17% ABV mead.....How long to leave on apples/cinnamon??

shanes66charger · 03-09-2010, 05:04 PM

Hey guys I just racked my mead into a five gallon carboy and topped it off with sterilzed water.

I cut up 4 large apples and tossed in four cinnamon sticks.

The mead is at about 17% ABV

and realistically DONE fermenting! I'm guessing the sugars from the apples will not be fermenting as the yeast I used has a tolerance of 14% so I'm not even sure how it fermented this far down?

I am wondering how long to leave it in the apples??

The apples are all floating, will they turn brown on top and go bad etc?

Im new at this so any tips are helpful.

shanes66charger · 03-09-2010, 05:15 PM

also, the cinnamon is just lying rolled up on the bottom............will yeast settle and bury them? I mean obviously the yeast had settled before i racked it, but im sure a decent amount made the transfer lol.

gratus fermentatio · 03-09-2010, 08:29 PM

That much alcohol will tend to extract flavour from the cinnamon sticks a bit faster than a lower ABV would. Also, since you used 4, you'll likely reach your desired amount of flavour quicker. Now the tricky part is when will it reach your desired amount of flavour? That's really up to you & your taste buds, it might be a few days, it might be a couple weeks, just depends on how much cinnamon you like in your cyser.

The other thing is once you've reached the desired amount of cinnamon flavour, you have to remove the cinnamon sticks or they'll continue to add more flavour until they have no more flavour to extract. Taste it periodically, when it reaches the point where you're happy with it, rack it off the cinnamon. In the future you can use sanitized fishing monofilament & tie your cinnamon sticks, or put them in a sort of "teabag" & suspend it in your carbouy. That makes it much easier to remove the spices when the desired saturation has been reached. Regards, GF.

MedsenFey · 03-09-2010, 09:40 PM

Keep in mind that it is better to undershoot with cinnamon as it is one spice that tends to strengthen with aging. If you wind up with too little, you can alway add another stick later at any point before bottling.

As for the apples, I wouldn't leave it on them for more than a couple of weeks. I know some people who leave fruit in the secondary much, much longer, but I have had some funky flavors occur with long times sitting on fruit.

shanes66charger · 03-09-2010, 10:45 PM

ok thanks guys......I guess the problem is that the I can't really rack off the cinnamon and leave the apples in at the same time.

I'll probably just leave it all in for like a week, and then rack it off. If I decide I want more apple I could put some back in the next carboy though id prefer to not rack it a hundred times and risk oxidation etc.

thanks alot though for the advice!!

MedsenFey · 03-10-2010, 12:31 AM

The cinnamon probably isn't going to over-do-it in the time that the apples are there. After you rack off the apples, you can transfer the cinnamon to the next carboy as well as that extraction will probably take longer.

shanes66charger · 03-10-2010, 12:35 AM

great thanks guys! I have the carboy topped right up to the neck!