Including something in the bottle...

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone has any opinions on adding things to your mead at bottling for aesthetics? I was thinking of dropping a cherry or cranberry into each bottle of my Winter mead when I bottle in a few weeks, but I've thought of adding other things too, like coins for instance. Of course anything added would be sanitized first.

Has anyone done anything like this before? I know for the fruit that if there is still any active yeast that they could generate a bit more gas, but I don't think it would be much of a problem.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

I've never done this, or made mead for that matter, but cranberries might fit through the opening nicely. Sounds like fun.

Don't do coins. A.) They'll provide a lovely metallic taste to the mead; B.) Aren't some of the metals used in coins toxic? Fairly harmless if consumed and passed through the system, but if leached out over time into liquid? If I'm off base on item B, item A is still enough for me to not put them in.

I do like the idea of a (alcohol-soaked for sanitation) cherry or cranberry.

It depends, is the mead carbonated or not? I tried putting oak chips into a growler that I was using for carbing. When opened, it proceeded to gush out uncontrollably. Big mess.

Yeah, I figured that a coin would add a metallic taste which is why I haven't done it yet. My concern with fruit is that it would just rot in the bottle and add a bad flavor.

My only concerns would be:

1) Sanitizing agent makes fruit unsafe, adding unwanted chemicals to your mead.
2) Sanitizing agent is safe, but fruit has a bad or aweful taste after sanitizing, which transfers to your mead.
3) Sanitizing agent is safe, fruit tastes ok, but it didn't do the job completely and bacteria starts to grow in your precious mead.

Im not trying to be Debbie Downer, because I think this is a wonderful idea. The way I would do it would be to add fruit to the primary, or even secondary, while the yeasties can kill any or all of bacteria, use sanitized metal equiptment, transfer the fruit used into the bottle, then bottle mead.

I know of fruit safe cleaners, im not sure if adding a sanitizing agent would be harmful to the fruit. And im not sure if the fruit safe cleaners will do the job...

What do you guys think?

You can add things to a bottle. There's always a possibility of it adding some off flavor, but it you rinse it in a sulfite solution, the chances of a spoilage organism are small. I've added a piece of orange zest to some bottles and it seemed to work just fine. Definitely don't add metals - even if non-toxic they may create a haze.

You are right that adding fruit, at least berries and softer fruits, will turn to mush over time.

And the seeds in things like berries can break down and release tannins into the mead which may or may not adversely affect the flavor.

How about a gummy bear?...you know bears love honey...

I would think the only thing safe for long term storage would be glass, wood and some plastics

So... a marble might work, a wood chip although you would probably get a good amount of tannin, maybe a piece of honey comb? No idea how you would get your hands on some

I had a buddy who popped a hop cone into individual bottles of his IPA before bottling. seemed like a good idea at the time, but the cones just fell apart in the bottle and made for a somewhat nasty bottle pour. after seeing what happens to fruit in fermenters, I would agree with malkore on that front. i have seen people add fruit during serving to great effect, however.

If you've bulk aged for an extended period of time, and then are going to bottle and expect to drink or give it away and have it be consumed within the year, then sure, add anything and it should work pretty well.
For example, rack some mead, flush it with.. I dunno, nitrogen? Co2? and seal it and let it age in the cask, barrel, keg, and several years down the road, I'd consider pushing some of it out into wine bottles in the fall and toss in a cinnamon stick, and give it away as a gift to be had during that winter. Since the stick would be in there for maybe a few months, it wouldn't extract as much unwanted things.

Agreed, it would be difficult to add anything to the bottle then age, except for glass or metal. (Gold or gold flake maybe?)

As far as bacteria goes you would be adding fruit to a solution with between 10%-15%+ ABV. At that level most bacteria would either die or stall and would not be of much concern. Of course it could still turn to mush eventually and not look too attractive (I don't see why cinnamon wouldn't be "OK"). Like pretty much anything untested I would take 1 bottle and experiment.

Best of luck!

I'm thinking fruit may be ok for a certain range of time. Similar to pouring wine over sliced fruit to make a sangria, or putting pitted cherries into a brandy. Granted, the first has a short life and the second has much higher alcohol content. Probably worth testing with a storebought bottle to see what happens.

I dunno. There has to be a trick to it. I see whole pears in bottles of brandy all the time.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I dunno. There has to be a trick to it. I see whole pears in bottles of brandy all the time.

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Brandy also has a significantly higher alcohol content and is harder to spoil. That said, you might be able to dunk a pear (more realistically, a crab apple) in a sulphite solution and squeeze it into a bottle. Apples and pears would probably hold up better than berries.