Can I add fruit this late in the process?

I have a mead that I made back in April which is not sitting in secondary clearing. The person for whom this mead was being made now would like some fruit flavor in it. Can I rack it again onto fruit and just proceed like I would if I had just racked initially to secondary? It was made with 17 lbs of honey with an OG of 1.104 and an FG of 1.015.

Sure, though you might want to sulfite to protect it from oxidation & to kill anything that might come in on the fruit. I'd also freeze & thaw the fruit at least once, this helps to break down the cell walls & will give you more flavour. Regards, GF.

what he said ^^^^

Also make sure you are properly topped off, and you may need to "punch the cap" down occassionally (push the floating fruit into the made) to make sure you don't get any spoilage.

could you give a quick explanation as to HOW the sulfites help with oxidation?

thebigo said:

could you give a quick explanation as to HOW the sulfites help with oxidation?

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Yes...I was under the belief that sulfites are more for attenuating yeast, and wasn't aware that they had antioxidant properties...

FWIW, I've used ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as an antioxidant...1/4 tsp per gallon.

thebigo said:

could you give a quick explanation as to HOW the sulfites help with oxidation?

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Jack Keller says it so much better than I can: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/adding.asp
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

Jack Keller says it so much better than I can: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/adding.asp
Regards, GF.

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So according to this explanation, it's not so much of an antioxidant as it presumably displaces the oxygen?

I'm not sure I buy this explanation...first of all, I'm not sure why one dissolved gas would necessarily displace the other. Second, in his discussion he's talking about pre-fermented must, and you *want* a certain amount of dissolved oxygen in there for the initial stages of yeast metabolism and fermentation...

SO2 is absolutely used for its potent antioxidant properties. Here is some explanation in a Google Books link. By becoming oxidized more readily than other molecules, it prevents their oxidation, in turn preventing the formation of some aldehydes and other oxidation products that we can taste.

greenbirds said:

SO2 is absolutely used for its potent antioxidant properties. Here is some explanation in a Google Books link. By becoming oxidized more readily than other molecules, it prevents their oxidation, in turn preventing the formation of some aldehydes and other oxidation products that we can taste.

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Thank you...this is a much more cogent explanation. I would again point out that antioxidants do not "push out" free oxygen, which is needed for yeast in their initial phases of reproduction in the must/wort, but rather scavenge free radical species such as hydrogen peroxide (although as the link points out, can react directly with oxygen as well -- I would suspect that this is probably a less prevalent reaction that that with chemicals such as H202).

BTW, I'm sorry if we've hijacked the thread with science...this discussion probably belongs in the Brew Chem section!

Regarding the original question, yes you can rack on to the fruit when you move to secondary, and once you've let that sit for a while (you may get a little secondary fermentation, although if you add sulfites it may not be as much) you will probably want to rack once more to allow clearing off the fruit.