Mead using fruit jam. Recipe advice requested.

[RobertK]

I recently picked up 5 1-pound (454 g) jars of plum jam with the intent of making a plum mead. According to the nutrition label, there about 23 servings and each serving has 10g of total sugars (they unhelpfully don't mention how much of that is fermentable). So I'm figuring ~230g of sugar per pound. Also, I picked up 8 lbs of fresh plums, which I pitted and froze and will rack onto at around the 1.020 sg.

I will be using pectinase for both the jam and the frozen fruit.

Assuming 3 full gallons of water, and based on what I believe are the correct numbers for sugar content of the jam and the honey I am going to use, I came up with following:

Primary
8 lbs. wildflower honey
5 lbs plum jam (according to several recipes I found online, ~3 lbs of fresh plums are used to get 1 lb of jam)

and per www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/ . . .
6 g Red Star Premier Rouge
12.5 g Go-Ferm per
18.3 g Fermaid O (TOSNA 2.0)

Secondary
8 lbs red plums, thawed and treated with pectinase

Conditioning
Back sweeten to 1.015 if dry
Balance as needed

My starting gravity should be about 1.136 and I am prepared to dilute the must to achieve that gravity if it gets too much above.

I am going to wait until conditioning to assess the tannins, as I don't know how much, if any, I'll get from the jam or the skins. I have some medium toast American oak chips that might add some nice vanillins, but want to evaluate the plum flavors to decide if oaking is the way to go.

Thoughts?

 

[CKuhns]

What you haxe there should work.

1.135 may take a bit to get going. To help with the potential of a lag. I would consider adding a bit more yeast say 10 grams and do a starter with your GoFerm.

TOSNA 2.0 is a good protocol and will definately work. Consider TOSNA 3.0 as it is really designed for Fermaid-O and Go Ferm.

Be sure to pit the plums. As they will give you some very nasty flavor if added.

Good luck let us know how it comes 9ut.

 

[z-bob]

I've done it a couple of times. I have a gallon of apricot preserves melomel fermenting right now. I assume jams and jellies are 50% sugar by weight when I'm figuring out my recipe. I do not add pectinase (I would with fresh fruit) because they have added pectin in addition to what's in the fruit, and I don't want the methanol. I have no idea if it's a significant amount of methanol.

 

[RobertK]

What you haxe there should work.

1.135 may take a bit to get going. To help with the potential of a lag. I would consider adding a bit more yeast say 10 grams and do a starter with your GoFerm.

TOSNA 2.0 is a good protocol and will definately work. Consider TOSNA 3.0 as it is really designed for Fermaid-O and Go Ferm.

Be sure to pit the plums. As they will give you some very nasty flavor if added.

Good luck let us know how it comes 9ut.

Great info. Thank you.

 

[Miraculix]

Do not do it.

I have made prune juice wine and the result was a sharp metallic mess. The problem is, that the fruits were heavily oxidised during production, my assumption is that the same applies to plum turned into jam.

So even if they are just 50% as oxidised as the prunes were, the result will be a dumper.

Buy yourself some fresh plums and make a mead with them!

.... Or if you insist, start with a tiny test batch.

 

[RobertK]

I've done it a couple of times. I have a gallon of apricot preserves melomel fermenting right now. I assume jams and jellies are 50% sugar by weight when I'm figuring out my recipe. I do not add pectinase (I would with fresh fruit) because they have added pectin in addition to what's in the fruit, and I don't want the methanol. I have no idea if it's a significant amount of methanol.

I've dozens or recipes and watched as many videos (some by well respected members of the homebrewing community), and not one has mentioned this. But I googled "methanol and pectinase" and sure enough, it's right there. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll find a different path to clear out in pectin that remains.

 

[RobertK]

Do not do it.

I have made prune juice wine and the result was a sharp metallic mess. The problem is, that the fruits were heavily oxidised during production, my assumption is that the same applies to plum turned into jam.

So even if they are just 50% as oxidised as the prunes were, the result will be a dumper.

Buy yourself some fresh plums and make a mead with them!

.... Or if you insist, start with a tiny test batch.

Interesting. I hadn't considered potential oxidation of the fruit during jam production. My assumption has been that the acid content would inhibit oxidation (ingredients specifically include citric acid). A test batch might well be in order. Thank you.

 

[Rish]

I've done it a couple of times. I have a gallon of apricot preserves melomel fermenting right now. I assume jams and jellies are 50% sugar by weight when I'm figuring out my recipe. I do not add pectinase (I would with fresh fruit) because they have added pectin in addition to what's in the fruit, and I don't want the methanol. I have no idea if it's a significant amount of methanol.

What is the result without pectinase? Just hazy mead or do you have more lees/loss of volume?

 

[z-bob]

What is the result without pectinase? Just hazy mead or do you have more lees/loss of volume?

The pectin sinks to the bottom with the lees. I don't make mead often enough to now if the extra lees significantly reduces the volume. The mead is clear when it's finished. HTH