I'm two weeks away from bottling my two batches of JAO. I have the bottle filler, tubing, cane, but I am curious about something. The recipe calls for a cloth filter. Would Cheesecloth work or is there another cloth I could use? My plan was to rack/filter into a sterile gallon carboy then rack into bottles using my bottle filler. I was also wondering if I should worry about oxidation during the bottling process. I plan to age a couple of bottles for the heck of it, the rest will be consumed over the holidays. If oxidation is not a problem then I was going to rack/filter into a sterile carboy then pour the mead into bottles via funnel. What do the mead masters say?
Mead master ? Me ? fat chance.......
Anyway, you'll find that meads aren't as likely to oxidise as "normal" wines can..... yes it still can but has to be exposed for a lot longer than a normal red or white wine.
I would suggest that you use a proper racking cane, carefully, when racking into the sterile carbouy the first time. To avoid as much sediment as possible.
Then let it sit for a couple of days, before bottling it..... if you attached the racking cane base to the pipe from the bottling wand/filler, you should (with any luck) avoid putting any sediment into the bottles.
I wouldn't use a funnel to fill the bottles, because while the possibility of oxidation is lessened, there's not point in "tempting providence". Hell, if you don't have a proper bottling wand with the small "push valve" in the base then you'd be better placed in just using a straight syphon hose and clamp or pair of grips, making sure that the pipe reaches the bottom of the bottle.......
Think along the lines of petrol/gas tanker trucks, they never "splash load" either....... though for very different reasons......
regards
fatbloke