My Prickly Pear Mead

Ok, so I'm currently boiling the pureed prickly pear fruit and have a few questions about the process. I'm using the Papazian recipe from Joy of Home Brewing except I'm only doing a 1 gallon batch. I will post pics after I get the yeast pitched and everything cleaned up.

- the recipe calls for some optional pectin enzyme. When does this get added?

- I bought the 2 different kinds of yeast as recommended in the recipe. I have Lalvin K1-V116 and EC-1118. My LHBS told me I should pitch both yeasts at the same time. Is this advisable?

- Since I'm only doing a 1 gallon batch instead of 5 gallons, should I use the entire 5g packages of both types of yeast?

- I purchased some one gallon jugs. I anticipate this being very full. Does anyone have experience with how active the fermentation is going to be? Do you recommend using a blowoff tube?

Thanks and I'll try to keep this thread updated with my progress.

I made 5 gal of this last year.

It's not bad, just takes a glass or two to get used to the flavor. To me it tastes like you'd think aloe would taste like.

I know Charlie P says it's the best mead he's ever had, but I got to tell you that effect only happens after about the 3rd glass...

I doubt you'd need a blow off tube, I didn't use one, but with 1 gal jugs there's not a lot of air space left.

I only used 1 yeast and no pectin enzyme.

The best advice I can give you to be patient...and don't sample it. Reason is there's only a gallon of it to start with. Taking hydrometer readings will greatly cut down the final volumne.

Here's 7.5 lbs of prickly pear fruit.



Burning the needles off.



14 pear fruit = 1 lb.

They sure look purdy...

Boiling the fruit puree.


Everything combined.


Yeast pitched and airlock in. I think I may have a problem with head space. I put this in a plastic bin to (hopefully) contain any mess.

Wow. Having never seen a prickly pear, I imagined they were green. Cacti are green, after all! But that's an amazing shade of red in the primary.

While cacti are mostly green, the fruits are mainly red or yellow.

Apollo said:

Ok, so I'm currently boiling the pureed prickly pear fruit and have a few questions about the process. I'm using the Papazian recipe from Joy of Home Brewing except I'm only doing a 1 gallon batch. I will post pics after I get the yeast pitched and everything cleaned up.

- the recipe calls for some optional pectin enzyme. When does this get added?

- I bought the 2 different kinds of yeast as recommended in the recipe. I have Lalvin K1-V116 and EC-1118. My LHBS told me I should pitch both yeasts at the same time. Is this advisable?

- Since I'm only doing a 1 gallon batch instead of 5 gallons, should I use the entire 5g packages of both types of yeast?

- I purchased some one gallon jugs. I anticipate this being very full. Does anyone have experience with how active the fermentation is going to be? Do you recommend using a blowoff tube?

Thanks and I'll try to keep this thread updated with my progress.

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If you sulfite the must, add the pectic enzyme when you pitch the yeast; if you don't sulfite the must, stir it in with the nutrients.

I'd only use one 5g packet of yeast.

I've made cysers with EC-1118 & with K1-V116, and only the K1-V116 blew the top off my airlock, though both were fairly vigorous fermentations & both produced kraeusen. The smaller the headspace, the more blow-off you'll have.

Hope you find some of this info useful. Regards, GF.

That reminds me I need to go pick some prickly pear soon. I drank my last bottle of prickly pear mead a few weeks ago. I've been waiting until I move to make more.

Apollo said:

While cacti are mostly green, the fruits are mainly red or yellow.

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Comes from living in the pacific northwest. I've never seen a cactus that wasn't in a pot on someone's desk.

LOL. Ya, I think I was in the same boat until I moved down here.

congrats on your PP mead. I will sample mine around Christmas. Definitely use the pectin enzyme unless you are partial to jello shots. I put half of my juice in the boil and saved the other half for the secondary to keep a bit more flavor in. The saved juice, after defrosting poured like molasseses. be prepared to transfer several times to keep it from sitting on the sediment. If you decided to back sweeten (since you used champagne yeast), use a chemical to prevent renewed fermentation or it will kick off again when you back sweeten and defeat your purpose.

When would you recommend I add the pectin enzyme? As you have probably noticed I have all ready pitched the yeast and it's fermenting away as we speak. Since I didn't leave much if any head space, it has ejected the stopper and airlock a few times in 24 hours all ready. I just put the stopper back in and top the airlock off with more vodka. I've thought about removing the stopper and airlock and putting a plastic sandwich baggy with a rubber band just to keep nasties out since I can't watch it all day every day. Thoughts?

That's a good idea to add more juice for the secondary. I added all the juice I made up, but could make more (as I have 5.5# of fruit in the freezer) and rack into 2 - 1 gallon jugs. Would this dilute things a little too much?

I added the enzyme during the boil and then with the second pasturized addition of juice, I'm not really sure when you are supposed to. I've had to transfer 3 times after primary to keep it off the trub?(white muck). If you have a 3 piece airlock, push a screwdriver down the gas tube and the tip will break cleanly off. I think they are designed this way. then take 1/2" ID hose and slip over the top of the gas tube. Drop the other end of the hose into a jar of water or dilute sanitizer. Instant blow off tube. when you want to use it as an airlock just reassemble it. The missing tip will just help prevent clogs.

Edit: I sampled mine last night. I couldn't help myself. very nice, even though I'm sure I screwed it up in several areas it still taste better than either of the 2 commercial meads I have gotten. It is still a little hot and had almost no PP flavor. The lack of PP flavor I figure is from the renewed fermentation when I back sweetened it. It seems like I took the yeast to the limit of their alcohol tolerance for it still has just a touch of sweetness.

A store by me has 10 PPs for a dollar. I have too many projects and not enough carboys to make 5 gallons, but you have me thinking about experimenting with a 1 gallon batch. About how many lbs. or PPs did you use for a gallon?

I used 2# for this batch. I don't have the recipe in front of me, but I think for a 5 gal batch it called for 5-6#. I measured out 14 pp to 1#, but the quantity per # depends on the size of the fruit.

Well, I picked up 20 pp's. I'm going to let them get a little softer, freeze them and then start the mead in a couple weeks. Are you just looking it as 2 pounds of juice or are you measuring the whole fruit? I'm over 5 pounds for the whole lot.

I weighed the whole fruit and tossed it in a food processor then dumped that in a pot with some water to boil for a while.

Apollo - I scanned quickly but what type/where did you get your honey?

I used a 3# can of grade A mesquite honey from Trader Joes.

Apollo said:

I used a 3# can of grade A mesquite honey from Trader Joes.

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Got ya. Recall how much it was? FYI there is a place in town called Southwest Bee Supply just south of downtown that last year sold mesquite honey for $2.25 a lb (bring your own container). I'm not making this years mead for another couple of weeks but figured I'd let you know of them. Cheaper than Brew Your Own.

I think it came out to about $2.83/#, so about $8.50. I saw a place on Craigslist selling for $2.50/# here Next time I need some honey I'll look up SW Bee Supply.

I make a Prickly pear Jelly that rocks...I'm thinking this mead would as well. My jelly is very slimy before cooking. Do you have that issue, and what do you think it will do to the late addition fruit?

BigK, I used a juiceman juicer. I only had to deal with juice. Even with enzyme it did thicken up a bit, but the thick slime sunk to the bottom in the primary and I was able to rack off the top. Funny thing I noticed was the color loss. My PP mead being about 7 months old now is about the same color as apple juice. I was hoping it wouldn't fade past a rosy color. As for late addition I added another 1/2 gallon of PP juice to the secondary and that caused another racking due to the build up of the slime -trub. The mead is very clear now just a yellow color instead of red or rosy.

I have been looking all over the place online for prickly pear fruit but can't find it anywhere. The funny thing is, I grew up in Tucson and it was all over the place. I am actually going to visit next week so I will just go out and pick some on my last day (if I can find any that are not over ripe) and ship them to myself.

There is also a honey I like there (Home). I generally get some and bring it back to NY when I am there. Going to try to find some in bulk while I am there.

Sounds like a plan steelerguy. I don't know about ripeness levels, but I've seen a lot of prickly pear in my neighborhood with a lot of large fruit on them. If you need a hand with locating fruit or want to have a homebrew while you're here pm me.