How long to leave fruit in secondary

[WhiteFox]

I have a 5 gallon batch of wildflower mead in primary that I plan to use to make 5x 1gal batches of melomel by putting into 2gal buckets with fruit during secondary (blueberry, blackberry, strawberry/banana, raspberry, and pears).

When I've done fruit in primary before I just left the fruit in until the primary fermentation was complete (usually 1 to 2 weeks). But I don't really know how long to leave the fruit in for the secondary. My guess is that I'm not supposed to leave it in for the full two months I usually leave my mead in secondary...

Thanks in advance for any help.
--WhiteFox

 

[THawk]

All the literature I've read say 1-2 weeks at most, since you can't really get much more out of the fruit.

That being said, I've left blueberries soaking in plastic buckets for months on end with no ill effects. I've also done Blueberry Mels done JAOM style which takes 5-6 weeks for all the fruit to drop (we're talking 4lbs of berries here).

 

[WhiteFox]

Thanks THawk! That's just what I needed to know.

 

[spectre]

My way is way less scientific. After about a week, taste it. Then taste regularly.

When you either cannot detect any difference in taste from one tasting to the next, or when you are happy with the flavour, you take it out

Of the fruit floats and starts to get mold on them, you left them too long

 

[jgoehring]

Just don't try to eat the fruit when it comes out of the secondary its gross. Me and a brew buddy just tried some strawberries and apples that came out of two batches. Bad idea

 

[PitBull]

Keep a close eye on the bananas. For them to impart their maximum flavor, they should be "banana bread" ripe, i.e., their skins should be black with sugar spots. Four or five days might be more than enough to impart their flavor before the bananas are too beat-up. You also might want to put the strawberries and bananas in separate sacks. That way you can remove the one that is spent and keep the second fruit in longer.

 

[Chevette Girl]

Just don't try to eat the fruit when it comes out of the secondary its gross. Me and a brew buddy just tried some strawberries and apples that came out of two batches. Bad idea

TheAlchemist bakes with fermented fruit gunk (I've done it a few times too, works fine), if you're going to try to make use of it post fermentation, just remember there won't be any sugar left in it so it's not going to taste at all like you expect (ie, gross ). I froze my post-fermentation strawberries in ice cube trays and chuck them into fruit smoothies, you just have to make sure there's enough sugars in there from other fruits to cover the missing sugars that the yeast ate.

 

[BBBF]

Just don't try to eat the fruit when it comes out of the secondary its gross. Me and a brew buddy just tried some strawberries and apples that came out of two batches. Bad idea

I always eat a few cherries. They are nice and boozy.

 

[B. Goldwater]

TheAlchemist bakes with fermented fruit gunk (I've done it a few times too, works fine), if you're going to try to make use of it post fermentation, just remember there won't be any sugar left in it so it's not going to taste at all like you expect (ie, gross ). I froze my post-fermentation strawberries in ice cube trays and chuck them into fruit smoothies, you just have to make sure there's enough sugars in there from other fruits to cover the missing sugars that the yeast ate.

Thanks CG! I had never thought about the smoothie idea, i am going to have to try that one out...