I have been brewing beer since 1987 but I'm rather new to mead. This will be my second mead. My first a traditional mead I aged for 6 years and it was great. I'm looking to make a melomel and my question is can I use a Vintners Harvest fruit wine base to flavour my melomel? Also seeing it's not a puree would I add it to the primary or secondary? I would appreciate any tips or suggestions anyone would have. Mead is a new landscape for me but I am looking to expand my horizons concerning mead.
Can I use a fruit wine base for a melomel
- Thread starter 4jim
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If I have my nomenclature correct you will be making a pyment. A melomel made from grapes/puree is a pyment, change the grapes to apples and it is a cyser! There is a great podcast on pyments here: 10_3_17_ryan_and_david_thilbault_making_modern_mead_pyments. If I remember correctly the grapes/puree go into the primary... but listen to the podcast for a wealth of info!
It is part of the mead made right series which is absolutely packed with good information. The Gotmead live crew Ryan, AJ, Vicky and Oscar go into great depth on the techniques and protocol for modern mead making. I have links for the others (below) or you can pick through all the podcasts at this link: gotmead-live-radio-show/.
As a tip... if you listen and follow the protocol in the modern mead making series you won't be aging your mead for anything close to 6 years anymore! I used their advice and drank my first tradition fermented from mesquite honey in 4 months and it was good; and that was the 3rd thing I had ever fermented in my life!
Link blast!
The procedure of making mead right: gotmead likes to break the links with a "..." sometimes.
9-5-17 Ryan Carlson - Modern Mead Making - Yeast in Mead: 9-5-17-ryan-carlson-modern-mead-making-yeast
9-12-17 Ryan Carlson - Modern Meadmaking - Making Happy Yeast: 9-12-17-ryan-carlson-making-modern-mead-yeast-keep-happy
9-19-17 Making Modern Mead - SNA, Racking, Stabilizing and Aging: 9-19-17-ryan-making-modern-mead-snas-racking-stabilizing-aging
9-26-17 Making Modern Mead - Sulfites and Sorbates: 9-26-17-ryan-tom-repas-moder-mead-making-sulfiting-sorbating
The only significant, procedural question, you be left with by the end: How exactly do I cold crash?
Either Vicky or AJ on the podcast 9/25/18 define it as: Cold crash - place your mead (still in primary but gravity no longer changing thus no longer fermenting) in a fridge around 4C for 1+ weeks (generally 1-2 weeks). Helps with flocculation - or clearing the mead by getting yeasts/proteins to stick together.
That's probably 10-12h of podcast. Quite a bit of it is banter/filler... but there is gold in there, even in the banter. I've listened to each of them at least twice; taking detailed notes!
Extra goodies I've found helpful:
A very help glossary: https://morewinemaking.com/articles/wine_terminology - fermenters talk weird sometimes!
https://morewinemaking.com/articles/SO2_management information on how to stabilize your mead
https://www.bjcp.org/mead/Mead_Study.pdf - basically a book on this stuff. Some seems out of date but you'll be able to spot it after understanding the podcasts. very helpful section on "balance" & mead faults.
9-25-18 Ryan Carlson - Pairing Yeast to Meads: 9-25-18-ryan-carlson-pairing-yeast-to-meads
10-2-18 Ryan Carlson – Pairing Yeasts to Meads – Part 2:10-2-18-ryan-carlson-pairing-yeasts-to-meads-part-2
8-29-17 Ryan Carlson - Oaking Your Mead: 8-29-17-ryan-carlson-oaking-mead
that oaking podcast is well supported by this supplement: https://morewinemaking.com/web_files/intranet.morebeer.com/files/oakinfopaper09.pdf
It is part of the mead made right series which is absolutely packed with good information. The Gotmead live crew Ryan, AJ, Vicky and Oscar go into great depth on the techniques and protocol for modern mead making. I have links for the others (below) or you can pick through all the podcasts at this link: gotmead-live-radio-show/.
As a tip... if you listen and follow the protocol in the modern mead making series you won't be aging your mead for anything close to 6 years anymore! I used their advice and drank my first tradition fermented from mesquite honey in 4 months and it was good; and that was the 3rd thing I had ever fermented in my life!
Link blast!
The procedure of making mead right: gotmead likes to break the links with a "..." sometimes.
9-5-17 Ryan Carlson - Modern Mead Making - Yeast in Mead: 9-5-17-ryan-carlson-modern-mead-making-yeast
9-12-17 Ryan Carlson - Modern Meadmaking - Making Happy Yeast: 9-12-17-ryan-carlson-making-modern-mead-yeast-keep-happy
9-19-17 Making Modern Mead - SNA, Racking, Stabilizing and Aging: 9-19-17-ryan-making-modern-mead-snas-racking-stabilizing-aging
9-26-17 Making Modern Mead - Sulfites and Sorbates: 9-26-17-ryan-tom-repas-moder-mead-making-sulfiting-sorbating
The only significant, procedural question, you be left with by the end: How exactly do I cold crash?
Either Vicky or AJ on the podcast 9/25/18 define it as: Cold crash - place your mead (still in primary but gravity no longer changing thus no longer fermenting) in a fridge around 4C for 1+ weeks (generally 1-2 weeks). Helps with flocculation - or clearing the mead by getting yeasts/proteins to stick together.
That's probably 10-12h of podcast. Quite a bit of it is banter/filler... but there is gold in there, even in the banter. I've listened to each of them at least twice; taking detailed notes!
Extra goodies I've found helpful:
A very help glossary: https://morewinemaking.com/articles/wine_terminology - fermenters talk weird sometimes!
https://morewinemaking.com/articles/SO2_management information on how to stabilize your mead
https://www.bjcp.org/mead/Mead_Study.pdf - basically a book on this stuff. Some seems out of date but you'll be able to spot it after understanding the podcasts. very helpful section on "balance" & mead faults.
9-25-18 Ryan Carlson - Pairing Yeast to Meads: 9-25-18-ryan-carlson-pairing-yeast-to-meads
10-2-18 Ryan Carlson – Pairing Yeasts to Meads – Part 2:10-2-18-ryan-carlson-pairing-yeasts-to-meads-part-2
8-29-17 Ryan Carlson - Oaking Your Mead: 8-29-17-ryan-carlson-oaking-mead
that oaking podcast is well supported by this supplement: https://morewinemaking.com/web_files/intranet.morebeer.com/files/oakinfopaper09.pdf
