Transporting Mead!?

[JustinPierce]

okay, if I have to move my mead by car, like a 15 min drive, will it ruin it?

I HAVE to move it because I am moving to a new house.

The mead will be in carboys with airlocks, all batches will be finished with primary fermentation and racked to a second carboy but will be in the very early stages of bulk aging/secondary fermentation.
-they will not be bottled of course.

-if there is a risk of ruining the mead is there anyway I can minimize this risk?

[akueck]

I've done this while moving as well. Just try to keep them from bouncing around as much as you can. Nothing terrible happened in my case, I'm guessing you'll be fine too. Try not to drive over any train tracks.

[JustinPierce]

Thank you very much for replying! I'll just go for it and hope for the best!

[Chevette Girl]

I'd wrap blankets and such around them to prevent any carboys from contacting anything else too, especially if they're glass carboys.

[Demolitron]

Yep, for 15 minutes you should be fine.

For a longer move I offer my experience as a learning lesson:

When I moved with my mead it was a two day trip in 115F weather. The carboys were in the moving van but during transport the airlocks worked their way out. I don't know how long but it was long enough. That was this summer. I put the airlocks back in ASAP but I just sampled them and they taste nasty! They were all berry melomels and I'm very sad...

[JustinPierce]

Thanks for the input guys!

[schlapppy]

This could be a good excuse to upgrade to kegs! They are ultra transportable, have handles, won't leak, don't have to worry about air locks. I've always though that if I was going to move, i'd keg every bulk batch I had, and bottle anything that's close to ready. Glass carboys & airlocks don't travel well.

[huesmann]

Drink before moving! :-D