racking onto more peaches in secondary

[socalamcor]

i will be racking my peach melo/meth to get it off of the peaches within the next day or two (two weeks on peaches). i have some frozen peaches that ill be adding into secondary what is a good way to defrost these without a big mess and should i add some campbden tabs to carboy before racking into it. i will most likely be priming the carboy with c02.
also i am still getting a bit of action in airlock, about 1-2 large bubbles every 60 seconds should i just let it go longer or get it off of the peaches as soon as i can

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hi socalamcor: I'd leave it alone for a while, at least for another month or 2, or even 3, till that airlock slows down considerably. I've left must on fruit as long as 8 months with no negative effects at all. You've still got an active fermetation going on & racking it now would really serve no purpose, it could even slow or stop your fermentation, I've had that happen once. Those peaches will continue to release their peachy goodness & make your must even more peachy. As to your question on the frozen peaches: I would most definately sulfite them. As to how to defrost them without a mess, I'd defrost them in a large plastic mixing bowl & add them to the carbouy by hand, with a dish towel wrapped around the carbouy neck to prevent any peach juice from running down the sides; same technique worked well for frozen & defrosted plums. I suppose if you can fit pieces of frozen peach into your carbouy, you could simply add them frozen & let them thaw in the carbouy; then add your sulfites & rack your must onto it, but you may run the risk of cold shocking your yeast if the peaches aren't fully defrosted & brought up to a temp close to the must temp/room temp. I've also blanketed with CO2 during racking & that seemed to work well enough, but if you use an autosiphon, you're going to get a small amount of air in the must anyway; this could be negligible, but then again, maybe not. Hope you find this info useful. Regards, GF.