When to add fruit to Mead?

[Hoplander]

I bought a Metheglin (fruit and spice Mead) recipe kit from my LHBS. It's an Orange Lemon Ginger Mead recipe that calls for 8 lemons 2 oranges and 1 ginger root and 4 bags of Earl Grey Tea.

The directions don't mention when to add these things. Being a beer brewer, putting them all in the boil/steep sounds just wrong. I would imagine you'd get a lot of bitterness from all of that.

It also doesn't tell me at what temperature I should be adding the 15lbs of Honey and 5 lbs of sugar. The only temperatures indicated are 160 F and a range of 150-180 F.

My intuition tells me to add tea/ginger at the last few minutes of boil and to add fruit to primary and/or secondary, but I've never done this before. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[liquiditynerd]

No Boil! it is more like a wine must than wort. well thats my advice anyway and sure to start off the side discussion that I did not intend by responding.

Answer- add whenever you want depending which provile you want to be most prevelant. Or dump it all in the fermenter. Watch out though the citric acid in the lemons and oranges is going to make it jump.

 

[Hoplander]

No boil. got it. Never go above 180. Try to stay around 160.

Now, for the fruit. Basically, since I'm not boiling, I won't extract any of those harsh flavors like I would when making beer? So I'm safe in actually dumping it all in when it tells me to put in all of my other spices?

If that's all right. Do I add the fruit that was in the kettle to the fermenter? or just dump my must into fermenter, pitch my yeast and be done with it?

Thanks.

 

[LBussy]

You do not actually need heat to make mead. Some folks get stuck in the "brewing mindset" that you have to pasteurize - not true. I make mine with room temp water and money, that's it. I'll pour some water in the fermenter, pour in the honey and stir. Add some more water to the honey jars to get the rest of the honey goodness and pour that in. Repeat till it's all in the fermenter and all dissolved. A wine maker might use Campden tablets at this point to kill off the wild yeasties, I do not.

With the ginger there, making a tea of the grated/shredded root and warm water makes sense. Again there's no reason to use the honey at this point but if you look at a "historical" recipe like Papazian's Barkshack Ginger Mead" that's what it calls for. In those instructions it says to heat to near boiling, skim the top and keep skimming and hold for a period of time. Then cool and pour in the fermenter.

At this point the tea goes in, just rip them open and stir them in. The tea is there to add some astringency. Some folks also use tannin.

15 lbs of honey PLUS 5 lbs of sugar sounds like a lot but not out of the ballpark. 15lbs in 5 gals of water is like a 1.110 OG if I remember right.

If it were me I'd add the fruit to the secondary to retain as much of the aroma as possible but the primary is fine too.

Some yeast nutrient is probably called for as well.

 

[Hoplander]

Thanks so much for the info. Looking at their directions, it all looks a little bass ackwards.

Here's what they have (It looks like the directions for their brew on premise):

"Ingredients:

Sugars:
Honey 15lbs
Cane Sugar 5lbs

Additives:
Acid Blend & Grape Tannin 1tsp each
Yeast Nutrient & Yeast Energizer 1tsp each

Citrus/Spices:
8 lemons
2 oranges
1 ginger root
3 cinnamon sticks
4 bags of earl grey


1) Make sure that your kettle is partially filled with water and that the heat is
turned on. An employee will let you know when you can add your honey (and
other sugars, if any). After adding the sugars, stir well with your paddle.

2) Top off your kettle so that the total volume is 5 gallons. If you can’t fit 5
gallons in your pot, add the remaining water directly to the fermenter. When
the pot reaches 160°, shut off the heat & start a timer for 30 minutes.

3). After you start your timer, add all of the additives listed above. Give one last
good stir with your paddle to make sure all additives are well blended into the mead. After you’re done stirring, close your lid

4) Now just make sure that the kettle maintains the ideal pasteurization
temperature range of 150° - 180°… It’s better to be on the cool side… DO NOT
go above 180°! More likely than not, you won’t need to adjust the heat at all.

5) After the 30 minute pasteurizing process is up, cool the mead down to 80°,
pour it into your fermenter, then pitch the yeast in, give the fermenter a good
shake... And WAIT. It will take anywhere between 2 – 3 months to ferment."

I asked them for clarification and they told me to put yeast nutrient and all including fruit additions into the water at step 3. This is where my head exploded and I turned to HBT.

I really want to believe everything my LHBS tells me, but it's hard sometimes. Really really hard.

 

[liquiditynerd]

Meh, mix it up an let her rip. At most I might steep the tea and just add the liquid but that's bout it. I'd peel the fruit though, I did rinds before and it was overly bitter.

 

[LBussy]

There's nothing technically wrong with what they have there. I don't think it's common with more experienced mead makers but this will make you a decent mead.

I do not put yeast energizer or nutrients in till after it cools. I guess the thinking they use is everything is pasteurized which is fine. I've wondered how much of the more volatile components I lose if I heat it up. That part is superstition but I smell them more when they are heated so something is coming up off the pot I figure.

Is this your first mead? If so then I don't think you will make a bad one following those directions. If you need help they are familiar with that process. I would personally not pasteurize but the chances of a new mead maker's first batch being ruined are probably lower if it's pasteurized. You do lose something of the honey's finer points, but adding cinnamon and fruits will probably mask a lot of those anyway.

ETA: It might ferment out in a lot less time than that, but mead will take at least that long to be ready to drink more than likely. Aging is often preferred in bulk so racking after it drops clear and then topping it off with sterile water or some cheap mead is a good idea.

 

[LexusChris]

Agreeing with LBussy above. Not my preferred way to make a mead, but it should make a decent 1st time mead.

I would slice the fruit & ginger, and leave in there for the 30 minute steep time. Then leave those behind when transferring to the fermenter. Add the nutrients to the fermenter.

There are lots of fancy ways to ferment a mead and those can be a lot of work. You can try the simple method they suggest, and just swirl the fermenter well every day for the 1st week or two. If you felt up to it, I would also add some more nutrients after 1-2 days... but that starts getting into the more complex nutrient scheduling...

Happy mead making!
--LexusChris

 

[Hoplander]

This will be my first mead. Making it with my Mom for Mother's Day. She's never really been a drinker until recently. I brought her home a B. Nectar one day, and now she's hooked. I thought it would be cool for the whole family to brew a Mead together and she can give some out to her friends or bring it with her when she goes out to dinner instead of going out and buying it. She'll have 5 gallons to do with as she pleases.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[liquiditynerd]

This will be my first mead. Making it with my Mom for Mother's Day. She's never really been a drinker until recently. I brought her home a B. Nectar one day, and now she's hooked. I thought it would be cool for the whole family to brew a Mead together and she can give some out to her friends or bring it with her when she goes out to dinner instead of going out and buying it. She'll have 5 gallons to do with as she pleases.

Thanks again for all the help!

If this isn't the epitome of brewing, I dont know what is