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Adding fermentables in stages?

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gron151

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 13, 2010
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Are there any bennifits or disadvantages in adding your fermentables in stages.

Yeast was D-47

I was board about a month ago and had 6lb of hone and 10lb of pears so whiped up a 5 gallon batch that i had planned to just carbonate in a keg, thought it would maybe be something light and tasty. Well after it was done or at lest mostly done fermenting it tasted almost like nothing. So this week i racked and then added another 3 lb honey and another 8lb of pears and its fermenting nicely again. now my plan is to taste again when fermenting stops and follow the same process if needed.

I realize that not follow a great process on this batch but that really wasnt the intent from the start.

Thoughts?
 
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YogiBearMead726

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 21, 2010
1,519
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San Francisco, CA
From what I understand, soft fruits like pears, plums, peaches, etc. take some time to develop any discernible fruit character. While you should be fine adding more fermentables (provided you add more nutrients to help the yeast not become stressed), but it probably won't help much as far as flavor is concerned. You might get more pear character, but I'd say aging is the only real way to get flavors to blossom. In a few months, you probably won't even recognize this mead (flavor wise).
 
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jayich

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 27, 2009
479
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Anchorage, AK
gron151 said:
Are there any bennifits or disadvantages in adding your fermentables in stages.

Yeast was D-47

I was board about a month ago and had 6lb of hone and 10lb of pears so whiped up a 5 gallon batch that i had planned to just carbonate in a keg, thought it would maybe be something light and tasty. Well after it was done or at lest mostly done fermenting it tasted almost like nothing. So this week i racked and then added another 3 lb honey and another 8lb of pears and its fermenting nicely again. now my plan is to taste again when fermenting stops and follow the same process if needed.

I realize that not follow a great process on this batch but that really wasnt the intent from the start.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have made many berry melomels by adding fruit and more honey in the secondary to keep gravity up and too keep fermentation going. I have had generally good results using this technique with the exception of one berry melomel which I believe became oxidized from multiple rackings and additions of fermentables which caused too much air exposure. So I would advise if you add extra fermentables to the secondary(or late in the primary), that you avoid too much air exposure and splashing, and if you can, use CO2 to blanket your mead as much as possible during these procedures.
 
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