newbie mead-maker

[Strawberry Wizard]

Hi! So I just picked up making mead just back in June, and I'm trying to learn more. Is fruit best added before or after primary fermentation? I also want to incorporate ginger in a batch, how would I go about that?
I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as I keep working on new batches.

 

[JimRausch]

I'm definitely not an expert as I've done only a couple batches of meads/melomels/braggots and 1 bochet. I'm sure the more knowledgeable will chime in, but I have added the fruit at the same time I added the honey and started fermentation. My fermentations have not been as vigorous as my typical beer fermentations, so I believe they're not blowing off as many volatiles. If I were to add ginger, I'd use fresh, grated ginger root and add it at the start as well.
By the way- welcome to the forum!

 

[Kent88]

Fruit should be added in primary.

I don't know what the consensus is on things like ginger, I haven't made metheglin at all yet, but I would probably add it after primary.

 

[Glenn H]

Hi wizard, Jim is spot on but if i can add a little more info...your going to have to do this in 2 racks. 1st add your fruit, honey and ginger to the starting batch add a small amount of warm water so everything gets a good coat of honey when you shake it up then add the rest of your water to the almost your full line re-shake then add your yeast and extra's. when your fermenting stops bubbling re rack( 8 weeks or so ), taste then you can add ether more fruit or ginger to taste let sit for another 2 weeks, taste and if you like rack into bottles

hope this helps

 

[CKuhns]

Fruit primary, secondary or both? - Everyone will have a preference or opinion and many folks have kicked around the pros and cons. Interestingly enough IMO none are wrong! It all really depends on what flavor profile you are trying to achieve. If fruit forward flavor then a good bit of fruit in primary. If you are looking for the honey to come through with the fruit flavor as a nice after thought then less fruit in secondary with the added bonus that you can rack from it when it hits your flavor preference. If you are looking for a well rounded full bodied fruit flavor where the fruit is the star then both primary and secondary.

Cant help with the ginger question - No experience.

 

[bernardsmith]

Ginger is powerful so you don't want to add too much. You can always add more but removing an overpowering ginger flavor is not so easy. I might use about 2 inches of ginger per gallon, chopped or grated (I wouldn't peel it) and then boiled in water to make a tea. Allow the ginger to remain in the tea while it cools overnight and then decide (by taste) how much of that tea you want to add to the must...(that is to say, you add a unit , stir and taste the must - if more is wanted you add another unit - stir and and taste. Still not gingery enough, add a third unit - stir and taste... and so on. If you prefer it even more gingery, you can chop another piece of the rhizome and make some more tea and repeat...

 

[piojo]

Ginger is powerful so you don't want to add too much. You can always add more but removing an overpowering ginger flavor is not so easy. I might use about 2 inches of ginger per gallon...

If you want to highlight ginger in your recipe (hint: ginger and hibiscus and lots of honey, plus something else to balance the sweetness), it's hard to have too much ginger. It also seems to fade with time, but that might be because I didn't sulfite. And a note to new brewers: get a scale and measure by weight! Write down exactly how you made the tea. Otherwise you can't reproduce the recipe.

 

[laughing jack]

If I can add a small step to bernardsmith’s post, once you land on a mix that you like, walk away from it. Come back in an hour and make sure you are still happy with it. You can develop palate fatigue from all the previous tastings. Best to make sure.

-J-