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magno · 07-24-2007, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgayer

Great stuff! The slickish thick mouthfeel is normal but will lessen with time, lots of time. It will not ever go completely away even with extra boiling and aging. I haven't had any PP wines or beers in a bunch of years but the ones I have had were great and packed a massive puch for a long time.

Yeah I will age the rest of the bottles. I may open one every 3 to 6 months. Hopefully it mellows out a bit, but if it doesnt ... well I'll drink it anyway.

**DesertBrew** · 07-24-2007, 03:02 PM

In papazain's book he mentions if it is a bit too sweet consider doing another dry pp mead and mix them. Dry meant 14# of honey. Magno, you did the full 20# right? I'm thinking about maybe doing 16 or 17#.

But, the thickness... does this come from the qty of pears? I picked 10# and now maybe I want to follow the recipe and do 5-6? I was going to scoop out the guts only though and boil that. Did the packages you bought also have the skins in there? I'm wondering if not including those in the boil will be missing something. I wouldn't think so but I dunno...

magno · 07-24-2007, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertBrew

In papazain's book he mentions if it is a bit too sweet consider doing another dry pp mead and mix them. Dry meant 14# of honey. Magno, you did the full 20# right? I'm thinking about maybe doing 16 or 17#.

But, the thickness... does this come from the qty of pears? I picked 10# and now maybe I want to follow the recipe and do 5-6? I was going to scoop out the guts only though and boil that. Did the packages you bought also have the skins in there? I'm wondering if not including those in the boil will be missing something. I wouldn't think so but I dunno...

Yes, I used 20 lbs of honey. I dont think 16 or 17 would be a bad idea.

The thickness does come from the fruit. I used 5.5 lbs of the fruit, diced with no skins, and boiled for two hours. I wouldnt think of adding more.

- magno

**DesertBrew** · 07-24-2007, 10:43 PM

Yea, I think I'll stick with 5-6 lbs. HB99 or magno; another question if I may. Did the store bought fruit have seeds or were they MIA? Best I can find is I want to peel these things kind of like a kiwi and discard the inner juice/seeds?

magno · 07-24-2007, 11:22 PM

I think that mine had seeds, but its been a while now since I made it. I got my fruit from a fruiteria not far from where I was living at the time. Im pretty sure that they were sold peeled but with seeds.

mrgrackle · 08-05-2008, 08:10 PM

I'm about to go prickly pear picking with a friend and either make a mead or wine with it. I've been making a bunch of mead's lately so I'll probably continue in that vein. Just recently I made a dewberry mead that'll have you seeing flying monkeys half the bottle through.

We rarely run AC in our house and we live in central texas so it's like 90 degrees in the house every day and my mead's been fermenting just fine. I dunno, maybe if I was an expert wine taster I'd be able to tell the difference ...

hehe.. in the middle of this post my friend just showed up with a bag full of prickly pears he went and picked. Looking at them and cutting a few open they don't look all look ripe. I cut a couple open and two of them where still green on the inside and one of them was red on the inside. Both of them had a bunch of seeds in them already.. is that normal for the green pears?

Right now I've got 8 bottles of strawberry mead (/w cotes des blanc) I've made. 8 bottles of dewberry mead (/w champaign yeast). 6 bottles of just plain 'ol mead (probably my favorite)... I've got 2 gallons of methaglin going (tea and spice mead), 2.5 gallons of another dewberry mead, 2.5 gallons of cyser (mead /w apples).

dicsostu · 08-19-2008, 12:13 AM

i have a gallon batch of pp mead that i started last month and after racking it last week, fermentation has slowed down to one bubble every 2 or 3 minutes. i dont think it is done fermenting because when i shake it a little, it will bubble a couple times and then stop. has anyone had experience with a mead that seems to stop fermenting after racking?

mrgrackle: i have been picking pps for a couple of years now and i have learned that when the pears are really pretty and bright red, they are not yet ripe. you have to wait untill they turn dark red/maroon and the top of them will flatten and then almost bulge out. i have read though that the ripeness of fruit is not an issue when brewing mead.

dicsostu · 08-19-2008, 12:27 AM

i'll also say that i did not boil the fruit for 2 hours, more like 30 minutes, as i did not know this was necissary. i did not use a recipe, i thought i was being creative untill i found this thread. does boiling the fruit for so long take away its brilliant color?

homebrewer_99 · 08-19-2008, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertBrew

Yea, I think I'll stick with 5-6 lbs. HB99 or magno; another question if I may. Did the store bought fruit have seeds or were they MIA? Best I can find is I want to peel these things kind of like a kiwi and discard the inner juice/seeds?

18 Aug 08: Mine had seeds. I actually chopped/blended the whole fruit.

I know Charlie P says it has a nice color, but mine is colorless from the fruit and yellowish from the honey.

EDIT: OK, curiosity got the better of me tonight. I opened a bottle of PPM and it drinks like it did last year...glass #3 is tasty, well, technically, so were #1 and 2...I'm buzzed again...

Ya can't get a medic on a subway line...OWWWW...time to plug in the guitar...

dicsostu · 08-19-2008, 01:00 AM

yeah they have a bunch of small hard seeds.

i hope the prickly pear mead retains its color, if not i may add a little more juice close to the end of fermentation to give it some more color. (if you have not seen the inside of a prickly pear, it has an awesome deep brilliant red color)