melomels- primary or secondary?

can people advise on whether its good to add stuff to primary or secondary? what's the difference between the to, do they offer different flavours from the same ingredients??

If you want a wine-like flavor, add the fruit to the primary, if you want more fresh fruit flavor, add to secondary. or a third method is to add to both. Check my blog ( Penrose Picobrewery ) for the Strawberry Mead I'm currently making. Gives step by steps with photos to my technique.

I usually add to both. I think doing so adds depth the the end product. It means using more fruit, but I think it's worth it.
Regards, GF.

As an alternative to adding in the secondary, I usually add my "secondary" fruit to the primary containter, and then rack to secondary *after* the yeast kick up again on the additional added sugars. Then once any additional signs of fermentation have stopped, I give it another couple weeks to a month or so, then rack for clearing/bulk conditioning. I think this keeps the lees and sediment in the secondary to a minimum, and lets me avoid a third/tertiary racking at some point in the future...

thanks everyone, I've decided to do a number of batches of the same melomel, say a raspberry and try out all your different methods then in few months I'll do a taste test to see which i prefer

I like to add fruit to both in equal amounts. I add half to primary and other half to secondary after transfering mead off the lees and campden/potassium sorbate

biochemedic said:

As an alternative to adding in the secondary, I usually add my "secondary" fruit to the primary containter, and then rack to secondary *after* the yeast kick up again on the additional added sugars. Then once any additional signs of fermentation have stopped, I give it another couple weeks to a month or so, then rack for clearing/bulk conditioning. I think this keeps the lees and sediment in the secondary to a minimum, and lets me avoid a third/tertiary racking at some point in the future...

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I like that idea a lot. I think I'll try that.

I do the exact thing as rlauhead. Works like a charm and only one really tough carboy to clean

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

This is a great podcast about an experiment that was done, two identical batches in every way except one had the fruit in primary and one in the secondary and the results of having it sampled by a variety of people from those new to mead to certified judges. The results are interesting.

I don't believe it really states that one is better than the other so much as it makes it very clear how the results of each method differs greatly and is quite detailed in explaining the difference between them. It would be especially beneficial to new mead makes contemplating their first melomel.

Scroll about half of the way down the page and look for

June 28, 2012 - Fruit Mead Experiment
Home brewer Tim Leber shares his experiment comparing fruit added to a mead in the primary and in the secondary.

- Tim Leber's data sheet (PDF)

iTunes | Streaming mp3

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A few other things are mentioned like blending, step nutrients, etc. etc. definitely worth giving it a listen

Just listened to the BBR episode BrewingMedic mentioned...thanks for posting that! It's really great to have truly good data to show more definitively what many of us have empirically come up with in practice!

I just finished the podcast. Great info. I stopped using fruit in my primary a few years ago but its awesome to have actual data from the masses to back up that choice. Like I said I so put it in the primary but after primary is over. I wonder if this effects it. Maybe its time to go back to the purist way and use it in the secondary fermentor.