When making a melomel with tons of fruit, should the gravity reading be taken before the fruit is added, or after?
When to take the OG in melomels?
- Thread starter capoeirista13
- Start date
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When I mix up the must, I let it stand for a few minuts and use a Turkey baster to get a sample from underneath the cap when it settles up top. Most fruit will add sugar to your must which your not measuring if your taking pre-inserted fruit measurements. YMMV
I take gravity readings after the fruit is added, but I like to use a refractometer so that I can use a couple of drops and the fruit particles don't interfere. If you use a hydrometer, it helps to strain out the fruit or let it settle out to get a true reading.
Both.
You should check your brix/gravity once the honey is added, and then again after the fruit has been added. In many cases you'll find that your gravity has come down lower than you expected due to the juice being lower in brix/gravity than your honey must. It's also a good idea to take a fruit sampling at random (juice/crush up about 20 berries, some peach slices, or if you're using juice just measure it from the container, as long as you have a representative mixture of fruit/juice to get a good reading) before you add it in so you can calculate out how much the juice/fruit will dilute down your honey must gravity. There's a good tool in the Mead Calculator that will help with this.
Cheers,
Oskaar
You should check your brix/gravity once the honey is added, and then again after the fruit has been added. In many cases you'll find that your gravity has come down lower than you expected due to the juice being lower in brix/gravity than your honey must. It's also a good idea to take a fruit sampling at random (juice/crush up about 20 berries, some peach slices, or if you're using juice just measure it from the container, as long as you have a representative mixture of fruit/juice to get a good reading) before you add it in so you can calculate out how much the juice/fruit will dilute down your honey must gravity. There's a good tool in the Mead Calculator that will help with this.
Cheers,
Oskaar
