tenchu_11

Recipes 

I saw alot of people on youtube adding oranges,raisins and berrys to their mead. But i've read posts of people being concerned when their fruit starts to mold. When during the brewing process is it appropirate to add fruits, how should the fruits be treated to avoid molding? Any personal preferences on what spice and fruits go good together?

fatbloke

Recipes 

Think about it...... fruit starts to go mouldy if exposed to air/oxygen and is at too warm a temperature doesn't it.

What exactly is alcohol ? It's anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti etc etc etc and it's also a preservative.

So, adding it to meads ??? well it's up to you. If the recipe suggests it goes into the primary, then fine but I have found that it tends to blow a lot of the flavour/aroma out the airlock during the first vigorous stages of ferment. So I'll either add it to secondary, or even finish the ferment and then steep the fruit in it. That way, I find that it will give a more fruity flavour and that the mead is drinkable earlier.

As for mould, well if the fruit goes into secondary, the alcohol and the CO2 will normally prevent mould. If I put it into a finished ferment, then I'll normally put it in a fine mesh straining bag, and not de-gas the mead so that it will release enough CO2 over time to create a protective blanket of gas - and deny O2 access to the fruit. It'll also be in a straining net and the alcohol stops it rotting.

S'up to you want you do but you can always just search around. There's lots of guidance about this......

regards

fatbloke

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gratus fermentatio

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I've never had mold growing in any fermentation. I've added fruit to mead in primary, secondary & tertiary, all with good results. You'll lose a certain amount of fruit flavour in primary, but you get a fermented fruit flavour that way. In secondary, and especially in tertiary, you'll get a flavour closer to the actual fruit. I'll often add fruit to both primary AND secondary/tertiary to get more depth of flavour.

If you use fruit that floats in primary, you'll need to "punch the cap," or push the floating fruit down under the surface a couple times a day to avoid mold & such. Often the fruit will sink to the bottom on it's own, which eliminates the need to punch the cap.

If you add fruit to seconday/tertiary the alcohol will likely kill off anything that would do damage, so you should be good to go. That being said, I always freeze/thaw any fruit I use a couple times & I'll often sufite it too. Usually, if your sanitation is good, you'll have good results. Regards, GF.

abpt1

Recipes 

I think most molds need an oxygen rich environment .