Fruit Question

[Bush_84]

I am sure that I already know the answer to this question, but wanted to ask before I ruined my mead in progress. I have used fruit from the store, but never fruit that I had picked wild. I picked approx 2 gal of wild raspberries last year and plan on throwing them in my mead during secondary. My OG was 1.115 I believe and last I checked it was about 1.030. So about 1.015 or so I will transfer to secondary and put raspberries in. My question is do I treat the raspberries with campden before I do this or is the high alcohol going to kill just about anything in the raspberries. So I guess the question is do I just toss them in or put on campden for 24 hours? They have been in the freezer since last summer. Thanks!

 

[fatbloke]

I am sure that I already know the answer to this question, but wanted to ask before I ruined my mead in progress. I have used fruit from the store, but never fruit that I had picked wild. I picked approx 2 gal of wild raspberries last year and plan on throwing them in my mead during secondary. My OG was 1.115 I believe and last I checked it was about 1.030. So about 1.015 or so I will transfer to secondary and put raspberries in. My question is do I treat the raspberries with campden before I do this or is the high alcohol going to kill just about anything in the raspberries. So I guess the question is do I just toss them in or put on campden for 24 hours? They have been in the freezer since last summer. Thanks!

entirely up to you. If you hit the fruit with sulphite then put it into the ferment while it's still going, it might stun the yeast some and cause it to stall.

If you're worried about problems then just let the ferment finish, then sulphite the raspberry and then after 24 hours, add it in then.

It's likely to give you a more fruity flavour that way. Though the acid might show through a little (raspberry is acidic as hell, just not as bad as citrus fruits).

You might end up having to back sweeten....

regards

fatbloke

 

[Bush_84]

Ok. I was planning on letting it get to a pretty much get to its finished point in fermentation and then adding. I'll sulphite then add fruit. Thanks!