Strawberry Meade

[tykyle39]

First time meade attempt. I started my first strawberry Meade today. The recipe was from Raymond Massaccesi winemakers handbook. The initial sg was 1.17 using the recipe. I removed 2 cups of must and added 2 of water and it dropped it to 1.15. My questions are will the juice from the strawberries in the straining bag dilute the must further? Should I replace must with water to dilute it further? Should I wait 24 hours and recheck the sg? I haven't pitched the yeast yet. Thanks.

 

[MedsenFey]

If you give us the recipe details, you may get better answers.

 

[tykyle39]

If you give us the recipe details, you may get better answers.

The recipe follows:
2 1/2 pounds strawberries
2 1/2 pounds honey
6 pints water
2 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp peptic enzyme
3/4 energizer
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg yeast

I purchase local honey which I feel is sweeter than the commercial brands. Could this be the reason the sg is so high? Thanks.

 

[MedsenFey]

The juice released from the strawberries should effectively drop the gravity a bit - probably down to 1.135 or thereabouts, so I think you should be okay. If you save that bit of must you removed by putting it in the freezer, you can add it later to top-up or backsweeten.

 

[tykyle39]

The juice released from the strawberries should effectively drop the gravity a bit - probably down to 1.135 or thereabouts, so I think you should be okay. If you save that bit of must you removed by putting it in the freezer, you can add it later to top-up or backsweeten.

Thanks. Before posting I used the two cups of must I pulled and put it in a primary fermenter that I was making 1 gal of blueberry strawberry wine. At the same time I am making 2 gals of a blueberry port. The blueberry port has great air lock activity. The others none. But since because I've been reading old posts I have been stirring once a day. There is foam on top on the must prior to stirring. Am I Ok? It's only been 48 hrs.