Spoilage? Fruit, Juices, Etc.

[DanielF]

Context
I recently made my first batch of mead (that's intended for consumption and not practice), and now I'm wondering if I made a terrible mistake. I tried making Ken Schramm's Multi-Berry Melomel from his book (page 166), The Compleat Meadmaker. I fermented the honey, and then added and fermented the fruit per Schramm's recipe. Then I terminated the fermentation with some potassium metabisulfite. The taste wasn't as *in my manly voice* fruity as I was hoping so I added some frozen juice concentrate. However, it go me wondering...

Questions
Do some ingredient require special storage?
When added to mead, can fruit, frozen juices, or anything of that ilk spoil?
Do I need to refrigerate my melon because I added fruits and other things that rot quickly?


If this has already been addressed, please just send me a link. I searched in vain trying to find any such content. Thanks!

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi DanielF - and welcome. I think you ask a really good question and people with far more hard scientific knowledge than I have may offer a better answer than mine but absent their response/s here's mine. It depends. Alcohol will tend to prevent fruit from "spoiling" (although fermentation by definition is a form of spoilage - although a form that we enjoy and which preserves the fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be spoiled by other bacteria and fungi whose actions on the sugars in the fruit etc we don't enjoy and which might even make us ill. So I think that the ability of different bacteria to act on the fruit will depend on the amount of alcohol in your mead and the amount of acidity (pH). If the acidity is too low and if the alcohol level is low then certain other bacteria can compete with the yeast and can thrive. But typically, if the alcohol levels are at levels normal for wine, if the levels of acidity are normal for wine then you can expect the fruits to be "unspoiled" for a few years. What sometimes happens is that oxygen can interact with the fruit and oxidize it and that can "spoil" the flavors. What many of us do is make sure that there is enough SO2 (sulfur dioxide) in the mead. SO2 acts as a preservative to inhibit oxidation. We do this by adding Potassium Metabisulfite each time we rack and just before we bottle. The equivalent of 1 Campden tablet per gallon is enough to inhibit oxidation.
Bottom line, even a session mead (about 6 -7% alcohol) does not need refrigerated (think cream liqueurs, OK they are perhaps 30% ABV but even with cream they do not spoil) but low ABV meads may not age as well as higher ABV ones.

 

[Chevette Girl]

I tend not to worry too much about purchased processed fruit products spoiling my meads, in fact, if you put them in an active ferment, do check the ingredients to make sure they don't have and preservatives that might inhibit your fermentation! (things I learned the hard way trying to ferment Welch's Raspberry Punch frozen concentrate).

Generally, anything you get that's been canned or frozen can be considered a low risk of infection if you're adding it to a mead. But as bernardsmith said, it depends on when you add it and what your pH and alcohol content are. If you're adding to an active ferment, the yeast will be making the must pretty inhospitable to any other organisms so that's also going to be a time of low risk of infection. If you're adding it right after stabilization, you're probably also pretty low risk, although if using fresh fruit you might consider sulphiting the fruit first.

I tend to worry far more about spoilage when I'm using fresh fruit and I usually only use fruit in primary fermentation, but generally the only time i will pre-treat my fruit with campden tabets 24 hours before fermentation is if I'm using pears (they make mold really really quickly for me while I'm waiting for my pectic enzyme to do its thing before I add the yeast) or making my own apple cider (I get a better yield if I shred the apples then let them sit with pectinase for 24 hours before I press the juice out and if I don't sulphite it, it starts fermenting on its own).

I used to use canned apple juice for topping up wines, and never had any problems with it.

Hope that helps a little!