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Thanks for the replies. I freeze my berries too. Usually works like a charm, even without enzymes. Perhaps the overnight drip would do the trick, but after my last experience I'd be worried that even that might let more through than I wanted. I guess I should split the next batch and do...

Blackberry season is just around the corner, and I have melomel on my mind. I made some pretty good stuff last year, but had an issue. After secondary ferment was complete, I had about a gallon on some sort of gel/pectin like substance which had precipitated out on the bottom. I never used...

Thanks again for the advice. My quest continues ...

Yeah, I've heard raisins are not enough by themselves. But what's your take on the bee pollen? It's supposed to have a pretty impressive nutritional profile, though obviously not tailored specifically for yeast. I've always transferred to secondary anywhere 1.01 - 1.05, and have always...

So ferment completely out in primary then. Awesome. Can't wait to try it. Does the head space of c02 only remain intact if your primary is under airlock? (I have heard a lot of folks just use a towel over their primary, or a loose lid, or something else like that. It seems the c02 cap...

One other thing; I guess time in primary is pretty important here, and premature transfers to secondary could also contribute to the slowdown towards the end. I guess the longer in primary the better. But at what point does oxidation become a threat, necessitating the transfer to secondary...

I guess it's unanimous then. It will require more work, but no doubt it will be well worth it. Thanks all for the good advice.

I have been starting meads and metheglins at around 14% alcohol. I feed them only raisins and bee pollen. They start quickly (on 71b, cote des blanc, or d47) and go down to around 2% within a couple of weeks at around 60 degrees, but then slow down to a crawl that can go on for several months...

Sounds good. I think the freezing aspect probably makes sweating unnecessary, since it has a similar effect of breaking down the fruit and maximizing yield, etc ... I may still press the juice from my wickson crabs, due to their 2+ inch size. They'll make a nice addition to the cider apples...

Greeting All, I usually prefer trial and error to get answers, but when working with inherently labor intensive fruit, sometimes the trial and the error are too great and too risky, and it's just better to ask. I am working on a cyser for this fall which will be heavy in crab apples...