melomel mead

[SeppukuCoconuts]

I'm fairly new to mead making. I've made a bunch of ciders (with varying success) and I've made a handful of meads in 1 gal batches. Mostly fruit meads. However,

It seems that the finished products don't really taste like the fruits I used. Generally I use about 2lbs of fruit per gallon in the primary (two batches) with d-47 yeast. It seems to me that the ciders I made with fruit in the primary leave a bit of the fruit flavor in the finished product, and the mead just blows it right out of the airlock.

Should I also add fruit to the secondary? Or add fruit juice to the primary instead of water?

I'm really attempting to make wine for dessert, mostly for family holidays. a llittle Sweet and fruity is what I am trying to shoot for.

I am currently fermenting a cherry cyser:
3lbs honey
64oz apple cider (good quality, tasted very nice)
-pectin enzyme to clear
32oz Morello cherries in syrup (made some decent cherry cider with these)
d-47 yeast

I didn't take a SG because the cherries got in the way, but I would imagine its rather high. I have not tasted it yet, its still going...but I'm going to imagine its not going to taste much like apples or cherries when its done.

Should I add both of the fruits to the secondary if that is the flavor profile I am after? And if so how long should I leave the fruit in the secondary?

 

[MarkKF]

I add fruit to the primary. I agree it tends to blow away the flavor but after it clears in the secondary I stabilize and add a little more fruit juice to add sweetness and flavor then bottle.

 

[CKuhns]

D47 is a pretty robust yeast and chews through your fruit and sugars pretty aggressively if fermented warm. Cooler is better but too cool could stall it, for D47 try to ferment at 62 - 64 Deg F if possible. (others will have differing opinions but thats my 2c.)

I add fruit to secondary.

Tannins (Tea) for mouth feel and flavor to primary. (Black, Hibiscus, Orange Pekoh etc)

1.5 - 3 pounds of fruit per gallon depending upon the fruit flavor you want. Many folks do fruit in primary and secondary and it does round out the fruit flavor a bit better. For my taste the tea does a good job at rounding out the flavors as well without the added headache of fruit in primary.

Fruit in my opinion pretty much gives up all of its flavor after 10 - 14 days. The seeds from fruit with small seeds (Strawberries, Blackberries etc) give off a harsh flavor after 12 - 14 days. Fruit without seeds (Pitted cherries, Peaches, citrus etc) can go longer than 14 days with no worries.

I would suggest you freeze the fruit. thaw and if using a bucket or BMB place in a sanitized paint strainer bag with a hand full of marbles to sink it. Makes for easier clean up and racking captures your broken down fruit mush.

See attached for fruit suggestions (Bottom of the recipe)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=587928

 

[landsknechte]

Yeast ferments out all the sugar, or virtually all, hence not tasting much like the honey and fruit. Secondary really is where the flavour happens.

 

[bernardsmith]

You say that your meads don't really highlight the flavor of the fruit. I would say that you may not be using enough fruit for any flavor to shine through. Cider, - apple juice - probably took about 10 lbs of apples to expel about 1 gallon of juice. You are using 2 lbs of cherries - or 1/5 the quantity and diluting that juice with 1/2 gallon of cider (no water? so you are making 1/2 gallon batches?). There is no free lunch. You get out no more than you put in. But that said, I agree with CKhuns: add the fruit to the secondary and use the alcohol to help pull out the flavor...

 

[BeerSmith]

To get fruit flavor you have to do two things - first use enough of the right kind of fruit. Fruits high in acidity and tannins come through best such as blackberries, raspberries, currants, cranberries, tart cherries. You generally need at least 2 lbs/gallon as a minimum and 3-4 lbs/gal is better.

Secondly you need to finish your mead with residual sugars. This means either starting a very high gravity mead and fermenting down to its alcohol limit or else backsweetening. The first method will give the best mead, but its hard to do - as you are typically putting enough fruit and honey in it to survive a 112 point drop in gravity (15% or more alcohol) and still have a substantial gravity. The exact amount of residual sugars to use depends on the fruit - more acidity and tannins means you need a higher finishing gravity with more sweetness to offset it, but you want to finish with a sweet mead which will bring out the fruit flavors.