Avoiding Mead Explosion

[adarrell]

Hi Everyone,

I just made my first batch of mead. Here's what I've done.

First I mixed the 1 part honey to 4 parts water in a gallon crock. Stirred it mightily for about a week. It didn't get super duper fizzy, but it was clear to me that yeasts had arrived and awoken within the raw honey.

After that week, I transferred the mixture into a gallon carboy with an airlock. It's been very warm here in Somerville, MA, between 75 and 90 degrees for the past month or so. I figured the yeasts would be working quickly because it was so hot.

I let the honey water ferment in the airlocked carboy for about 2 weeks, then bottled it into recycled wine bottles using a corking device. I didn't use heavy glass or a wire secure though. I'm afraid I may have bottled preemptively. Do you think they are fermenting too actively to be bottled and aged? If so, how should I proceed? Are the bottles dangerous to try to open? The mead was still very murky.

[broin]

I'd say that's a bit quick. I left my carboy bubbling until the bubbles were approximately one every 30 seconds. (When fermentation was enjoying itself, it bubbled every 11 seconds - it was way more consistent than I expected too). That took maybe 5 weeks?

Anyway, when it was down to a bubble every 30 seconds, I decanted, tasted, and left it another week to see what the difference was. The flavor got much drier and crisper. I eventually transferred to bottles about a week later, so that's comfortably six weeks from the initial transfer to a carboy.

One bottle I left on the counter and it continued to ferment and gain some fizz. The ones in the fridge have settled down.

[TeeDubYeah]

IMHO, It was a little premature to bottle. With that said, They may be just fine. Keep an eye on them, if one pops I would chill the rest to slow the fermentation. You may just end up with a nice sparkling mead.

Good luck.

[FermentingYeti]

I'd say that is a bit early, but if nothing has happened yet, you should be fine. I'd say wait at least a month or more *after* all signs of fermentation / carbonation have subsided before bottling. I was a bit premature with one of my early batches and heard corks popping about four in the morning. I had to get up and dump everything back into the carboy and wait a while longer. Just store them in a place where no one is likely to be around if they do explode, and hold the cork away from you when opening. That being said, if they haven't popped/exploded yet, you should be fine.