# Fruit in primary or 2nd ?



## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

hi, i've been making some wines for a little over a year, but i've only done one batch of mead. 

i was just thinking about starting up another mead, and was reading a few posts. Is it the norm to put your fruit in after racking off your primary fermenter? or to ferment on the fruit? or is that a variable? i fermented on the fruit when i did mine and it seemed to come out pretty good.


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

If in primary, you likely lose some of the taste and most of the aroma. These will be stronger in character in fruit is in secondary.


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

ok, the thing i cant figure out, is how do you get the spent fruit out of the carboy? i used a mesh bag in the primary and that was easy enough because it's a bucket. If adding fruit to the secondary, do most people just avoid the bags altogether and rack the mead off from the top of the spent fruit?


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

i'm just trying to figure out how i'd stuff a bag full of mushed up fruit down into a carboy. or pull it back out.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

I agree with Nursebee. Additionally, in the secondary there is some alcohol, a stronger yeast presence, and pH changes that all inhibit potential contaminants from the fruit. Use another plastic fermenter for the secondary, or puree the fruit. You'll likely only be leaving the mead on the fruit a couple weeks anyway (after that what flavor you'll get has done been got already), so you can rack off the gunk and move to glass then. What form of fruit are you using? If it's not frozen or pureed, freeze first to pierce the cell walls; you'll extract a lot more flavor that way.


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

i used blueberries and froze them 1st. i liked using the mesh bag, so i could squeeze them out a bit when taking them out. i always think of a secondary as a carboy, so that's where i was hitting the mental road block. 

I put them in the primary and added camden tabs. I pitched the yeast the next day. then when the fermentation slowed i squeezed them out in the bucket and then racked into the carboy. then a few weeks later(no bubbles) i racked off the sediment. 
The blueberry nose was deffinitly there, but not much on the blueberry flavor. It was dry, so i sweetened it up a tad so the taste would match the smell more. then bottled it.

so, what you're saying.... is that if i add the fruit to the secondary i won't have to worry about the 'potential contaminants'? so i wouldn't have to treat the fruit by boiling or campden tablets or anything? just plop the bag in?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Well no, nothing is bulletproof, but if you've using sulfites you don't have to worry anyway. You probably only want to sulfite fresh fruit; frozen packaged fruit is usually very clean and somewhat sulfited to begin with for freshness. What you did is fine, but as Nursebee notes the tremendous CO2 production "scrubs" much of the aroma from the fruit. Additionally, blueberry is notoriously difficult to get noticeable in a mead... it's a "nonassertive" flavor. 

I'd avoid boiling in any case. If the fruit's in good condition it's probably OK to add to secondary without further treatment. I'd say your mead is going to be great the way you've prepared it, though to be sure we'd require several samples for analysis


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

Unfortunately, I think i've already over analyzed that batch. In fact, the last bottle was thoroughly examined and analyzed just last weekend







Now i've realized i waited way too long to try another batch. I'm thinking maybe blackberry this time. I think i have about 6 or 7lbs in the freezer now.....


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## dorado (Jul 12, 2004)

I take a slightly different approach and am satisfied with my results. I let the primary ferment for a few days until fermentation subsides and then add my fruit into the primary. I have alcohol and yeast in sufficient quantity that I do not worry about wild yeasts. I leave the fruit in the primary one to two weeks and then rack to secondary.


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

that seems like a slick trick. a bit less work with pretty similar results.


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## markalbob (Jan 31, 2007)

I've heard the best compromise is to do both......primary gives a better color extraction, as well as tannins, etc., making the wine more complex. Adding some more fruit to secondary for a bit can help with a "fruitier" taste, as the volatile compounds in the fruit are less likely to be blown off and/or metabolized by the yeast.

Basically, all fruit in secondary can mean simplistic wines or meads (think "kool-aid plus everclear") and all in primary can result in something winey, without any clearly identifiable fruit character.....


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