill it as cold as possible and to use a counter-pressure bottle filler which can be obtained at may home brew stores or online. I find that soaking my bottles in ice-cold sanitizer immediately before bottling also helps.

Just remember, you don't want champagne pressures in beer bottles.

I hope that helps.