I'm sold, must make mead. Need help with peach recipe.

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Dubcut

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Man, after seeing Brandon O's gorgeous prickly pear mead, I have no choice but to make my own. I also live in Boston, so prickly pear is too slight of an option. I've got a good feeling about peach so I'm going to go with it. Here's my recipe roughly,

- 10-15 pounds of honey (whatever i can get in bulk -preferably orange blossom)
- 10 pounds of peaches <--- too little? I'm hearing a lot about pitting, freezing and thawing to brake them down. I'm not sure if I should mush them up right away for the primary, or toss them in the secondary un-mushed, before the must is pored over it.

I use tap water for my beer, I figure I'll boil the chlorine out and then take off heat to add the honey and etc.

Thoughts on rounding out this process?
 
10 lbs of peaches and 12 lbs of honey is what I would go with. I say 12 lbs because that is exactly a gallon, it's just easy that way.

I would let the honey and water go for two weeks and then rack onto the fruit, let it go a month on the fruit or until the fruit drops and then rack again to let it get as clear as water.

As far as freezing and defrosting, I do it. It breaks down the cell walls.
Yooper would know best about pitting and if you even need to, Summersolstice would prolly know too.

There are some good yeasts like lavlin 1118 (champagne yeast). Lavlin D-47 and premiere cuvee too.

I always use yeast nutrient and yeast energizer for the inital honey and water fermentation.
 
I find that peaches contribute a subtle flavor to the overall mead,whether they are used in primary or secondary. So, if it were me, I'd double the amount that you intend to use, and add 2/3 in primary (where they'll contribute interesting fermentation products that will taste different from fruit added in secondary) and then the remaining 1/3 in secondary, to bring out more of the peach fruit presence.

I also am a proponent of freezing fruit, especially fruit with pits, like peaches. I'd pit them when fresh and fully ripe, cut into sections (6ths or 8ths), and then freeze them in a ziplock bag. That'll do wonders for flavor extraction.
 
I'd go 12-12-12. Meaning 12 lbs honey, 12 lbs peaches (with skins on, but pitted & frozen/defrosted) and water to 5 gallons in primary. Add the remaining 12 lbs peaches to secondary or tertiary. Try to go with a good varietal honey, like orange blossom; wildflower is kind of hit & miss. Don't forget your yeast nutrient/energizer & DAP. Peaches take a long time to clear, so be prepared to wait. Regards, GF.
 
Glad to see that there are other "big fruit" folks here! :)

To answer the question about using canned peaches -- no, there is nothing inherently wrong with using them, but the result will taste significantly different than that you would get from using fresh or frozen. Canning brings the fruit up to pasteurization temperature, which "cooks" it a bit. That will change the flavor of the fruit and so any mead that you make using canned fruit will be different. Not necessarily worse, unless you don't like the taste of cooked peaches, that is! :D
 
I'm not sure if I'll be able to get anything else besides wildflower honey, and my variety's are light and dark. What should I get, light or dark?

Also my homebrew shop has gallons of wildflower, is that the place to get it?

Thanks for all the info!
 
Check out honeylocator.com to find an apiary/distributor near you - you can probably get better honey/more varieties/cheaper price than from your LHBS.
 
I find clover to be the best for fruit meads.

I like orange blossom for plain mead or spiced meads.

I have used mesquite honey for a fruit mead and didn't prefer it to clover.
 
Orange Blossom Honey

I'm giving this a shot, it's only 5 dollars more expensive than my homebrew stores wildflower honey, shipping included. This will have to do until I get a legit honey connect.
 
Orange Blossom is a good choice for a "light fruit" melomel. It will lend some citrus-flower aroma to the brew, and that will go well with the peach.
 
Bringing this one back from the dead. Just wondering how yours turned out?

I'm about to do a peach and was wondering what's the best yeast to use to get a higher abv without making it dry. I want to keep a medium sweetness without having to sweeten it up later.

I'm shooting for about 15 lbs of each. Fermentingjust the honey in 5 gals then racking into my six gal secondary with the peaches for the added volume then eventually racking back into a 5 gal. How feasable is this?
 
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