Small batch mead vessels

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Muz

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I've been trying to work something out this morning and thought I would see if anyone else has already solved this problem.

I usually brew beer but lately I've enjoyed doing a mead or two. I like that they're relatively quick and easy to start and it's just a nice change from beer.

The question I have is regarding good vessels for small batch primary and secondary fermentation.

For my first batches I used 5 litre demijohns for both primary and secondary. I did about 4.2 litres for primary but when I transferred to a secondary 5 litre demijohn I end up with about 3.8 litres and lots of head space. Given that it's going to sit in there for a couple of months I'd love to have a smaller demijohn for secondary so that it fills right up to the neck to reduce this. I can't seem to find any 4 litre demijohns for sale. I can see a few 1 gallon ones which would be perfect but I've been told many of the ones advertised as 1 gallon are actually 5 litres.

How do other mead makers do ~4-5 gallon batchs?

Thanks.
 
I to started out using 5L demijohns, found it handy to start another smaller bottle on the side. For me it was usually a 1L bottle but my loss on racking looks to have been a bit smaller. You might need a 1.2-2L bottle.
Start both in parallel, when racking combine into the second 5L demijohn, fill to around 50mm of the top and park it for as long as needed.
Later I used 10L demijohns and used one of the old 5L as the side bottle, same same just a question of scale.
Mark
 
The other option is oxygen purged mini kegs or growlers? slightly more expensive then 5L demijohns but also able to be used for other things

Or split into 750ml bottles?
 
Hi Muz,

I spent a lot of time pondering this as well. Managed to get a few 4 litre glass wide mouthed jars from Geelong Home Brew that I just drilled a hole in the lids and put a gromet in for the air lock. I wanted wide mouths for later experiments with fruit and berries.

My first batch of mead had enough yield after primary to go back into a Carboy, but the second ended up in one of these jars as did my first batch of pear cider (which lost about a Litre from juice solids).

Unfortunately, these jars don't seem to be widely available, but I've also picked up a couple of 2 litre bottles of cheap plonk from the local bottle shop that were emptied down the sink and fit a standard bung just fine.

Cheers,

Hugh
 

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