Welcome - Enjoy the journey!
Fruit Primary Secondary or both - Here are my thoughts...
It depends. On what fruit flavor profile your looking for?
- If you want the honey flavor to show through with just a little fruit flavor then fruit in primary is a little harder to get the balance just right. In that case I add fruit in secondary and pull it when I hit the flavor profile im looking for. 1 - 1.5 pounds per gallon.
- If you want fruit to be the "Star" then fruit in secondary and a lot of it. 3 - 4 pounds per gallon
- If you want a well rounded full bodied fruit "bomb" then fruit in primary and secondary. 2-3 pounds each per gallon.
The point is you can achieve any of the scenarios above with fruit in primary and or secondary. I would suggest you pick a technique and experiment a bit and see what works best for you. The suggestions above are what seem to work for me.
As far as advantages or disadvantages. Here are some things I have learned solely and only through observation and experimenting and may or may not be what others have found.
- Primary
You will likely lose some of the flavor due to the ferment blowing some flavors out the airlock. Your fruit flavor may be a little "heavier" and lose some aromatics. The flavor is also harder to control as the fruit will stay in primary until ready to be racked to secondary. You could rack from it early but that's kind of messy and may introduce air. You will have to manage the fruit cap (Some of the fruit will float) and the cap if not stirred regularly or the fruit is placed in a sanitized mesh bag may inhibit CO2 release and or dry out and grow some nasties. CO2 in the later stages of fermentation will inhibit your yeast and bacteria or mold is not good for you or you mead. Fruit will also add sugar and the sugars in fruit will increase your ABV as the yeast will get to them too.
- Secondary
Easier to manage the flavor. Same concerns with the fruit cap except most of your CO2 from the active ferment should already be out.(Not all). You can rack from it when it hits the flavor you like. Again, fruit will also add sugar and the sugars in the fruit will not only increase your ABV as the yeast will get to them too it may kick off an additional ferment.
- Fruit in both or either - I find that fruit even if it does ferment dry kind of tricks my taste buds into thinking it is sweeter than it is. I don't know if that's the case for everyone as we all perceive sweets a little differently.
I do a lot of Melomels and prefer to try to find the balance where the honey and fruit kind of compliment each other. As such I almost always add fruit in secondary and try to find fruit that compliments the honey I'm using. (Occasionally I get it just right....)
Example - Bakers or Basswood honey with dark fruits like Blueberries, Plums, Blackberries. Wildflower and Clover honey with Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Peaches, apricots, pineapple etc. All fruits will work in all honeys -But fruits like Strawberries, Cherries, Raspberries, etc are kind of universal for me. Again experiment and see what works for you the combinations are almost endless..
