Adding fruit

[Southside Brewer]

I just started my first mead and i was curious about when you add the fruit to it do you add a camdon tablet to kill the yeast before adding it? also lets say I have some fresh and frozen berries I want to add should I just add the berries whole or do you puree them first?

Thanks for any heads up

Prost

[HopRunner]

I just started my first mead and i was curious about when you add the fruit to it do you add a camdon tablet to kill the yeast before adding it? also lets say I have some fresh and frozen berries I want to add should I just add the berries whole or do you puree them first?

Thanks for any heads up

Prost

First of all, I must confess to not being a mead maker. The way I understand it is you add the camdon tablets when you are ready to shut-down the fermentation process. If you don't want your added fruit to ferment then add the tablets at the same time as you add the fruit. The fruit will have some yeast and bacteria on it so you don't want to add the fruit more than 24 hours after you add the tablets.

What I would think you would do (though I haven't done it myself) is add the fruit towards the tail end of the fermentation process when the yeast are the dominate and active culture. Let the yeast eat the sugars from the fruit. When the fermentation completes then add the tablets to stop any wild yeast and bacteria from continuing to ferment.

And, I would expect the fruit would need to be pretty well pureed before they go in the fermeter.

[Billy Klubb]

freeze your fruit. this unicorn commands it.

[Ozwald]

Freezing the fruit helps to break down the cell walls, definitely recommended.

When I do my strawberry wheat every summer, I just quarter the berries, no need to puree them.

Now, the big question, when do you add them. Fruit, like many adjuncts, can be added in several ways... in the mash, in the boil, dropping temp at flame out to pasteurize, primary, dry-hopped... Each is going to give different results and from my experience they're just different, none bad. Contrary to popular belief, allowing the sugars from the fruit to ferment doesn't take the fruit aroma & flavor out of your brew. It gives a different result than if you crash the yeast, but it's still there. I've played with a few of the techniques and for my wheat beer I crash the boil to 140F, add the berries & hold temp for 30 minutes to pasteurize them before cooling to pitching temp. I like the color extraction I get (after I hit terminal gravity, I rack off the berries which are pure white) and it gives a very interesting strawberry flavor, but not much berry aroma - exactly what I'm aiming for in that particular brew. Split the batch & start playing around with different techniques. You'll find one that produces the results you're looking for. As long as you have good/sanitary brewing practices, you don't need to worry about ruining the batch. It'll come out good & very drinkable, maybe just a little different than what you had in mind in the first place.

[Ozwald]

Also, the frozen fruit won't have wild yeast on it... the deep freezing process should take care of them.

[captain carrot]

I have never used camden tablets in a mead. If you want to pasturize your honey and fruit heat it up to 170 F for 20 min, chill and ferment. I usually add my fruit to secondary to so the flavor and aroma isn't scrubbed out during primary fermentation. Fresh fruit I'll rinse and chop or crush but not puree. Frozen fruit I'll thaw and ferment. Freezing does a pretty good job of breaking to cells in the fruit releasing the juice. I've even done no boil meads without issues. Just stir water and honey and nutrients, pitch yeast and ferment. I'd recomend Ken Schramm's book The Compleat Meadmaker to anyone wanting to make mead. He makes no boil meads exclusively with great results. The book focuses on procedure and ingredients and a few basic recipes. Good Luck!

[Billy Klubb]

I've done only two meads and a braggot. never boiled the honey. I added a can of Oregon peach puree to the second batch in secondary. hope it comes out good.

[UcfLumberjack]

If you want a fermented fruit taste then add the fruit to the original must. If you want more of a fresh recognizable fruit flavor then ferment all the way out and rack onto the fruit. There might be a bit of a secondary fermentation, if you want to avoid that then you can sorbate/sulfite before racking to avoid it.