best time to add floral or fruit?

[Sonesen]

hello,
am looking at starting one gallon batches of mead
i want to add the following to each one gallon batch, Hibiscus, Butterfly Pea Flower, and the third with fresh juiced cranberries. (thoughts on maybe whole cranberry would be good).

i am looking to get a mild floral flavor but still have say 'hey, i am still a mead!'.

would this be best to added the flower and berries to the primary or secondary?

the hibiscus and pea flower are for teas...

just experimenting with flavors.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Well, I make a cranberry orange mead that's pretty popular with my friends, and everything goes in up front, except for the orange blossom honey I backsweeten with.

But if you're adding something primarily for the smell, and the quantity isn't big, I would think your best bet is to add it in the secondary, so that the smell doesn't get flushed out by all the CO2 production. That airlock tends to smell very nice, which is irritating, because it's your mead you want to smell nice, not the room you ferment in.

 

[CKuhns]

Agree with Brett. If you are lokking for the honey to shine through and a light floral or berry flavor then secondary is the way to go. Check it often and when just a little beyond what your looking for is when to stop. Most flavors mellow with a little age.

If you want a full bodied well rounded flavor with the fruit or spices to be the focus then use a neutral honey like clover and IMO both primary and secondary is a good way to go.