Moldy Peach Melomel?

[DerekDH]

Hey guys, making my first melomel (peach) and have a few questions that I was hoping your collective intelligence and benevolence would be willing to answer for me, many thanks.

Saturday (it is now Tuesday morning) I got 30# peaches and I rinsed in start san, skinned, and pitted 10# right away, 1/8th to 1/12thd them, (cubes), and chucked then into my primary on day 2 with my 2nd tsp of DAP. I'm not too concerned about that, fermentation seems to be going well and I Suu them in with a racking cane (star sanded fresh) about 2x daily. The other 20# though sat in my basket and id say 7# or so got all moldy and leaky at the bottom, I've separated them but am a little wary of using the remaining 'good' peaches - I know star san won't kill mold, but if I skin them and cut away any brownie bits would this be enough to prevent contamination? Any suggestions?

Also when I was making must I was dumb and added 1 extra gallon, do to get to proper concentration (I had no more honey) I boiled off a gallon of water from the must. I think I carmellozed some of the honey but other than that I think n it's fine - any reason I should be concerned about this impromptu concentration step?

ONE more question - when about should I rack to secondary? A specific sugar concentration? Also bucket or carboy for secondary with the lions share of peach addition. Many thanks!

P.s. don't pick up and shake/swirl your carboy to mix it up - my bathroom floors are still stocky from that geyser.

 

[JJack887]

Rack whenever fermentation slows. I usually just do it at two weeks. I recommend using a bucket for secondary to add all those peaches, then racking to a carboy after they're done fermenting. I would be hesitant to use any moldy product. For large amounts of fruit, I sulphate the must with the fruit in it and then pitch yeast the next day. Your boiling isn't going to cause any trouble.

 

[JJack887]

Also, be sure to add pectic enzyme with fruit additions to avoid the pectin "syrup".

 

[DerekDH]

Yeah I dropped a tsp of pectinase with my 10# of peaches, should I drop more in when I add the second round of peaches? Not sure how stable the enzyme is

 

[DerekDH]

So I was going to add my last feeding of DAP at 1/3 sugar break but I went down and measured the SG at 1.033, my OG was 1.09 - not sure if it was the fruit that I added or if this red star premium blanc yeast is just super efficient but it seems I blew past the 1/3 break. I added the last tsp of DAP anyway and stired - tastes quite nice, the fermenting alcoholic preach smell is coming out of the airlock and making my bathroom smell nice. This seem odd to anyone? Preach addition or yeast? Also do you keep the preached in there the full 2 weeks of primary ferment or should I rack to another carboy sooner based on this new reading - I've got very consistent bubbling, probably like 40 a minute by my estimate.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

I would not do any further additions of yeast or nutrients. After degassing, rack to secondary when you are close to 1.00 gravity. Often that is when the fruit starts to drop out of solution. Sometimes it takes 10 days, sometimes 5 days to reach that point. It depends on the yeast, nutrients and must preparation.

 

[DerekDH]

Hey my SG dropped to .997 as of Friday (2 days ago) and ib haven't been able to rack it to secondary and pitch more peaches - my fermentation has either slowed dramatically or stoped (can't see any bubbles anymore). If fermentation doesn't pick up when I rack to secondary and pitch more peaches would I need to re-pitch the yeast? And if so, what type (same strain or higher alch tolerance strain - 12%+) anyway, thanks a bunch!

 

[Yooper]

Hey my SG dropped to .997 as of Friday (2 days ago) and ib haven't been able to rack it to secondary and pitch more peaches - my fermentation has either slowed dramatically or stoped (can't see any bubbles anymore). If fermentation doesn't pick up when I rack to secondary and pitch more peaches would I need to re-pitch the yeast? And if so, what type (same strain or higher alch tolerance strain - 12%+) anyway, thanks a bunch!

There are hundreds of billions of yeast in the mead. You don't need more.

 

[DerekDH]

Yooper - I know that just want sure how long they live for after the sugar supply is diminished

Also, I'm getting ready to add my second bag of peaches but idk how they look, i've eaten a slice and it doesn't taste particularly bad but it does seem a little off (might be sanitizer?) - they were turning when I chunked them - made sure to cut away and throw any bad parts and was using star san to clean my peaches and work space. They are a little bubbly but that might be the star san... the juice is an orange/tan - what do you say throw them in or nah?

 

[DerekDH]

The smell is... less the citrus of peach and more of a softer/duller smell (doughy?) I'd say... not really sure how to describe - taste was also less sour than a fresh peach

 

[DerekDH]

Should I just let them sit room temp next to my secondary and see if anything bad grows? If not chuck them in? 2 days? Or would the yeast and 12sh % ethanol take care of any infectious bacterium - I'm more concerned with mold from the spoiling peaches though.

 

[DerekDH]

Decided against it,lesson Lerned, slice v and dove peaches day of buying 2 days is 2 days too long to wait.