New to mead....got a question

[hoppheadIPA]

I'm making my first batches of mead this weekend. Both are 1 gallon batches. One batch will be traditional with a few steeped orange peels along with Lalvin D47. The second, I'd like to add a cup or so of strawberries in secondary using Lalvin 71B yeast. My question is, will any of the strawberry flavor come through, or will the yeast gobble all of it up. Or, should I

 

[hoppheadIPA]

Add sorbate, then rack into secondary on the strawberry. I want strawberry flavor without being too overly dry

 

[CKuhns]

Strawberries will add flavor even if the sugars in the berries are consumed by the yeast.

Your plan around stabilizing first may certainly help the process. As well if stabilized you could always add a little honey back in to sweeten it if not sweet enough.

I have found you don't need to stabilize to still get the berry flavor. The interesting thing with berries for me is that the flavor kind of tricks my tongue into thinking its sweeter than it is. Not sure if this is common but seems to be for me.

I add 1 to 1.5 pound of berries for 5 - 10 days in secondary per gallon and that gives me a relatively mild berry flavor. The trick for me is to balance the flavor just right and pull the berries when I think they hit the spot to allow the honey to come through too. Many others on the forum add 2 - 4 pounds per gallon (or more). But then you are looking at fruit being the star of the show vs. the honey.

 

[hoppheadIPA]

Awesome! I was leaning toward 1lb of cut up strawberries in the secondary. Thanks for the tips!

 

[JimRausch]

I did a 1G batch of Strawberry/Rhubarb melomel in 2020. Used 4 1/2 lb strawberries, 2 lb. rhubarb and 3 lb honey. The fruit was in primary. Bottled it about 2 months ago, so it's probably time to crack one open, but my notes at bottling time says it tasted real nice, with just a light strawberry note. I think your original thought of 1 cup berries would be like 1 drop of chocolate syrup in a glass of milk. Your updated thought of 1 lb. added in secondary is better. But I might go 2 lb. There's a reason most use a lot of strawberries- they are a very mild flavor after the sugar is fermented out.

 

[hoppheadIPA]

That's what I'm thinking too.....more strawberries in secondary. Maybe I'll rack the 1 gallon primary to a 2 gallon secondary with 2 lbs of berries. I don't wanna lose too much racking from a 1 gallon to another 1 gallon

 

[JimRausch]

When you rack to secondary, limiting your headspace is critical. Oxidation is a real potential problem. So, here's 1 trick I picked up: Start with about a quart more than you need. At 1st racking put that qt. in a sanitized mason jar, store in the fridge and use for topping off every time you rerack.

 

[hoppheadIPA]

When you rack to secondary, limiting your headspace is critical. Oxidation is a real potential problem. So, here's 1 trick I picked up: Start with about a quart more than you need. At 1st racking put that qt. in a sanitized mason jar, store in the fridge and use for topping off every time you rerack.

That's smart, thanks

 

[Maylar]

Just as a point of reference, I know a guy who took a silver medal at the Mazer Cup with a tripple berry melomel and he had used 40 lbs of berries in a 7 gallon batch in secondary.

 

[Dan O]

Just as a point of reference, I know a guy who took a silver medal at the Mazer Cup with a tripple berry melomel and he had used 40 lbs of berries in a 7 gallon batch in secondary.

DAMN! That's a lot of fruit, but, obviously, it was worth it. That works out to be 5.71 pounds of fruit/gallon! I've read anywhere from 2-6 pounds/gallon on many forums. I always thought it would be great to try with 6 pounds/gallon. I see a new batch in the works.