Bottling is the last step before you can actually drink what you made. It is also the step where a few small choices — bottle type, still versus carbonated, how carefully you transfer — make a noticeable difference in the final experience. In this tenth and final part of the Intro to Making Mead series I will walk through how I bottle my meads, the bottles I use, and how to handle sediment when it shows up.

Bottle Types

For still mead, almost any sealed bottle works. Swing-top bottles are convenient because you can open and reseal them without new caps or a corker. Wine bottles with corks work well too, though you will need a corker if you go that route. I personally use swing-top bottles in a few different sizes because they fit my workflow.

For bottle-carbonated mead, you need bottles that can handle pressure. Thick beer bottles with crown caps, Champagne bottles, or heavy-duty swing-tops are the safe choices. Do not carbonate in thin wine bottles or standard flip-tops that are not rated for pressure — they can burst.

Still vs. Carbonated

A still mead is simply bottled and sealed once fermentation is finished. There is no added sugar to create carbonation. This is the easier path and the one I usually take.

A carbonated mead needs a small amount of priming sugar at bottling. The remaining yeast consume that sugar and produce CO₂ inside the sealed bottle. The timing matters: too much sugar creates dangerous pressure, too little leaves the mead flat. You also need to be sure fermentation has actually finished, or the bottles can over-carbonate.

Sediment in the Bottle

Even with careful racking, you may still see a thin layer of sediment in the bottom of the bottles after they have sat for a while. That is normal. It usually means the mead was not perfectly clear at bottling, or a small amount of yeast and sediment got picked up during the transfer. It is not a problem unless it ends up in your glass.

Pour slowly and steadily, and stop before the sediment reaches the neck. If you store the bottles upright and let them settle before opening, the sediment stays compacted at the bottom and is easier to avoid.

My Approach

I bottle most of my meads still, using swing-top bottles. I rarely carbonate mead, and when I want sweetness I back-sweeten first, then stabilize before bottling. Chemical stabilization is the only case where stabilizers go in before the final seal; with pasteurization, the heat step comes after back sweetening. I transfer carefully, accept a little sediment when it happens, and pour slowly when it does.

That wraps up the Intro to Making Mead series. We covered the styles of mead you can make, the equipment you need, how to clean and sanitize, what goes into the must, how to prepare the must, what happens during primary and secondary fermentation, how to back sweeten, how to pasteurize, and how to bottle the finished mead. The next step is to pick a style, mix a must, and let the yeast do the work.