How much is too much (sugar making bottle go boom)

SimPilot

I want to make a bobbly drink. I want to bottle it right before dry knowing that fermentation will continue.
The question - how much can a bottle take before going boom?
If I bottle at 1.004, expecting it go to 1.000 -- can a bottle top cork take it?
Is there a calculator of how much it can take.
I would like to keep it simple - known "FG" at bottling that will not make little bottle bombs.
I have 750ml cork top bottles.

DBhomebrew

Let it ferment all the way out. Let it bulk age a bit as meads tend to enjoy. Then prime and bottle as one would a batch of beer. Many of the available priming calculators offer honey as an option if you're set on 100% honey, although the amount of table sugar required would be rather small.
I make a carbonated very dry 6% mead that is very refreshing.

MightyMosin

I know I looked long and hard to try and find information on where/what SG to bottle to get a desirable carbonation and possibly xx amount of residual sweetness. It all came down to a guessing game, which is why I ended up going with a kegging system so I can force carbonate.
You can do what DBhomebrew says and bottle condition as long as you are good with the sweetness you have in it. If you want more sweetness you will need to use a non-fermentable sweetener to get that level you desire and then add your priming sugar to carbonate to the level you like.
Most beer bottles are good for 2.5 volumes and flip tops are usually good for 4 volumes of carbonation. More than that and you are into champagne bottles. Use a priming calculator and don't guess.

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Homebrew Priming Sugar CalculatorYou've made it to bottling day. Congrats! Use this simple calculator to add the correct quantity of sugar to perfectly carbonate your beer.

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www.northernbrewer.com

Kickass

The unknown, which makes answering your question very challenging, is that it’s difficult to precisely determine where yeast will stop fermenting at. Even if you use the same exact recipe and process there are variables outside your control. Yeast health and pitching rates may very depending on how the yeast was handled before going into your mead. Specific gravity of the honey may vary. Temperature and nutrient levels may not be the same despite honest efforts to duplicate a process.
IMO, The most consistent process is to let your mead finish where it wants, age a little bit then back sweeten. This will yield the most consistent results and avoid kaboomie. Again just my opinion.

CKuhns

Here is a pretty good explanation. Its for cider but applies to mead as well.

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Hard Cider Tip #17C: Understanding Carbonation (Method Part 3 of 3)This is the third part in my three part tip on developing your method for making hard cider. My focus is on the process versus the ingredients. I will highlight ingredients, but my goal is to help …

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pricklycider.com
The condensed version is that each .001 gravity will give you about 0.6 volumes of CO2. So, if you assume your yeast are going to stop at 1.000 from 1.004 then you will get about 2.5 volumes of CO2. (Beer bottles are good for that, wine bottles are not.)
As mentioned above the best bet is to let your ferment go completely dry and either add your sigar. Any will do. I have used fruit juices, table sugar and honey.
An alternative would be to bottle one bottle in a plastic soda bottle. Give it a squeeze everyday and when it feels like an unopened soda you are there. Then pasteurize the beer bottles. See the pasteurization "sticky" on the cider forum. Disclaimer: there is risk when doing so. Bottle bombs in a pan of near boiling water can cause significant burns not to mention the glass. ( I personnaly only pasteurize still mead and cider.)
Finally dont assume your ferment will stop at 1.000. Some i have had go as low as 0.996. The extra .004 brings your volume of CO2 to nearly 5 and very well could cauze problems.

SimPilot

Thanks Ckuhns and others. I think logically it's best to get dry and drop sugar pills.
I didn't think of FG going below 1.000 so yeah ... it's dangerous and unpredictable.