PeachMelomel
From Simreal
Contents |
Peach Cinnamon Melomel
by Matt and Susan Pinsonneault
A peach honey mead, with cinnamon. Makes 5 gallons.
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 20 lbs | orange blossom honey |
| 15 lbs | frozen peach slices |
| 1 1/2 cups | orange juice |
| 5 sticks | cinnamon |
| 5 tsp | acid blend |
| 5 tsp | yeast nutrient |
| 5 tsp | pectic enzyme |
| 1 pkg | Red Star Pasteur Champagne dry yeast |
| 1 1/4 tsp | grape tannin |
| 5 | campden tablets |
1. Thaw peach slices and put in bottom of primary fermenter, along with cinnamon sticks.
2. Heat the honey in water, 2 parts water to 1 part honey. Raise temperature to 150 F and hold for 5 minutes.
3. Pour the honey mixture over the peaches and let it cool. Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and top off water to 5 gal. Then crush and add campden tablets. Cover and let sit for 24 hours.
4. Make yeast starter culture with dry yeast, yeast nutrient, and orange juice. Shake vigorously and wait 1-3 hours, or until bubbly. Pitch yeast and add tannin.
5. Leave in primary until most vigorous fermentation is over (~7 days), then rack to secondary.
Notes
- 16-Jun-2007: Tried brief pasteurization instead of boil. We'll see how it turns out. Orange blossom honey tastes and smells awesome. Cooled and added campden at 7PM.
- 17-Jun-2007: Made starter culture. Pitched yeast at 7PM. S.G. 1.133 @ 80 deg F. (Took reading after pitching.)
- 18-Jun-2007: No activity. Needed to add grape tannin anyway, so we opened it up, added the tannin, and thoroughly aerated the must. All of a sudden it started FIZZING ferociously and we now have positive pressure. Yay!
- 20-Jun-2007: Very vigorous fermentation continues, along with a delightful aroma of peaches and bread. Yum!
- 21-Jun-2007: Fermentation slowed down dramatically.
- 22-Jun-2007: Fermentation ceased.
- 23-Jun-2007: Racked to secondary. S.G. 1.060 @ 80 deg F. Still lots of peach flavor, but it's very cloudy.
- 4-Jul-2007: Large sediment buildup, so racked again. Fermentation proceeding slowly but steadily.
- 25-Jul-2007: Still some outward pressure, but fermentation has almost stopped. Some sediment has built up again, but not a huge amount.
- 3-Sept-2007: Racked off of sediment and back into carboy. Lovely, deep golden color. 17% alcohol. Delicate peach aroma, tastes slightly of cinnamon, and somewhat more of peaches. Very promising.
- 13-Jan-2008: Bottling time! S.G. 1.044 @ 70 deg F. Deep golden color, not cloudy at all. 17% alcohol. Aroma is more complex but peaches still come through. Cinnamon is barely detectable, and the taste of alcohol is stronger. Not too sweet; kind of rough, but that's expected at this stage. It may not smooth out in time for Flipside; if so, this will be very good for Flipside 2009!
