I just finished my first mead, which was a mango melomel. I used 5# of tupelo honey, 2# of wildflower honey, 4# of dole frozen mango chunks and 2.5 gal of publix spring water. I was hoping for a higher OG, mine came out to 1.076 and I am wondering if the sugars in the fruit will add to the gravity once it breaks down, or will it dilute the finished product based on the fact that most fruits are composed of mostly water. I have searched all over and not found much information on the matter. It seems as if I get my target FG (1.004-8) I'll be around 9.5% abv which isn't bad, but I was hoping for 11-12%. Does 7# honey + 2.5 gal water = 1.076 sound accurate? Will I end up with a lower or higher gravity based on fruit additions?
Fruits affect on gravity
- Thread starter schmeek
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MarshmallowBlue
Well-Known Member
The sugar goes into your gravity, the left over fruit chunks just contribute to volume and shouldn't throw off your reading unless fruit is actually touching the hydrometer.
As for how long it takes for the fruit sugars to dissolve into the mead/ must, I have no idea. Once I use fruit I just kind of guesstimate abv because I dont' have time for that.
As for how long it takes for the fruit sugars to dissolve into the mead/ must, I have no idea. Once I use fruit I just kind of guesstimate abv because I dont' have time for that.
noblesquirrel
Well-Known Member
Coming in late, but just a head's up. You're going to end up with a very dry mead, particularly with that OG. The fruit will drop your gravity as they are mostly water. The gravity of the water/sugar combo coming out of the fruit is lower than 1.076. It won't dilute much, though. I'm more interested in finding out why you used Tupelo honey in a mango melomel for your first mead.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
I imagine that any commercially sold processed fruits (like your dole frozen mango chunks ) will include a list of the nutrition facts , serving sizes and number of servings on the package. There the sugar content in gms can be found/serving and so with simple arithmetic you can calculate the total sugar content. From that you can calculate the gravity the fruit will add to your volume of must. (if there are X gms of sugar/serving and 10 servings then there are 10X gms of sugar. Divide the number by 454 (gms in 1 lb ) to find the equivalent number of lbs.
Let's say that each serving had 45 gms of sugar and that there are let's say 10 servings then your fruit contains 450 gms sugar. Divide that by 454 and so you have approx 1 lb of sugar in your fruit.
One lb of sugar in one gallon will increase the gravity by .040 and so if your volume is say 5 gallons then the fruit will increase the gravity of each gallon by .008 (040/5). If there was 25 gms of sugar in each serving then the added gravity would be half this or .004 in five gallons. (or .020 if your total volume was 1 gallon).
Let's say that each serving had 45 gms of sugar and that there are let's say 10 servings then your fruit contains 450 gms sugar. Divide that by 454 and so you have approx 1 lb of sugar in your fruit.
One lb of sugar in one gallon will increase the gravity by .040 and so if your volume is say 5 gallons then the fruit will increase the gravity of each gallon by .008 (040/5). If there was 25 gms of sugar in each serving then the added gravity would be half this or .004 in five gallons. (or .020 if your total volume was 1 gallon).
noblesquirrel
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but it's not linear. You still have to account for the added volume and added water from the fruit. Adding fruit doesn't automatically add gravity points, it typically reduces as the gravity of the water/sugar combo in the fruit is lower than the gravity of your average mead must.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
You do need to take into account the added volume from the fruit and their liquid but the added volume is typically insignificant. Unless the issue has to with commercial wine /mead production and different taxation levels for beer like drinks, wine like drinks and fortified wine drinks then you are talking about a very small decimal percentage difference in ABV. Not sure how many home wine makers label their wine for example, 11.75% ABV vs 11.65% or simply call it 12% ...
Me too!
schmeek
Well-Known Member
Well after reading Schramms book I was under the impression I needed to use the best quality raw honey available. Tupelo happens to be harvested down the road from me and I heard it was an excellent honey to use for all types of mead. The mango ended up fermenting out pretty dry as did the honey, I back sweetened up to 1.010 and it tastes pretty good. Next time I'll try to bump the starting gravity up and add more fruit to the secondary to add some flavor. All in all not a bad first try.
The reason I was wondering why you used Tupelo honey is because it is so expensive compared to other honeys and the strong flavor of the mango would over power the delicate flavors in the honey.
schmeek
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the delay, I have been in the process of moving. I used the mango in the primary so most of it fermented out anyway. it came out quite dry so I backsweetened it and there's plenty of delicious Tupelo flavor in there. I got a gallon locally for $50 so it was fairly comparable to the other honeys I had available as far as price.
fuelish
Well-Known Member
I just plug fruit additions into the mead calculator http://www.gotmead.com/2014-04-16-20-10-09/mead-calculator.html .... I believe (hope???) it's more accurate than any kind of half-arsed guess I could make....and yeah, if you plug in fruit additions to a given volume, gravity does drop a bit according to the numbers...it's a handy tool, and, given that I'm only producing for home consumption, the figures don't really need to be spot on, just in the ballpark is good enough 
