I have what meady people may call a melomel. It has been in primary for three weeks sitting in mixed berrys. Looks surprisingly clear besides the trub on the bottom and some fruit and residual on the top. I was thinking of racking to a secondary (very carefully ofcourse) to free up my secondary for a beer. I guess the question is what is acceptable time for primary with fruit and can it sit too long on fruit?
fermentation questions
- Thread starter croakerj
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I am sure it could sit too long but mead can go for months. My JAOM I just made which is an spiced orange/raisin melomel will sit on the fruit for nearly 3 months before I rack or bottle. In your case you can rack now but I would suggest racking on top of some fresh berries to take up head space you will probably have due to losses in racking.
.990 is as low as you can get. There should be next to no residual sugars in your mead there. When you rack it would be good to add Camden and sorbate to stabilize and help prevent further fermentation so when you have the new berries added it will leach out some sugars to bring that gravity up a few points.
It will not ferment past .990. Not sure on the yeast you used or the volume of the recipe but 1# of honey could add .006 points for a 5 gallon batch or .035 for a gallon batch. If not stabilizing then depending on your yeast and recipe it most likely will ferment further if not all the way back down to .990.
Ah, I see what you meant now. .990 is zero (essentially) and no negatives involved here. Adding anymore fermentables would raise my gravity and it would ferment those new sugars away. So obvious but I was not seeing of that way. Slap in the face. Thanks for entertaining my questions.
