Hey all,
I am about to start a five gallon batch of strawberry melomel, my first one ever... I am curious to get some feedback as I've kinda hit information overload doing my research here on the site today and have hit a couple of potential snags. My first question is about heating the strawberries. The strawberries I have had a few in the container that had a bit of mold on them. I have culled these out of the batch and have thoroughly washed the remaining berries. Is it ok to still use the other berries? I've cut them up and am freezing them to break the cell walls. I hear that heating the fruit before adding them can cause proteins to gel, thus making clarification down the road very difficult. Additionally, is 32 ounces of berries enough for a five gallon batch of mead? Also, should I add pectinase to the batch?
I will be kicking this batch off with a seriously healthy starter, using K1-V1116 yeast again on this batch. I do plan on using the standard stepped nutrient addition process as I understand the strawberries do not add enough nutrient to really impact the yeast support as some other fruits. I am also planning on using a fruit bag to hold the fruit durring primary fermentation. Anyway, any input would be greatly appreciated and thanks a bunch for your time.
I am about to start a five gallon batch of strawberry melomel, my first one ever... I am curious to get some feedback as I've kinda hit information overload doing my research here on the site today and have hit a couple of potential snags. My first question is about heating the strawberries. The strawberries I have had a few in the container that had a bit of mold on them. I have culled these out of the batch and have thoroughly washed the remaining berries. Is it ok to still use the other berries? I've cut them up and am freezing them to break the cell walls. I hear that heating the fruit before adding them can cause proteins to gel, thus making clarification down the road very difficult. Additionally, is 32 ounces of berries enough for a five gallon batch of mead? Also, should I add pectinase to the batch?
I will be kicking this batch off with a seriously healthy starter, using K1-V1116 yeast again on this batch. I do plan on using the standard stepped nutrient addition process as I understand the strawberries do not add enough nutrient to really impact the yeast support as some other fruits. I am also planning on using a fruit bag to hold the fruit durring primary fermentation. Anyway, any input would be greatly appreciated and thanks a bunch for your time.