Aging in Secondary Questions

[B3nj@m!n]

Hello!

This is my first batch of mead and I'm almost at the one month mark of primary. I'm about to rack into my secondary where the mead will sit on tart cherries for six months.

My question is whether to rack into a 5 or 6.5 gallon carboy. The amount of cherries the recipe calls for is 5 lbs. I'm worried about losing volume due to water displacement with the 5 gallon but I'm also worried about head space with the 6.5 gallon.

Suggestions? Thank you for the help!

 

[FunkyMunk]

Are you going to stabilize before putting the mead on the cherries? If not, fermentation should start up again and fill the headspace with carbon dioxide, and you will want a little headspace to keep it from foaming out of the airlock. Otherwise, you could rack into the 5 gallon carboy and keep the excess mead in a separate bottle or jug for topping off later. Also, 6 months seems like a long time to keep it sitting on fruit but I don't have enough experience to say for sure what will happen.

 

[Maylar]

Not sure about cherries specifically, but typically fruit in secondary is just a couple of weeks.

 

[Yooper]

Yeah, you're not "aging" on the cherries. They will break down and start to rot. They will also start to ferment when you put them in the mead. I'd rack to the larger carboy, allow it to ferment and sit a bit, then rack to the smaller carboy for aging.

 

[B3nj@m!n]

So I’m following a recipe from the book shown. It says to rack off primary onto the cherries for 6 months? Then rack off the cherries and age, bottle when clear. I was not going to stabilize, no.

 

[CupiKnife]

I would leave more headspace. Did it myself and the cherries swell and started a secondary fermentation making the foam come out the waterlock. Adding a little bit of sugar will make sure the headspace will fill up with co2 again
.

 

[SKBugs]

Yooper has it right.

 

[B3nj@m!n]

Okay, so since the recipe calls for six months, what might be the suggestion for me to do? Getting the ingredients were quite costly and I don’t want to mess this up. My plan was to fill a nylon strainer bag with glass marbles to keep the cherries submerged rather than letting them end up floating.

I guess I wouldn’t care horribly if I need the mead to secondary ferment with the cherries but for how long and why would the recipe call for six months? I’ve read that Ken Schramm is like one of the authorities right?

 

[CKuhns]

Mesh bag works wonders and easily cleans up. Sinking it with marbles also a great idea (My personal preference) as then you don't have to worry about it floating and growing something nasty. (very unlikely but worth the few marbles you will sacrifice.)

My experience has been two weeks in secondary will pretty much give up all the flavor the fruit has but a little longer if submerged wont hurt if you remove the pits. (The seeds / pits will give off some tannins after a few weeks that IMO are really unpleasant.) Ken S is generally viewed as a good reference and one i default to unless my own experience dictates otherwise, again in my opinion not necessary and if you just spent a lot of money on honey, spring water, yeast and fruit why risk it?

Fruit does often start a little additional ferment as the sugars do become available. Again a good thing to help keep your headspace CO2 rich and nothing to be concerned about.

 

[Seamonkey84]

That recipe seems kinda dated. Make your payment/mead in a bucket. Then when it goes dry or gravity is stable for a week or two, add your cherries to that. I personally wouldn’t go for more than 10-14 days of the pits aren’t removed. Once it’s finished fermenting again (gravity is stable or goes dry), rack into a carboy right up to the neck and let it sit to clear. I wouldn’t rack again until it’s completely clear, then let it sit for the rest of the 6 months before bottling.

 

[beer-me-now]

Also taste test after 2 weeks, and then as often as you feel necessary until it tastes good to you.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I have a Perry (Pear Mead) that's been in the Tertiary (3rd) carboy for over 5 years now...