Bulk production for experiments

[The_Dutch]

So I’m wondering if there is a true difference in the flavors produced by additions in primary or secondary. Pretty much what I’m wondering is this:

Couldn’t I just make a big batch of traditional, stabilize, then separate into smaller batches and add flavors? (fruits, herbs, spices etc) I have been reading and unless I got this wrong, if it is a fast fermentation, the additions that were added in primary won’t come through, and that your best bet is secondary additions? I’d love some people to weigh in on this. Thanks

 

[Maylar]

Sure you can do that, it's very common. In fact I think it's harder to add stuff to primary because you can't judge when it's done.

Sometimes both primary and secondary works. I have a recipe for a triple berry melomel that uses frozen berries. It calls for adding the juice from the berries to primary as part of the water. Then when ferment is done stabilize and add the berries to secondary. He starts with a very high gravity because the berries will water down the final product.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Depends, some flavors are affected by the fermentation, some aren’t. Allowing yeast to work on the fruit/juice adds nutrients, but it also make it more wine like in flavor. If you add fruit to secondary without stabilizing, the yeast can still ferment the fruit but retain more flavor/aroma, but still more like wine. If you stabilize then add fruit/juice, your essentially flavoring and sweetening it with fruit, so it’ll taste like your base mead with added fruit, kind of like a mixed drink. If you do it to both primary and secondary, you’ll get a fruit bomb effect, with wine nuance and forward with the fruit.

 

[bernardsmith]

If you add fruit, spices or herbs to the primary to a large extent you are using water and a relatively little amount of alcohol to extract flavors. When you add the same fruit or spices or herbs to the secondary you are using a significantly greater amount of alcohol to extract the flavors. Alcohol is a far better solvent than water. So that's one difference. The other is that when you add flavorings to the secondary you have far more control over when to remove them. And the third difference is that many folk with far more sensitive sense of taste than I have claim that they can always tell the difference between meads with fruit added to the primary and those where the fruit was added to the secondary. The fruit in the primary tastes less bright and fresh. Is that because of the interaction with the CO2? I don't know...