Peach/apricot mead transferring to secondary issue

[joshyG]

So it’s been probably 2 months in primary with 6lbs of peach and apricot extract.
I was already transfer to secondary I noticed the lees were like almost 1 gallon on the bottom. It moved around a lot like it was part lees and part honewine.

If I would have racked it up to the spot where the lees were, I’d have maybe 4 gallons of mead or less- which sucks.

I put a strainer on the siphon and racked the lees with the mead and got almost 5 gallons got a lot strained out too!

Im hoping this can go down in time. I don’t care if I wait 2 years for it to be good.

I know you shouldn’t rack. I’m adding probably 10 lbs of dried apricot and peaches maybe I’ll throw some water in it too and hopefully this works out.

Thoughts?

Josh

 

[SKBugs]

Dried foods have a lot of sulfites don't they? I think they might start killing your yeast, which is ok if that is what you want. A lot of people rack twice to get rid of the fruit/lees. And yeah, you'd lose a lot of mead. You could look into fining agents to do the work for you too.
A lot of people add fruit essence to counteract the fruit - is it cheating? Maybe. Maybe not

 

[madscientist451]

Flavors like peach and apricot are somewhat delicate and easily lost in the fermentation process.
I made 3 batches of peach wine this summer and found that even with a massive amount of peaches and adding no water, the peach flavor is still very minimal.
There are many different methods for making fruit mead, my favorite way is to make a base mead, let it ferment out, then rack the mead on to the fruit contained in a mesh bag, or directly on to fruit if using puree.
Tossing out a gallon of fruit lees is common for me. I'll shoot for a 4 gallon batch using a 5 gallon carboy. When fermentation is done. I'll rack the clearest part to a 3 gallon carboy for aging.
I'll save some of the lees in a glass jug and when it settles, I'll drink it.
I've heard of some meadmakers that make a lot of batches mixing their dregs in a common carboy, sometimes taking some out to drink, then adding more from the next batch.

 

[joshyG]

Flavors like peach and apricot are somewhat delicate and easily lost in the fermentation process.
I made 3 batches of peach wine this summer and found that even with a massive amount of peaches and adding no water, the peach flavor is still very minimal.
There are many different methods for making fruit mead, my favorite way is to make a base mead, let it ferment out, then rack the mead on to the fruit contained in a mesh bag, or directly on to fruit if using puree.
Tossing out a gallon of fruit lees is common for me. I'll shoot for a 4 gallon batch using a 5 gallon carboy. When fermentation is done. I'll rack the clearest part to a 3 gallon carboy for aging.
I'll save some of the lees in a glass jug and when it settles, I'll drink it.
I've heard of some meadmakers that make a lot of batches mixing their dregs in a common carboy, sometimes taking some out to drink, then adding more from the next batch.

Interesting I like your method maybe go for 6 gallons to end up with 5, but very good info thanks. my plan is too add a bunch of dried fruit in the next couple days. Hopefully that can help the flavor. I assume the lees will fall to the bottom of the carboy. I’d hate to loose more of the mead.

Interesting this didn’t happen with the strawberry hibiscus mead I just did I got the full 5 gallons out of it.

I’m going to keg the apricot and bottle the strawberry hibiscus one too. Just got these 1liter bottles with the flip tops- so stocked about them.

 

[joshyG]

Flavors like peach and apricot are somewhat delicate and easily lost in the fermentation process.
I made 3 batches of peach wine this summer and found that even with a massive amount of peaches and adding no water, the peach flavor is still very minimal.
There are many different methods for making fruit mead, my favorite way is to make a base mead, let it ferment out, then rack the mead on to the fruit contained in a mesh bag, or directly on to fruit if using puree.
Tossing out a gallon of fruit lees is common for me. I'll shoot for a 4 gallon batch using a 5 gallon carboy. When fermentation is done. I'll rack the clearest part to a 3 gallon carboy for aging.
I'll save some of the lees in a glass jug and when it settles, I'll drink it.
I've heard of some meadmakers that make a lot of batches mixing their dregs in a common carboy, sometimes taking some out to drink, then adding more from the next batch.

It’s in the keg in the fridge. Still cloudy maybe because it’s cold now? Should I pull it out and let it sit for a while?

 

[JimRausch]

If you have the ability to cold crash the batch for 3-4 days, that should help compact the lees.

 

[madscientist451]

It’s in the keg in the fridge. Still cloudy maybe because it’s cold now? Should I pull it out and let it sit for a while?

What are your trying to accomplish by doing that? How does it taste?

 

[Seamonkey84]

If you put it into the keg before you cleared it, it’ll cold crash in the keg with all the lees on the bottom. Assuming it cleared, Pour till it runs clear and you should be good to go, until it is almost out or if someone moves the keg and causes the lees to redistribute.

 

[joshyG]

What are your trying to accomplish by doing that? How does it taste?

Honestly I like it.

Just wanted the cloudiness to leave but oh well