I have been out of brewing for the last ten years. Recently just got back into it. Starting brewing back in the late 80's. Did everything from beers to wines to cider to mead. I point this out to show you that there are holes in my understanding.
I remember after doing a 5 gallon batch of fruit wine, it was common to add sugar and water back into 'the leftovers' and getting another one or two gallons of wine from the leftover fruits and yeast sediment. The second batch didn't have the color of the first but it tasted very similar.
I searched this site and read almost every post and I have not come across this in making fruit mead. I recently racked a primary fermentation of 5 gallons of mead that had 5 oranges and about a 100 raisins and yeast sediment in the leftovers. The fruit still looked to have some life. I took a one gallon jug, added 3 pounds of honey I had in house, added a little yeast nutrient, pectin enzyme and water and shook it good and then dumped it back into my 6 gallon pail of leftovers. I added in some nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves to spice it up. It was boiling away within 3 hours. It was done in 4 days and I just reracked into a one gallon jug. It did taste very good! Now wait till it settles out.
The next time I do this I will make sure I have 6 pounds of honey to stretch my leftover fruit into 2 gallon batches.
Anybody else do this with fruited meads?
I remember after doing a 5 gallon batch of fruit wine, it was common to add sugar and water back into 'the leftovers' and getting another one or two gallons of wine from the leftover fruits and yeast sediment. The second batch didn't have the color of the first but it tasted very similar.
I searched this site and read almost every post and I have not come across this in making fruit mead. I recently racked a primary fermentation of 5 gallons of mead that had 5 oranges and about a 100 raisins and yeast sediment in the leftovers. The fruit still looked to have some life. I took a one gallon jug, added 3 pounds of honey I had in house, added a little yeast nutrient, pectin enzyme and water and shook it good and then dumped it back into my 6 gallon pail of leftovers. I added in some nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves to spice it up. It was boiling away within 3 hours. It was done in 4 days and I just reracked into a one gallon jug. It did taste very good! Now wait till it settles out.
The next time I do this I will make sure I have 6 pounds of honey to stretch my leftover fruit into 2 gallon batches.
Anybody else do this with fruited meads?