Should I use campden tablets?

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Brandon O

Brandon O

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Forgot to use some in the 3 gallons of mead I made.
had 4 pounds of fresh strawberries I cut up and rinsed a few times with Iodopher. Been fermenting for 18 hrs now, but I don't know if it will do more harm than good to add the tablets now.
 
I think the camden tablets would do more harm than good at this point. They can't differentiate between wild yeast and the yeast you pitched.

I've never heard of rinsing fruit in Iodophor (not that that means anything). Wouldn't it be better to rinse the fruit before you cut it up? I would think that the wild things would be on the skin and a whole fruit is less apt to absorb the Iodophor.
 
Iodophor is a sterilizing agent...for equipment, such as carboys, spoons, and the like. I've never read or heard of using it on fruit, though I don't think it's poison. My advice, for what it's worth, is DON'T DO THAT AGAIN. It doesn't require rinsing when used, so, as I said, I doubt it's poisonous. Yuck!
:)
 
bluespook said:
DON'T DO THAT AGAIN.
Click to expand...

+1
Part of the reason I add fruit at Secondary is because I feel better hitting the fruit with 8 or 10 or 12 or more % Alcohol to kill any germs. Mostly, I think that as long as you use a good quality CLEAN fruit, you'll be ok like 99% of the time, and if you do think that you need to sanitize the fruit...Use GENTLE heat not chemicals.

But the good thing is, it will be ok....Probably....and you can use Campdon tabs when you rack to help prevent oxidation.


Post some Pictures....Geesh!
 
I haven't used fruit in a mead, yet, but in my fruit beer, I bring the wort temp down to 180*, then pitch the fruit in, and let it sit for 20 minutes. That way the pectin doesn't make an issue with your brew. You could probably do the same thing, just with water, but you'd have to make some calculations on how much water to use. I would think by adding just the fruit, you'd lose alot of flavor. If you added the water too, you'd have to be careflu on your batch size, or it could get too big for your carboy. Just my opinion here.
 
I'm not a fan of heating fruit for a mead of wine. Just rinse the fruit well with clean water. If you are concerned about wild yeast or bacteria then sulphite the must and wait 24 hours before pitching the yeast.

Even if you don't sulphite there is still probably no problem. Your pitched yeast has a big headstart on the wild yeast and the strains used in wine are very aggressive. Plus the wild yeasts are not necessarily bad fermenters.

Craig
 
If you heat fruit, you may be setting yourself up for pectin hazes - or worse still, a "cooked" flavour! (apples being a good example of that).

I like the idea suggested by the B'K' about chucking the fruit in at secondary though, but it's got me wondering about possible induced bitterness from any stones/pips/seeds etc ??? or is it better to add it as a pulp i.e. freeze it, then mush/crush and strain it, then add the liquor to the secondary ???

As for campden tablets, it the recipe requires them then add them when suggested. If not, wait until the ferment has finished as they stun the yeast and can cause stuck ferments - as I understand it!

regards

fatbloke
 
fatbloke said:
If you heat fruit, you may be setting yourself up for pectin hazes - or worse still, a "cooked" flavour! (apples being a good example of that).

I like the idea suggested by the B'K' about chucking the fruit in at secondary though, but it's got me wondering about possible induced bitterness from any stones/pips/seeds etc ??? or is it better to add it as a pulp i.e. freeze it, then mush/crush and strain it, then add the liquor to the secondary ???

As for campden tablets, it the recipe requires them then add them when suggested. If not, wait until the ferment has finished as they stun the yeast and can cause stuck ferments - as I understand it!

regards

fatbloke
Click to expand...

I never heat fruit, due to the pectin ("jelly factor") but I use campden all the time. Many recipes don't say to add campden, because it's a routine addition and assumed that it will be done when mixing fruit and with racking. Some winemakers want to always keep the must at 50ppm, and if it is kept there, there will be no stunned yeasts and no stuck fermentations. Most wine yeasts are minimally susceptible to campden/sulfites anyway.

I usually freeze my fruit before using, because it helps to break down the fruit easier. I use a sanitized mesh bag, so I can remove the fruit after I'm finished with it, and contain the skins/stones/seeds/pulp.
 
Okay, I'm posting some pics tonight of the mead and the other stuff I got in the fermenter.
The mead really looks beautiful.
Its day 3 or so of fermentation. After 24 hours I added some nutrient and energizer according to the volume of the mead I am making.
Would you guys reccomend adding more nutrient and energizer and rousing it a bit again? or should I just leave it alone.
 
Strawberry_mead.JPG


H_B_and_mead.JPG


Broy_and_Mead.JPG
 
would it be better to rinse the fruit with something like vodka or everclear before hand to kill foreign yeasts without using a chemical disinfectant and then rinse it off with water?
 
well for the bananas i assume nothing gets inside the peel.
but for next time washing stawberries in vodka sounds like a killer idea:rockin:
 
Brandon O said:
well for the bananas i assume nothing gets inside the peel.
but for next time washing stawberries in vodka sounds like a killer idea:rockin:
Click to expand...

And I'd vote for saving the vodka you washed the strawberries in. That sounds mighty tasty in and of itself. Just give the berries a water rinse first to get any dirt off first. :)
 
If you really have your heart set on sanitizing fruit, besides the vodka you could also freeze then thaw them, blend them up, and add campden to the fruit puree. Let it sit at least 24 hours, then pitch into your mead.
 
bluespook said:
Iodophor is a sterilizing agent...for equipment, such as carboys, spoons, and the like. I've never read or heard of using it on fruit, though I don't think it's poison.
Click to expand...

It's iodine trichloride or potassium iodide....

Beneficial in small quantities. Harmful in large quantities. Some really good purified iodine in alcohol (iodine doesn't dissolve in water, iodide salts do) maybe you could do 2cc a week safely, but I'd stick to less.

You've probably got less than a cc of your original compound in huge dilution, I wouldn't worry too much. Don't do that again. Use star san if you want to chemically clean porous things like food or wood chips, or boil them instead.
 
No pics uploaded to my comp yet, lost my usb connection.

Racked the mead this weekend. I had my 3 gallon BB filled and I had a half gallon left over. I took the half gallon and added 1/2 gallon of water and about 2 oz of honey.
I figure I'll try for a small mead with that gallon. The mead in the 3 gallon BB is really clear and has a pink tint. When the lees get to about 1/4 inch i'm gonna rack it again.
 
Here is what it looks like 6 months later. Bottles earlier than I wanted to in hindsight but it's pretty clear. Doesn't taste much like strawberries or bananas, faint and in the back ground. You start tasting the fruit after swallowing the mead. It will be better in another 6 months, not much hotness really, flavor just isn't unified enough yet.

It will be a good dry one, but I would use more strawberries to get that flavor to come through a bit more. Banana amount is good for a complimentary back ground flavor I thought.

sparkling_strawban.JPG
 
Yooper said:
I use campden all the time.
Click to expand...

Yooper could you please give me a step by step instruction from fresh fruit to 2nd please? what i understand is first wash them then freeze. next thaw and add 1 Campden tablet (how do i do this, and how much too use?) and let sit (in fridge?) for 24 hrs. then add everything inclunding the pre added ground Campden tablet to secondary
 

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