This afternoons efforts (sun nov 4th)

[fatbloke]

Well I'm not really sure if this should be in the fruit wine or the mead forum, but as it's mostly fruit juice I'll put it here.

The recipe was actually called "winter mead", but it could equally be fruit metheglin or melomel.

It's made up thus :-
6 to 9 lbs honey - I used 9 lbs of clover
I actually used 10lb of "Tesco's cheapest"

6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice (crushed)
No change to the cloves, but I couldn't get whole allspice so I used a half teaspoon of ground allspice
3 2-inch cinnamon sticks
I got the cheaper cinnamon from the "world foods" section in tesco's, but it's not actually in "sticks" like the "schwartz" stuff, I got a 100gm bag of "Fudco" cinnamon, which is actually like pieces of bark that have just been dried (not rolled like the schwartz stuff and it's a lot thicker as well), so I just used 3 2 inch pieces and broke them up enough so they'll come out of the jar easily.
1 gallon apple juice
1 gallon cranberry juice
The AJ was the tesco cheapest and the cranberry juice was "Ocean spray classic cranberry drink" (which had the highest amount of cranberry concentrate at 25%).
water to top off
Here I didn't actually top off with just water, as I happened to have about 700gm of frozen cranberries, so I boiled 1 litre of water, took it off the boil and put the now defrosted cranberries in, which were then mashed with a spud masher.

I actually got this recipe from a newsletter I used to get and had it laying around with plans to make it someday. Last September I decided it was time. I got real anal about the juices, since that makes most of the fluid, and I don't know how much of the flavor to account to those juices or not. I went to the local Whole Foods Market and got pure, not-from-concentrate, cranberry juice, which was surprisingly hard to find, for about $7 per quart. I also got the apple juice, same way from the same market.

Yeast:
The original recipe calls for Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast but I used the White Labs Sweet Mead yeast.
I didn't have any Red Star Premier Cuvee or White Labs Sweet Mead yeast, so after checking the data/info at Homebrew heaven's website, I opted for Red Star Pasteur Champagne as it says that It's OK for fruit wines and meads

My method:
I heated the honey enough to be able to pour easily, no, I don't pasturize or boil, and some water to put in the container for the remainder. I filtered the juices into the carboy, again, no heating, and added the spices and honey. I then added water to top off the carboy, checked the temp, and pitched the yeast. The recipe says let sit for two weeks and top off with water but I racked it here and topped it off. Then after another 2 months I racked it and added wine conditioner to kill the yeast and resweeten some. I let that sit for another week and bottled it. When I bottled, I got a taste and, unlike all other meads I've made, it was good right then. I've had several people try it after that and they all liked it. My wife and I had a bottle with Christmas dinner.

After this experience, I will make this recipe quite regularly since it is my favorite so far.


so thus far, I've followed the method, except for the topping off part.

The recipe does "read well", but it's very unknown apart from that.

I was thinking that I'll rack it in a fortnight or so, as that should remove the majority of the spices and the residual fruit. I haven't added any yeast nutrient yet, I thought that I might do that when it's been racked (unless anyone thinks that it might be a good idea to do that now).

I intend to stick to the original timetable thats mentioned in the recipe method, though while I'm thinking about it at the moment, what with having added the frozen cranberries, should I consider adding some pectolase or not ?

Any advise or suggestions are as ever, much appreciated.

regards

fatbloke

[StockeyDAW]

I was thinking that I'll rack it in a fortnight or so, as that should remove the majority of the spices and the residual fruit. I haven't added any yeast nutrient yet, I thought that I might do that when it's been racked (unless anyone thinks that it might be a good idea to do that now).

FB my opinion of the addition of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer is to add it now or at approximately 1/2 way through the primary fermentation process. The reason for this suggestion if that the nutrients and energizer that was put in at the start of the fermentation has more that likely been used up by the fermentation process. Honey is extremely low in nutrients. For the yeasties to be vigorous and healthy and to continue to ferment well in the secondary part of the fermentation process you have to give them this treat and build them up as much as possible. When you have add these nutrients and energizer you will not some enjoyable yeasts comming to life with added vigor and some slight bubbling at the surface. Works for me Cheers DAW

[Hippie]

Also, yes, you need to use pectolase anytime making wine with any fruit.

[lockwood1956]

I agree yes, pectolase whenever fruit is added, and I would add nutrient from the start, and because its honey you are dealing with (low in nutrients) I would perhaps add more nutrient at racking time (just be careful you dont add too much if its Tronozymol you are using)

regards
Bob

[fatbloke]

FB my opinion of the addition of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer is to add it now or at approximately 1/2 way through the primary fermentation process. The reason for this suggestion if that the nutrients and energizer that was put in at the start of the fermentation has more that likely been used up by the fermentation process. Honey is extremely low in nutrients. For the yeasties to be vigorous and healthy and to continue to ferment well in the secondary part of the fermentation process you have to give them this treat and build them up as much as possible. When you have add these nutrients and energizer you will not some enjoyable yeasts comming to life with added vigor and some slight bubbling at the surface. Works for me Cheers DAW

Actually, I was thinking about it early on monday morning, and thought what the hell, so I added some nutrient then!

Also, yes, you need to use pectolase anytime making wine with any fruit.

I agree yes, pectolase whenever fruit is added, and I would add nutrient from the start, and because its honey you are dealing with (low in nutrients) I would perhaps add more nutrient at racking time (just be careful you dont add too much if its Tronozymol you are using)

regards
Bob

Pectolase ? Ok, well as I've got to be in Bishop Stortford at 0800 tomorrow morning (a 45 ft trailer full of paper cups), I'm off to bed now, but if I can remember in the morning, I'll put it in before I head out!

And as for the nutrient I added, I currently have the Gervin Minavit (I think thats what it's called) and some of the Wyeast nutrient. It was the Wyeast one that I managed to grab on monday morning - and it says half a teaspoon per 5 gallons - well theres about 3 gallons including the fruit, so I used just under the half.

It's been bubbling away like a good'un since then (well it was by the time I got home monday evening).

TVM for the advice everyone, I'll post a picture if I get 5 minutes.

regards

fatbloke.