Fermentation Speed

I am making a mead with yellow plums from a tree in my back yard. I decided to split the batch and do half with fruit in the primary, and half with it in the secondary to see how different they taste. Both exactly the same except when the plums go in!

1 week into the fermentation and the one with plums is .065 points lower in gravity than the no plum counterpart!

I knew the plums would provide more nutrients for the yeast... But wow! I had to double check to see if my hydrometer was working right!

OG with plums 1.095
1 week later 1.010

OG without plums 1.090
1 week later 1.075

And the one with plums started with a higher OG as well, due to the plum sugars.

I am still very new to brewing, and decided not to add yeast nutrients in this one (other than raisins in both batches) just to see how it did naturally... But if nutrients have a similar effect, I'm picking some up!

I was just so surprised I had to share it with everyone!

Recipe

2 G spring water
6.6 lbs wildflower honey
4 lbs yellow plums (picked then frozen)
2 whole cloves
Handful of raisins
Ale yeast (can't remember the brand)

P.S. Of course I had to taste the grav sample, and the one with plums tastes amazing for only being a week old!

The fruit provides nutrients, sterols, and pH buffering which often help a mead finish much faster. A handful of raisins really isn't adequate nutrient for most ale yeast, and you may be running into pH problems with your traditional.


By the way, unless your plums were dried, they didn't raise the gravity. The plum juice that you extract probably has a gravity around 1.050 or so, which would slightly lower your gravity when mixed into the batch.