Building a recipe

[Vlabruz]

When you concoct something with fruit, I assume you need to account for the sugar in the fruit?
I want to make a cherry melomel and I figure the 3 pounds of cherries is going to give me 175 grams of sugar based off the nutritional label.
Do you account for all that sugar in the original specific gravity ?
Should I just add my cherries, the associated juices and water, take a reading and then figure out how much honey ill need to add?
P.s going to be a 1.3 gallon batch

 

[cmason1957]

I don't make meads, not a fan of them, but when making fruit wines, I always freeze the fruit, then let it thaw with a a minimal amount (about half of what I think I might need) of sugar and warmish water, take the SG and decide how much more sugar to add. That way has always kept me from adding to much sugar at the start. I would assume that doing meads it would be about the same.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yes, you can/should figure that sugar in. (Although that is not a lot of sugar.) You can use FermCalc to help you assess how much sugar/honey to add.

 

[Raptor99]

My procedure is the same as @cmason1957. I add pectic enzyme to the thawing fruit to help break down the pectins and release the sugar from the fruit. I mix in about half or two-thirds of the honey I expect I will need. Than after 24 hours I measure the SG and decide how much additional honey I need. That gives the pectic enzyme enough time to work.

 

[Vlabruz]

My procedure is the same as @cmason1957. I add pectic enzyme to the thawing fruit to help break down the pectins and release the sugar from the fruit. I mix in about half or two-thirds of the honey I expect I will need. Than after 24 hours I measure the SG and decide how much additional honey I need. That gives the pectic enzyme enough time to work.

I was gonna do this but lost my patience and pitched my yeast. Lol. 1.112sg did 3 lbs of honey 3 lbs of cherries that I added pectic enzyme to yesterday.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Nutrition numbers are good enough to argue in front of the FDA. ,,, What cherry?
Supermont var; 1.066/1.050/1.058
NorthStar; 1.046
Rainier; 1.109/
Bing; 1.086/1.094/

Always check gravity! there is variation form variety and ripeness in cherries. For me I test the juice to run a calculation on how much sugar I expect > add enough sugar for 1.090 to 1.095 > almost enough water> ferment > rack and add enough water to finish the calculated water or stop when the carboy is full.

Account for any sugar which is in the primary, some is juice and some steeps out of the pulp. Some is honey etc.

The more wine I make the more I feel that it isn’t worth the time to be accurate to 0.0001 gravity.

 

[Raptor99]

The more wine I make the more I feel that it isn’t worth the time to be accurate to 0.0001 gravity.

Yes, just get it in the ballpark and you will be fine. It doesn't matter if the final ABV is off by 0.5%.

 

[Vlabruz]

One issue I was having was figuring out how many points the cherry would add. One video I watched the guys added 3# of cherries and it was 4oz of sugar based off the nutritional facts. He said it was only .011 sg.
I'm not sure how that works out or how to come to that number. Based off that my 6oz of sugar should be .015 or .016.
I acknowledge what you said @Rice_Guy
Maybe the nutritional facts aren't accurate and the best way is to put it together and get reading and adjust sugar or honey accordingly.
I did have 1.112. Ill check it again tonight and see if it changed much. I know I pitched yeast but would fermentation do much so fast especially if the must was on the cool side?

 

[Raptor99]

Maybe the nutritional facts aren't accurate and the best way is to put it together and get reading and adjust sugar or honey accordingly.

The sugar level of any fruit will vary quite a bit depending on the variety, soil, weather conditions, and ripeness at harvest. So you can't really look up the SG level of the fruit and get an accurate number. It is much better to crush the fruit and let it sit for a while with pectic enzyme, then measure the SG.

 

[Vlabruz]

The sugar level of any fruit will vary quite a bit depending on the variety, soil, weather conditions, and ripeness at harvest. So you can't really look up the SG level of the fruit and get an accurate number. It is much better to crush the fruit and let it sit for a while with pectic enzyme, then measure the SG.

These were frozen cherries, I put them in a bowl yesterday and added a 1/2tsp of pectic enzyme.
I didnt measure the sg of just the cherry juice. I guess that couldve been another option

 

[Raptor99]

What I meant was combine the fruit with the must, then measure the SG of the whole thing.

 

[Vlabruz]

What I meant was combine the fruit with the must, then measure the SG of the whole thing.

Gotcha, I did that but had already added the honey.

 

[Rice_Guy]

A gravity of 1.100 is high, will stress the yeast but not out of OK for a melomel.

.
I did have 1.112. Ill check it again tonight and see if it changed much.

recheck? Yeast in a cool environment is slow to reproduce. Basically should be at original gravity for a day. (an FYI, I sometimes just let the hydrometer float in the carboy) If you have lots of gas it will stick to the hydrometer and give a low reading, with gas I wouldn’t trust the number.
Your photo says sweet cherry which is probably Bing cherry, a good working sugar number is 1.090. ,, Bing is high pH! Bing is also citric acid where as pie cherry is malic acid, ,,, Soo for me The flavor is weak. ,,, The rest of the numbers on those Bing samples were pH 4.38/3.92 (target should be less than pH 3.5) TA of 0.73%/1.06% (I run high TA and just back sweeten the finished).
All in all remember that wine is forgiving. Low acid only means a year or two shelf life, and again a significantly sweeter flavor.

MATH: If I had three pounds of Bing at 1.090 with 80% easy to get juice I would estimate about 325 gm/ .72 lb of sugar contributed.

 

[Vlabruz]

A gravity of 1.100 is high, will stress the yeast but not out of OK for a melomel.

recheck? Yeast in a cool environment is slow to reproduce. Basically should be at original gravity for a day. (an FYI, I sometimes just let the hydrometer float in the carboy) If you have lots of gas it will stick to the hydrometer and give a low reading, with gas I wouldn’t trust the number.
Your photo says sweet cherry which is probably Bing cherry, a good working sugar number is 1.090. ,, Bing is high pH! Bing is also citric acid where as pie cherry is malic acid, ,,, Soo for me The flavor is weak. ,,, The rest of the numbers on those Bing samples were pH 4.38/3.92 (target should be less than pH 3.5) TA of 0.73%/1.06% (I run high TA and just back sweeten the finished).
All in all remember that wine is forgiving. Low acid only means a year or two shelf life, and again a significantly sweeter flavor.

MATH: If I had three pounds of Bing at 1.090 with 80% easy to get juice I would estimate about 325 gm/ .72 lb of sugar contributed.

I'm going to use fermaid o, staggered. I also hydrated yeast with go ferm. Hopefully will help with the stress.