Conflicting info, noob needs advice on strawberry melomel

My friends and I made a strawberry melomel on Friday. We have no idea what we were doing so we "wing-ed" it based of a batch of simple mead we made last spring.

Mistake 1, the recipe last spring did not have any SG readings taken and we used 5# honey/gallon. We did that again. We used 24# Honey, ~5# Strawberries, topped off to ~5.5 gals and had an OG of 1.168ish

Added a standard dose of Fermax and Pectic Enzyme for a 5 gal. batch and pitched EC-1118 (told you we didn't know what we were doing )

So now we have a high gravity strawberry melomel burping away at 60*F ambient. I've been rocking/swirling the carboy 3-4 times a day to submerge the fruit and degas some CO2.

My question, when do I rack off the fruit? Some people say when the fruit turns white (which it almost is) and some say to wait until the primary is done.

Please help me shepard this disaster through to something that can be drinkable!

Any and all advice/criticism welcome!

D0ug said:

My question, when do I rack off the fruit? Some people say when the fruit turns white (which it almost is) and some say to wait until the primary is done.

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I have found 7 days on fruit works good for me. That just happens to be my primary time though Most people can just rack after 7 days, or put the fruit in a fruit bag and soak it in the primary for that time. Nothing good can happen by continuing to break that much pectin down.

CampFireWine said:

I have found 7 days on fruit works good for me. That just happens to be my primary time though Most people can just rack after 7 days, or put the fruit in a fruit bag and soak it in the primary for that time. Nothing good can happen by continuing to break that much pectin down.

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So do you stabilize or arrest fermentation at that point, or is that just how this style (berry melomel ) or type of recipe happens to work out for you?
With this gravity I'm more than a little worried, I expect primary fermentation to take much longer than 7 days, no? Can racking during active fermentation cause it to stall?

Ah, maybe I'll spend more time with search and stickies

Thanks for the input, I think you're right, the strawberries have given just about all they can at this point, and I would like to get it off them soon.

While it is possible for racking to stall some meads (particularly those that are already struggling, or near the end), it is unlikely to happen with EC-1118. Having started at a very high gravity, it is very possible that the yeast will poop out a bit early, but that may actually make your batch drinkable sooner by keeping the alcohol a little lower.

Once you rack, you can let it ferment to completion.

What you are likely to find is that 5 pound of strawberry isn't nearly enough, so be prepared to add more once fermentation is finished to give you more strawberry flavor.

Medsen

Thanks Medsen.

How many pounds for the secondary, 10? 15?

It depends on how strong you want the flavor. You can add it in stage, 5 pounds at a time until it gets where you want it. 10-15 pounds should make it quite bold.

So this has been going for awhile now.

I racked it after a week or so when the fruit was blanched, and then again 6 weeks after that to move it off the lees. That was about 6 weeks ago. At the second racking the SG had dropped to about 1.090ish. I had read the sticky on yeast nutrients additions, so in addition to a dose of DAP in the beginning, I also added some at this point. I didn't have the time or money to chase down the specific nutrient suggested in the sticky, so I was hopping the DAP would at least help.
Ambient temps have been right around 60*F
Now the gravity is right around 1.058, so about 14.4% abv. We used Lalvin EC-1118 which should be able to get to about 18%, and that would leave an FG of about 1.040ish right?

Pretty (very ) sweet and a lot of body yes? The most recent hydro sample tasted that way. It was pretty sweet and thick, but not too hot thanks to all the remaining fermentables. Not much strawberry though. A slight blush to the gold color of the mead, which is kind of cool.

It has started clearing on its own, just starting at the top there is about a 1/4" of crystal clear melomel.

My thoughts were to let it clear on its own then rack it onto 3-5 lbs. of chopped up strawberries in a nylon bag. the leave it for a month wrack again and bulk age as needed.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can encourage these yeasties to keep chugging along all the way through 18% can I get them to 20%? I'm not worried about alcohol content so much as drying it out. Anything I can do?

Also, I know more strawberries wont help the FG any, but how many pounds can I get in there before it's just too sweet, or is it already? I would like to get more strawberry in there if possible but...

Should I be using Campden Tablets to inhibit other bugs or will it knock down the yeast too?

Any and all help, advice or suggestions welcome

This is the problem I mentioned due to starting at such a high gravity. It causes the yeast to poop out early.

If you add more strawberries you will perk up the flavor, and you will add acidity to balance the sugar. What's more, you will dilute the ABV and the sugar so that it may ferment more and bring the gravity down to a level where it isn't cloying.

If that doesn't get the yeast going again, using UvaFerm 43 and creating an acclimated starter may work.

If all that fails, make a gallon (or 2) of very strong, and dry mead and blend in in.

I hope that helps.

Medsen

Thanks Medsen,

The yeast are still going, but I don't know how much more they can handle. That's why I was wondering what could get them through to the finish.

Do you have any suggestions regarding Campden or K meta additions?

Thanks again for the help, maybe I'll add more strawberries sooner then I had planned.

D0ug said:

Do you have any suggestions regarding Campden or K meta additions?

Thanks again for the help, maybe I'll add more strawberries sooner then I had planned.

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Adding more strawberries sooner sounds like the way I'd handle it.

1 Campden tablet per gallon (or the equivalent) after fermentation is complete would be where I'd start.

Thanks again, I'll post how it turns out.

Warming that up would help too. 60 degrees is pretty cool!

Debbie

I want to add about 3-4 lbs of frozen strawberries to this this weekend, do I need to boil them or pasturize them, or should I add some campden and let them sit over night, or can I just warm them up and throw them in?

Thanks for the help

Anyone?

I'm no expert, but you should be just fine thawing them & tossing them in.

common sense to the rescue!
Thanks, I'll give it of shot.

is campden really necessary? I am getting ready to make a blueberry melomel.

Ocracok3lite said:

is campden really necessary? I am getting ready to make a blueberry melomel.

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I think it depends on when you add the fruit. If it is going into the primary, then I believe you need to Sterilize it by boiling it for 5 min, pasturize it by holding it at 160*F for 15 min, or use a chemical agent such as, campden tablets to kill off the wild bugs. If you use a sulfiting agent such as campden tablets, my understanding is you need to do it 24 hours in advance of using the fruit so the SO2 has achance to out gas before you pitch the yeast.

I am adding fruit to the secondary at this point, and the alcohol is around 14% abv, so I'm hoping that is enough to knock back any wild critters as commonsenseman has suggested.

Good luck.

Yup, like doug said. When adding fruit to the primary, there's an increased risk of "extras" (unwanted airborne yeast) getting in and getting friskey. If you add it to the secondary & you have at least 10% ABV (according to mr. Schramm that's the approximate threshold) you are probably going to be fine because your yeast will dominate.

I made a Peach Ice Wine Melomel that started out high gravity like this one. I cut it with water to get it down to a more reasonable gravity and it worked real well. The water I added more than made up for that lost racking off the Peach puree. End result is really, really good.

When adding fruit to secondary, using sulfites (Campden tablets) is a good idea. Fruit often carry wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. Even is the alcohol is 14%, the lactic acid bacteria can sometimes cause malolactic fermentation and can create a cloudy, stinky result later on. While you don't have to treat with sulfites at the time you add the fruit, you may want to consider adding some before bottling. This is especially true if it is a sweet mead.

Thanks for the tip Medsen!


I think I will be racking again at the end of the week to get it off the fruit, and if the gravity has stabilized by then I will treat it with campden. Otherwise I will check the gravity periodically and treat when it has reached FG.

Will this approach keep it from souring or getting da funk?

It should.

Not sure if it comes across, but I was trying to capture how clear this became.

It looks like the SG is hanging around 1.052, and it might be done. I'm thinking it's time to hit it with some Campden tablets. That would but it somewhere around %15 abv.

I let SWMBO try some from the hydro the other night, she came down last night looking for "more of that Strawberry..." she didn't quite believe me when I said it wasn't ready yet. But I think it's still pretty hot and want to see if it will mellow more.

Let me give you a word of caution. You have a sweet mead with about 15% ABV and EC-1118 which is an incredibly hardy strain with a tolerance of 18% ABV. There is good documentation of such batches waking up to start fermenting again as much as 2 years later, particularly as the temp warms up. If this has been kept at 60F the whole time, there will still be viable yeast in it, and if you bottle this you have a pretty good chance of seeing popped corks (or bottle bombs).

If you are happy with it now, you should stabilize by using a larger than usual amount of sulfite (Campden), probably at least 1.5 tablets per gallon though it is even better if you use a test to measure free SO2 and adjust it to the correct level based on pH. You should also add about 250 mg/L of potassium sorbate. You need the combination of both sorbate and sulfite to keep the yeast suppressed, and even then it is not a sure thing. You should probably keep it under airlock and let the temperature of the batch come up to room temp for a few weeks to make sure that it will stay dormant before you bottle it up.

Congratulations on getting a batch that the lady of the manor appreciates!

Medsen