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No peach flavor

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Alexzander Vulmea Dare

Alexzander Vulmea Dare

NewBee
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Aug 11, 2010
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I made a 5 gallon batch of sparkling peach mead only for it not to have much peach flavor to speak of. I had peaches with great flavor, and used about 2and a half pounds. I let it stay in the fermenter about 2 weeks. Any suggestions would be helpful as i am getting ready to start another 5 gallon batch of peach and ginger mead.
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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I think I see your problem... In general if I want more than a slight colour and the merest hint of fruit flavour, I would use 2-4 lbs of fruit per gallon of wine/mead, and you said you made five gallons with 2-1/2 lbs?

I'd either get more peaches (10 lbs), or use a smaller batch size for more fruit flavour... I'd further suggest making sure they're really, really ripe and also not peeling them, you didn't specify how you prepared them...

Granted, I haven't done a peach wine yet, they never last long enough once they're ripe... ;D But if you take a look at wine recipes where the focus is on the fruit as opposed to mead and melomel recipes where the honey is the focus, on average they call for 3 lbs fruit per gallon.

...and by the way, welcome to Gotmead! there is a wealth of information and experince here, just waiting for you! :)
 
akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
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Jun 26, 2006
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I haven't done peaches yet either, but adding more is the way to go. Peach isn't a very strong flavor to begin with, and even with stronger fruits I've always used at least 1 lb/gal. You'll need even more for peaches to get the flavor to come through. Also consider using some in primary, some in secondary to get the blend of the fermented & fresh flavors (if that's the sort of thing you like).
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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Yeah, Sassy is making a peach melomel too, that's a good thread to check out, (the search tool is your friend!) where Wayneb suggests that peaches in secondary is also a good idea since their flavour is so delicate.
 
BBBF

BBBF

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May 19, 2008
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I've read that you can get a stronger peach flavor from apricots. I haven't tried yet, but I have some raspberries and apricots in my freezer that are waiting for some cooler weather.
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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I don't know about that, when I used apricots in my "cleaning out the freezer" port, they were the first thing I could smell in the aroma for the first few days, but they smell like apricots, not peaches... although it would be interesting to see if they boosted the flavour a bit by using both...
 
Alexzander Vulmea Dare

Alexzander Vulmea Dare

NewBee
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Aug 11, 2010
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Thanks for all the help. Iused peeled peaches the first time. I will use about 8lbs peeled and add 2-3 lbs unpeeeled in the primary. Then maybe add around 10lbs to the secondary as well. Maybe that will do it? Either way the other batch was good, it's about gone..:( So it's time for another batch to begin.
Thanks again for all the help, will let ya know how it turns out.
 
Alexzander Vulmea Dare

Alexzander Vulmea Dare

NewBee
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Aug 11, 2010
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I can get some apricots local but they are strong like you said. I hope the ginger will be a nice addition to this batch? Thanks again for the help
Alex V.Dare
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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I'd also recommend not peeling them, there's a lot of flavour, aroma and tannins in the skin that you might want to come through in your mead.
 
K

keepitlow

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I talked with an old timer that makes country wine. He says he uses 15 to 25 pounds of fruit for 5 gal batches.
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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3-5 lbs per gallon, that's about right for wine made with sugar (depending on the fruit, of course), I tend to go a little easier than that when I'm making a melomel because I want to still be able to tell it was honey...

I use 5 lbs/gal when I do my crabapple mel but it all but drowns out the honey, I may cut back to 4 lbs/gal next time.

I'd never use more than 2-3 lbs of wild blueberries/gal because I've had a blueberry wine (winery in Niagara) that was made with pressed wild blueberry juice and sugar, and I found it way too musky.

If others find they need more fruit to stand up to the honey, I am interested in knowing your final SG, I find the honey flavour decreases with SG.
 
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