# Peach, orange, and cantaloupe mead. Questions on how to start.



## MajorJC (Apr 13, 2013)

So I stopped at the fruit stand on the way home today and bought two cantaloupes and a basket of peaches and a basket of oranges. Do I put the peach pits and cantaloupe seeds and orange peel into the must? Do I cook it or heat it first? Let it sit for 24 hours before adding the yeast?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Usually you'll want to crush and strain the fruit (like you would wine) for mead. Don't cook. You could also just cut it up, freeze (to pierce the cell walls) and then add to the fermenter. Have you decided on how much honey/volume of mead you're making? A little research and planning will help a lot.


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## MajorJC (Apr 13, 2013)

Ben Brewcat said:


> Usually you'll want to crush and strain the fruit (like you would wine) for mead. Don't cook. You could also just cut it up, freeze (to pierce the cell walls) and then add to the fermenter. Have you decided on how much honey/volume of mead you're making? A little research and planning will help a lot.


Yes, I've got a 6 gallon primary and 5 gallon secondary. I was planning on crushing the fruit and adding the water and letting it sit for 24 hours and taking a SG reading. Then adding honey to get the SG up to 1.1, I'm thinking around 15 pounds of honey.

So here is what I'm thinking:

15 pounds of my Mississippi wildflower honey
2 navel oranges - including peel?
2 cantaloupes - cubed, rind and seed discarded.
22 peaches - crushed, pits discarded.
Malic acid - how much?
Tartaric acid - how much?
Tannin - how much?
Pectic enzyme - how much?
Yeast nutrient - 5 tsp (do I need the yeast nutrient with all the fruit?)
5 Campden tabs, crushed
1 package Lalvin 71B-1122

Crush fruit into primary fermenter 
Mix honey with 2 gallons of warm water
Mix in the additives and let sit covered for 24 hours.
Take SG reading and add water to get SG to 1.1
rehydrate yeast and add to must.
close fermenter with air lock.
stir daily, when bubbling stops and SG is 1.0 rack into secondary with air lock.
In 30 days, rack into clean carboy with air lock.
When clear, bottle.

Any advice or changes to this plan?

Thanks


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Sounds like mead to me ! Consider waiting on the nutrient, acids and tannins: they can be added as needed/to taste later. The pectinase is a good idea. I tend to make mead based on the SG readings rather then by airlock activity or time, as different meads have different life cycles (sometimes wildly different). Bulk aging will also allow you to adjust as necessary later, for example to add tannin or acid if an element is lacking.


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## MajorJC (Apr 13, 2013)

Ben Brewcat said:


> Sounds like mead to me ! Consider waiting on the nutrient, acids and tannins: they can be added as needed/to taste later. The pectinase is a good idea. I tend to make mead based on the SG readings rather then by airlock activity or time, as different meads have different life cycles (sometimes wildly different). Bulk aging will also allow you to adjust as necessary later, for example to add tannin or acid if an element is lacking.


Ok, I'll take your advice on the nutrient, acids and tannin. How much pectic enzyme? 3 tsp? If I freeze the fruit mash first will it improve my mead? What about spices like cloves, cardamom seed, cinnamon sticks, etc.? How do they affect the flavor of the mead?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

The package should have a dosing rate for the pectic. Freezing fruit doesn't necessarily improve the mead, just improves the extraction of fruit juices by pulverizing the cell walls, allowing juice to flow out of them. Spices in mead tend to made the mead taste like that spice to an extent. I highly recommend adding them (if desired, it's easy to add too many things to a mead where none of them really get to shine IMO) later in the secondary fermenter or as a tincture which gives finer control. Spices tend to have a narrow "window"... barely taste, barely taste, ooh that's good, whoa way too much. It takes some experimentation with a given recipe to get it where you want it.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Sounds like Melomel to me!


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## kkmrk (Mar 27, 2016)

Cinnamon stick for a few days. Ben is right, goes from barely taste to OM what happened. I add to my keg, which is my secondary. I serve from it.


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## MajorJC (Apr 13, 2013)

This Melomel settled for two years and was bottled in 2016. Here is a picture of my final product. Wish I could post the flavor for y'all to try.


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