No peach flavor

[Alexzander Vulmea Dare]

I made a 5 gallon batch of sparkling peach mead only for it not to have much peach flavor to speak of. I had peaches with great flavor, and used about 2and a half pounds. I let it stay in the fermenter about 2 weeks. Any suggestions would be helpful as i am getting ready to start another 5 gallon batch of peach and ginger mead.

 

[Chevette Girl]

I think I see your problem... In general if I want more than a slight colour and the merest hint of fruit flavour, I would use 2-4 lbs of fruit per gallon of wine/mead, and you said you made five gallons with 2-1/2 lbs?

I'd either get more peaches (10 lbs), or use a smaller batch size for more fruit flavour... I'd further suggest making sure they're really, really ripe and also not peeling them, you didn't specify how you prepared them...

Granted, I haven't done a peach wine yet, they never last long enough once they're ripe... ;D But if you take a look at wine recipes where the focus is on the fruit as opposed to mead and melomel recipes where the honey is the focus, on average they call for 3 lbs fruit per gallon.

...and by the way, welcome to Gotmead! there is a wealth of information and experince here, just waiting for you!

 

[akueck]

I haven't done peaches yet either, but adding more is the way to go. Peach isn't a very strong flavor to begin with, and even with stronger fruits I've always used at least 1 lb/gal. You'll need even more for peaches to get the flavor to come through. Also consider using some in primary, some in secondary to get the blend of the fermented & fresh flavors (if that's the sort of thing you like).

 

[Chevette Girl]

Yeah, Sassy is making a peach melomel too, that's a good thread to check out, (the search tool is your friend!) where Wayneb suggests that peaches in secondary is also a good idea since their flavour is so delicate.

 

[BBBF]

I've read that you can get a stronger peach flavor from apricots. I haven't tried yet, but I have some raspberries and apricots in my freezer that are waiting for some cooler weather.

 

[Chevette Girl]

I don't know about that, when I used apricots in my "cleaning out the freezer" port, they were the first thing I could smell in the aroma for the first few days, but they smell like apricots, not peaches... although it would be interesting to see if they boosted the flavour a bit by using both...

 

[Alexzander Vulmea Dare]

Thanks for all the help. Iused peeled peaches the first time. I will use about 8lbs peeled and add 2-3 lbs unpeeeled in the primary. Then maybe add around 10lbs to the secondary as well. Maybe that will do it? Either way the other batch was good, it's about gone.. So it's time for another batch to begin.
Thanks again for all the help, will let ya know how it turns out.

 

[Alexzander Vulmea Dare]

I can get some apricots local but they are strong like you said. I hope the ginger will be a nice addition to this batch? Thanks again for the help
Alex V.Dare

 

[Chevette Girl]

I'd also recommend not peeling them, there's a lot of flavour, aroma and tannins in the skin that you might want to come through in your mead.

 

[keepitlow]

I talked with an old timer that makes country wine. He says he uses 15 to 25 pounds of fruit for 5 gal batches.

 

[Chevette Girl]

3-5 lbs per gallon, that's about right for wine made with sugar (depending on the fruit, of course), I tend to go a little easier than that when I'm making a melomel because I want to still be able to tell it was honey...

I use 5 lbs/gal when I do my crabapple mel but it all but drowns out the honey, I may cut back to 4 lbs/gal next time.

I'd never use more than 2-3 lbs of wild blueberries/gal because I've had a blueberry wine (winery in Niagara) that was made with pressed wild blueberry juice and sugar, and I found it way too musky.

If others find they need more fruit to stand up to the honey, I am interested in knowing your final SG, I find the honey flavour decreases with SG.