Fruit addition

Hi,

This saturday my mead will be three weeks in primary and i think i should transfer it to secondary, I am planning to add a pomegranade juice, the options are a freshly made juice by me or bought natural free of preservatives juice, the advantage of bought bottles is that as i assume it was pasteurised before bottling so i don't have to worry about contamination, the disadvantage is that it is expensive, fresh pomegranade season will start only in a month or something so if i will choose fresh fruit i will have to wait,.
The question is what would you choose as better option for mead, to add freshly made juice into third transfer or natural bottled juice? What is the risk of contamination? Should i use bisulfite if i add fresh fruit?

Thank you

I have no preference for which is better.......seem equal to me

If you choose to use fresh fruit, I would treat with bisulphite and then wait 24 hours before adding to your must.

Given the fact that you are going to a secondary, this means that your ABV% is over 8% at least. This means that you do not need to stearlize the fruit unless you already see mold on it, in which case I wouldn't use that fruit.

So sanitation is not the issue. For me it would time and convience. You see in an individual pomegranade there isn't really much juice. The little ampules are hard to remove with out some breaking and you can maybe get, what 1/2 a cup out of a single fruit. I personally would go with a pomegran concentrate like they sell in some whole food stores. Finding one that is not treated or organic with no preservatives is best if you want fermentation to continue. Which may not be what you wish if you are going with a lower ABV% mead. Also when you use concentrate you are not adding a lot more liquid and deluting the honey flavor a bit. Normally I advocate fresh fruit or from frozen is good too but with this particular fruit the difficulties vs pay off is not worth it.

Matrix

Thank you for advices, the bottled natural juice was selected!
One more question...shall I put the secondary in a temperature controlled frige?
As I understand the danger of fussel alcohol production is only at the first stages of fermentation. My room temperature is 77-86F. the first fermentation was at 60.8-64.4F to avoid the fussel alcohols.
Thank you

Cooler temps will help with clearing plus unless you are positive the ferment is done, like used your hydrometer and got consistant readings over a week to 10 days there is a possibility of the ferment starting up again, and potential for some fusels still sneaking in.