Three batches of mead

[Jamesjoelee]

So I split my 4 gallon batch of mead from primary and racked it onto fruit. I have one in a three gallon carboy on seven lbs of blackberries, one in a one gallon jug on pomegranates and the last one in a one gallon jug on peaches. How long should I keep them on fruit?

 

[bernardsmith]

Those carboys should be actively re-fermenting again because of the additional sugars from the fruit. I would allow the mead to sit on the fruit until all the sugar has been converted and then rack off the fruit. So somewhere in the region of two or three weeks...

 

[Dr_Floyd]

One suggestion from a previous post was to wait until the fruit sinks down to the bottom. Personally I've had Lavender start to break down before it had a chance to sink so I'd say that you'd have to play it by ear. Once you decide the fruit is done is rack it again for a final aging anyways.

 

[valverij]

Two or three weeks should be long enough for your mead to extract the flavors and color from your fruit, weather it sinks or not.

 

[Frazeart]

I would strongly recommend that you campden (1 tab per gallon) each of the three containers to prevent infection. I let my mead sit on fruit for 1 to 2 weeks, then rack and campden again. I have a couple of meads that are 2 years old now and just keep getting better. Love my pomegranate one.