How to Cork Mead

Fermented honey makes a delicious alcoholic beverage.

Brewed for centuries in areas where grapes could not be cultivated for wine production, mead is a clear, golden colored alcoholic drink that is still popular today. Made from fermented honey, water and sometimes herbs or spices, it can be easily brewed at home. Once fermentation has ceased and the mead has cleared, it can be stored in clean, corked bottles for up to a year to mature before it is drunk. Does this Spark an idea?

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Campden tablets
Jug
Spoon
1 gallon fermented and cleared mead
6 standard white wine bottles
Siphoning wand and tubing
Corks and hand-corker

Instructions

- 1
  
  Prepare a sterilizing solution by dissolving five crushed Campden tablets in a pint of warm water.
- 2
  
  Wash the bottles and rinse them well in fresh, clean water. Rinse them again thoroughly with sterilizing solution and allow them to drain.
- 3
  
  Wash the siphoning wand and tubing then rinse them with clean water. Run the tubing through with the sterilizing solution.
- 4
  
  Place the container holding the mead on a table or chair so that its base will be above the neck of the bottles when it is siphoned. Place a clean bottle on the floor so it is below the mead container.
- 5
  
  Place the siphon wand carefully into the mead, ensuring you do not disturb any sediment from the bottom. Gently suck the mead up through the tubing and, as it starts to flow, quickly place the open end into the bottle. Fill the bottle so that the mead reaches approximately one inch from the neck. Raise the bottle and tubing to stop the flow.
- 6
  
  Replace the full with an empty bottle and fill it in the same way. As the level of mead falls in the full container, carefully push the wand further into the liquid, ensuring the sediment is not disturbed. Continue this process until all the bottles have been filled.
- 7
  
  Place a cork into the hand-corker and, following the manufacturer's instructions, place the cork securely into the bottle. Repeat the process until all the bottles have been corked.
- 8
  
  Label the bottles and store them, on their sides, in a cool, dark place for a year to mature, before drinking.