Intro and Recipe Question

[Theax]

Hello, everybody. I'm about as new a mazer as can be; I started my first batch (a JOAM variant, almost ready to bottle by the looks of things) on 12/3/11, my second (a blackberry jam melomel) on 1/1/13. Between a homebrew store about 20 miles away and one of the online stores, I've assembled what I think is a pretty good starter kit for 1 gallon batches, and am having lots of fun so far even though I won't get to drink anything for a while.

So, next week, when my primary bucket comes available, I'd like to have a plane for batch three. The Mrs. and I enjoy a nice bottle of Chardonnay, and I was thinking of ways to kind of recreate that in a mead version. Tentative plan follows:

Apple-Peach Chardomel
8 oz peach jam
4 oz apple jelly
Honey to 1.095ish
Water to 1 gallon
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkg Lalvin D47
1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced (for secondary ferment)


As noted above, all ingredients would go into primary for initial ferment, then I'd rack onto apple slices for secondary.

Finally, I'd age with 1/4 oz of American Med+ Oak chips to taste.

My questions are:
--How does this recipe look in proportion or ingredients?
--Will I need to use some acid blend?
--What honey varietel might be suggested?
--Anything else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance!

 

[BrewinNColorado]

Welcome to GotMead


I have never fermented with jam/jellies, but I can imagine that with the process of making jam/jellies, the pectin in them will cause a pectin haze that might not ever clear. Personally, there are a lot of juices/concentrates out there that would work without giving a pectin haze as long as you don't heat them.

Just my 2 cents, but if you decide to go with the jam/jelly, please keep us posted on how it turns out.

Michael

 

[Theax]

Hey Brewin,

Thanks for the thoughts (and the welcome). I got the idea for a jam melomel from a blackberry jam wine recipe on another forum. I'm sure the pectic enzyme in it is intended to deal with the problem you anticipate, but haze might be more easily hidden in a blackberry wine than apple/peach.

I may check out the juice route. Thanks again.

 

[Chevette Girl]

Having made my fair share of jams and jellies, you're not getting true coin if you're going to go and ferment it. Not only has it been boiled to heck (which changes the flavour of the fruit) but also you typically use more sugar than juice/fruit in a jam or jelly recipe (which is going to ferment but has no flavour of its own and will dilute the impact of your honey. If it's the only way you can get your hands on that fruit, fine, but if you can get real fruit or juice, the closer to fresh produce, the better. Even bottled juice (as long as it doesn't contain sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate) can make a decent wine or melomel.

And if you're going to go with the jam or jelly anyway, I'd double up on the pectinase.

You asked about acid - generally no, you only want to add acid blend or lemon juice after fermentation is done to adjust the taste if needed. Honey has its own acidity that can cause a must to be too acidic for the yeast to be happy.

Oh, and you don't have to core the apple, I think we calculated in another thread that you'd have to eat a bucket of appleseeds to get any negative effect.

Welcome to the addiction! - er, hobby, it's a hobby...

 

[Theax]

Thanks for that, Chevette Girl. After the advice and info from you and Brewin, as well as having gotten through the fruit chapter in Ken Schramm's book last night, I may go directly to real fruit, and switch to apple/pear rather than peach since I don't know what kind of peach I could get in OH this time of year.

Thanks again.