Passion fruit hydromel

[Jose-Arcadio-Buendia]

Hello everyone this is my first post,
I was thinking of making 2 gallons of passion fruit hydromel. Has anyone done something similar? I was thinking of making it about 6% ABV. For the yeast I was thinking of using RS Premier Cuvee since where I live the temperature is between 80 and 86 so I need a yeast with a high range. Are there any other yeasts that have 90F max temperature? If I leave the hydromel dry and bottle carbonate it what sort of flavor should I expect and how long would it need to age?
Here I have access to plenty of fresh passion fruit, any ideas of how much I should put?

For the amount of honey I was thinking of 2.5 pounds for the 2 gallons. The fermentation will take place in a 2 gallon plastic water bottle with an improvised air lock.
This will be my first brew using brewing yeast; I have done several experiments with baking yeast. For this brew and future brewing I plan right now on only getting a hydrometer and 10 packets of a yeast that can ferment well at mid 80s. Here in the Dominican Republic there are no home brew stores so I have to order online in the US and have it brought by courier.

Any advice is very welcome and thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Arpolis]

I prefer lalvin brand yeasts. Lalvin RC212 is great for fruit wines/melomels and it does like a higher temp range. It can ferment all through the 80*F range with little fusel alcohols. Only problem is that it is a nutrient hog and for a hydromel I would suggest going a little heavy on nutrient and energizer. For 2 gallons I would add 3tsp yeast nutrient and 2 tsp energizer. Mix both together and separate into 3 equal parts. One gets mixed in at yeast pitch and the others get thrown in every 24 - 48 hours.

I would split the passion fruit between primary and secondary. 6lb overall should be good without over powering the honey. I would add 2lb at yeast pitch and the rest after primary fermentation is over.

Unless you like dry wines then you may rethink bottle carbing. It is hard to safely bottle carb and still have residual sugars to bring out the fruity flavors. So I personally suggest to stabilize with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfate (crushed Camden tablet) after fermentation is over and then add your secondary fruit and a little honey if desired.

Also for any melomel it is good to get pectic enzyme. It helps with juice extraction, color extraction/retention and if there is any pectic haze it will help clear that.

Primary fermentation should last 2-4 weeks. Secondary should last at minimum 30 days but can be as long as 60. There will be plenty sediment so rack off that in the 30-60 day period and then you can pretty much wait till it is clear. That may take another 30 days to 3 months depending on many factors. Before tasting a glass I would wait till the mead is at least 6-7 months old. A good rule of thumb is a minimum of 1 month of age per ABV%.

P.S. Oh and welcome to the forums!

 

[schmeek]

If you are making 2 gallons, you will need at least a 4 gallon fermenter to perform your primary fermentation with the fruit. Is this your first brew?