adding fruit to secondary

[sangwitch]

I've seen mead recipes that say "add the fruit during secondary fermentation". Has anyone here made recipes that call for adding the fruit during secondary? If so, can you outline your lessons learned, etc.?


Just saying "add the fruit during secondary fermentation" generates a lot of questions. For example: Do I add the fruit to the bucket and let the entire fermenation take place there - or do I add the fruit to acarboy and rack the mead on top? Do I crush the fruit like I would with a wine - or just chop it up?


thanks!

 

[masta]

I have added fruit to the secondary when making melomel and beer but used either concentrates or Oregon fruit purees. These products are pasteurized and therefore contain no bacteria or wild yeasts to cause issues with your batch.


My meads and of course beer do not have any sulfite (other than the small amount produced during fermentation) at this point in the process.


This also works well since you can just pour in the concentrate or puree in your carboy and rack on top of it. You should leave a fair amount of head space since you can have a fairly active fermentation in the secondary depending on the type of fruit added.Edited by: masta

 

[sangwitch]

Thanks masta! when you're using concentrate or puree, how do you do the conversion? For instance, if the recipe calls for 12 lbs of fruit, how do you determine how much concentrate or puree that is?

 

[masta]

The Oregon puree would basically be 1 to 1 since it is pure fruit minus the seeds and this is sold by weight in 49 oz cans.


The concentrate I usedwas from http://www.brownwoodacres.com/index.htmand used info from their site as to the amount of fruit used per volume of concentrate.Edited by: masta

 

[sangwitch]

thanks again masta. I checked out the link and think I'll get some of the tart cherry, but I didn't see the info you reference. ?? I'll keep reading.

 

[masta]

I checked the site and didn't see it either for the cherry but I am sure they could tell you. I have some info at home that came with an order and I will look through it.

 

[sangwitch]

masta, how do you determine when it's time to rack on top of the fruit? Are you going by SG or just by when you see activitiy start to slow down a bit?


Also, do you know whatthe theory is behind adding fruit to secondary rather than primary?


thanks

 

[masta]

masta, how do you determine when it's time to rack on top of the fruit? Are you going by SG or just by when you see activity start to slow down a bit?
When using the puree or concentrate I add to the secondary when the batch is transfered from the primary based on the SG of 1.010-1.020.


Also, do you know whatthe theory is behind adding fruit to secondary rather than primary?


When using the puree in beer it is recommended that you let the fermentation slow down and then add it to the primary due to the very active fermentation and foaming and some of this I think depends on the fruit used. I used cherry pureeto make a cherry wheat and the sugar really made the fermentation take off again when added and was glad I followed the instructions.
(BTW my Cherry Wheat put Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat to shame in a side by side taste taste with 5 of my beer tasters)

The other reason I have read about adding the fruit to the secondary is to help retain more of the delicate flavors and aromassince the fermentation is slower and these compounds don't get lost like they would in a very active primary fermentation where you have lots of CO2 being released.

Edited by: masta

 

[sangwitch]

thanks masta - I knew I could count on you.

you know, I was thinking it had something to do with flavor profile, but wasn't sure... I started thinking maybe it had to do something with the acids in the fruit. I've read where some folks are completely against adding any acids to their meads, but they don't really say why.

 

[masta]

Honey can be very low in pH (3.4) and I would strongly suggest never to add acid blend to your mead before fermentation. Another note is that the pH can be unstable unlike grape must and drop during fermentation which can cause the yeast to stop working.


The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm is a great bookfor learningmore about honey and howto make mead.