Strawberry mead procedure

I am getting ready to do a strawberry mead. I have 5# of strawberries cut, frozen and thawing. I was thinking of boiling the strawberries to extract juice sugars ect. Then while the water was still a little warm, adding the honey. The strawberries are in sanitized pantyhose (cheaper than nylon bags), so I will probably leave them in primary as well.

My thoughts lead me to believe that I may get a better OG reading, as well as have more fermentables present when I pitch EC1118. Should I create a yeast starter? Dry pitch? Thoughts?

Additional info:
2 gallon batch

4.5# honey
5# strawberries cut, frozen and thawed
EC1118
Yeast nutrient
Yeast energizer
Spring Water to 2 gallons

Personally I'd age the mead on the strawberries. I've never done anything like what you're describing but I believe you'd set the pectin by boiling the strawberries, creating a permanent (?) haze. 1118 is a beast. I only make 1 gallon batches so I don't really worry about pitch rates but I'd imagine one sachet, rehydrated, would be fine...

Well, I was basing my thoughts on this thread
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/strawberry-mead-246983/

and this site
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques5.asp

And then I started thinking, "Self, draw out the flavors and sugars and really feed the beast."

I was thinking that this could turn out good at 1.5 gallon batch. But then started thinking about all of the volume lost to rackings.

So after some more research, I will probably not boil the strawberries. Just crush and add to the fermenter. Any thoughts on how long to leave the strawberries in primary?

I have also been finding that many people suggest adding acid blends or juice their strawberry wines/meads. Any thoughts?

I would recommend just chopping the strawberries into halves or quarters. You don't want to crush too many of the seeds as that might give you some off flavors and it will be a lot less likely to haze the finished mead.

I made strawberry mead 4 months ago. It is aging now. I would say you really light on strawberries. 4 lbs per gallon seems best. I used 4.5 lbs in primary and 4.5 lbs in secondary (3 gal batch) and now I wish I had all 9 lbs in secondary instead. Good aroma, strawberry flavor is barely there, and color is really weak, almost a straw like with a hint of pale red. I used pectin enzyme in primary and strawberries disintegrated to mush while fermenting. I used 1116 and they seem liked berries very much, fermented to dryness in less than a week. I quartered, froze and dumped them in primary, no need to heat-treat them at all.

Personally I would do the mead without the berries and then add them to the secondary. Just make sure you have enough head room, it will ferment again.

That's a good thought. By brother (fellow mazer) suggested strawberries in secondary as well. Two gallons... what maybe another 3 lbs per gallon?

regulatedhobbyist said:

That's a good thought. By brother (fellow mazer) suggested strawberries in secondary as well. Two gallons... what maybe another 3 lbs per gallon?

Click to expand...

I think 8 lbs per 2 gal batch will be good start. Not sure how you planning to add strawberries in secondary but I found with any fruit if you want real strawberry flavor to shine through do not let yeast to ferment berries in secondary. I personally add my fruit in secondary after I stabilize with campden & sorbate. And then let strawberries soak in mead for a week to release all the juices. This way you have zero tartness from fermented fruit, which some folks like and I don't.

So, strawberries in primary. And roughly double the strawberries in secondary after stabilizing? How long in secondary for a nicer strawberry taste?

I would either mix 50:50 (primary/secondary). Or use 8 lbs per 2 gal in secondary after sorbate.

7 days is sufficient, you can sample along the way

Depends on what taste you're after.
I tried a strawberry melomel and wanted just a hint of strawberries, and I actually managed exactly that!

I took roughly 2 pounds of well tasting frozen strawberries, thawed them and put them through the blender. Poured the result into primary and let it ferment.
The result was too dry so I had to back sweeten a bit.
Turned out to be really yummy!!

You'd be better off with K1V than 1118. Personally I prefer to use the ½ and ½ approach for sweet fruits: half in the primary (preferably run through a blender until liquid-ish), half put into the secondary whole.

I just did a three gallon batch with 11 lbs of honey and 12 lbs of strawberrys in the primary. I will let you know in a year how it turns out. I used pectite enzyme, wine/grape tanins, for the yeast I used a champaign yeast...I didn't use 1118, every mead I have made with that turned out very hot. I try to stick to something that will ferment only to about 14%

Well, I did use the 1118. I wonder if the fusels caused by the 1118 would be decreased if I cooled the ferment temp. I know that this is the case with D47. Anyone know?

I am planning to back sweeten. This is more a gift for SWMBO. Make it strong so it doesn't take much to make life better.

gilliam said:

Depends on what taste you're after.
I tried a strawberry melomel and wanted just a hint of strawberries, and I actually managed exactly that!

I took roughly 2 pounds of well tasting frozen strawberries, thawed them and put them through the blender. Poured the result into primary and let it ferment.
The result was too dry so I had to back sweeten a bit.
Turned out to be really yummy!!

Click to expand...

Do you have a recipe?

I made a strawberry mjød that took two years to clear without pectic enzyme, and two days with. I would recommend pectic enzyme.

I used pectic enzyme because I read (or was told) that strawberry pectin sucks for wine but great for jelly. It was bubbling along about once every 1-1.5 seconds last night. I might take a gravity reading in a couple of days. Usually 1118 will burn through sugars pretty quickly.

regulatedhobbyist said:

Do you have a recipe?

Click to expand...

Here's how I made it for a 10 liter batch (almost 3 gallons).

450 g frozen strawberries
3.5 kg mixed flower honey from a local beekeeper
Wyeast dry mead yeast (Vintner's Choice 4632 Activator)

I boiled 0.5 kg honey for ca 15 min on rather high heat until the foam had the color of gingerbread cookies. (I was aiming for a slight hint of caramel in the taste, but I can't detect any in the result. )
Added ca 2 liters of water and the rest of the honey and let it all dissolve.

Thaw the strawberries and put them in a blender with a little bit of water and mash it up.

Pour the honey and the strawberries into carboy and top off with water.
Pitch the yeast and shake the whole thing to aerate.

SG 1.086
FG 0.998 (1 month later)

Optional step: Back sweeten to taste.

When I do this the next time, I will add pectic enzyme to the recipe, since it takes some time to clear (and I'm still trying to learn the patience bit...).

Just bottled my Strawberry mead. I only brewed it on Valentine's Day, but it tastes pretty good now. I can only imagine what it'll be like in a year or three.

I'm going to be making a strawberry melomel and am adding the strawberries in secondary. I didn't add pectin enzyme in the primary because it was just a reg show mead that I was going to split into 2 batches. Can I add some pectin enzyme in right before I add the strawberries? Is there a certain amount of time I should wait after adding the pectin enzyme to rack on top of the strawberries?

Thanks
ErinRae

You can add it to the secondary. It is most effective if added to fruit juice or puree itself prior to adding to the must.

Matrix

I was thinking fo pureeing my strawberries then racking on top of them in a secondary. How long should I let the strawberries sit in the pectin enzyme before adding the must?