Bottling the mead

The automatic bottling machine

Fermentation had ceased a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to have a go at bottling the mead. We started with the plain mead, four giant fermentation bottles. Alex had washed and disinfected all the bottles in advance. 

I am fascinated by our automatic bottling machine. It siphons liquid from the big bottles into the little bottles while siphoning off the foam and stops at just the right level automatically. Such an ingenious device made it possible to fill 71 bottles in under 1.5 hours. The mead is very mild in flavour but quite pleasant. I bottled while Alex corked. Alex designed the labels. Lots of friends are getting mead as gifts!