Boysenberry Melomel

[Airgead]

Folks

In order to see the difference between fruit added once primamry fermentation stops and fruit added to the primary fermentation, I started a little experiment last week. I made a 9l batch of must using 3kg of ironbark honey. Initial gravity - 1097. That was split into two 4.5l carboys. To batch 1 I added 250g of frozen boysenberries. Batch 2 will get its fruit once primary fermentation is complete. I rehydrated a packet of red star premier cuvee yeast and added exactly half to each batch.

Both batches will have the fruit treated in exactly the same way - blended to a paste, added, 3 days later add pectic enzyme, 3 days after that rack off the fruit pulp.

Some photos of the progress so far - Day 3 after pectic enzyme was added


Day 6 - After racking batch 1 off the fruit pulp


6 days in and they are down to 1060. I reckon another 2 weeks and batch 2 will get its fruit. I'll add it into the carboy once fermentation stops then rack to secondary after the 6 days. I try to avoid racking more than once or twice as SWMBO is allergic to sulphur in wines so I can't use SO2 (campden) as an antioxidant during racking.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Chad]

That boysenberry in the first photo looks awesome. I do a similar process when I make my meads. I usually start with 11L in a 15L plastic fermenter, then split into 2 x 5L glass demi's where I can then play around with adjuncts, like adding fruit or oaking.

 

[Wisey]

how'd it turn out?

 

[pdilley]

Looks very good Dave. You've racked the Boysenberry already it seems. Did you sneak a sample?

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Airgead]

Looks very good Dave. You've racked the Boysenberry already it seems. Did you sneak a sample?

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

They look even better now.

Progress update - batch 1 (the berries added in primary batch) has been racked into the secondary and is just starting to clear. Its still young but tasting very nice. Plenty of berry character.

Batch 2 (the berries added in secondary) has had the berries added following the same procedure as batch 1 - added pulped berries, 3 days later added pectic enzyme, after 7 days racked off the fruit. This is the big surprise. It has finished and dropped brilliantly clear. Since it had the fruit added much later I was expecting that one to clear much later than batch 1. Its tasting fantastic. Huge berry flavour. Much more than batch 1 from the same amount of fruit. Looks liek it has finished around 1.003.

I'll let them both clear fully then adjust the acid to the same levels and bottle.

So far though the clear winner is adding the fruit in the secondary or primary after the main fermentation has finished.

I'll post photos as soon as I get them off the camera.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Airgead]

Ok here are the photos...

When last we met our brave heroes batch 1 had been racked off the fruit-



At that stage batch 2 was still fermenting. A few weeks later, batch 2 had finished its fermentattion and was starting to clear. Ready for the fruit -



After adding the fruit -



Now here is the big surprise. While batch 1 keeps ticking along to completion (1.010 last time I checked), batch 2 raced to the finish and cleared within a few days of being racked off the fruit.



I'll rack batch 2 again after another week or so to clear out any fruit pulp that made it through the first racking then bottle soon after that. Batch 1 I'll rack again as soon as it finishes and clears. That will be 2 rackings for each which is about my limit since I don't use sulphur.

I'll adjust acid on bottling and bottle into 375ml bottles with corks. I'll taste 1/month for as long as they last to see how the different fruit addition methods work as they age. At the moment though the fruit after primary fermentation is the clear winner.

Cheers
Dave

 

[br33zy]

...
Now here is the big surprise. While batch 1 keeps ticking along to completion (1.010 last time I checked), batch 2 raced to the finish and cleared within a few days of being racked off the fruit.

...
Cheers
Dave

Can it be that the act of racking has stimulated the yeast to hurry along the fermentation?

Cheers

Breezy

 

[Airgead]

Can it be that the act of racking has stimulated the yeast to hurry along the fermentation?

Cheers

Breezy

I'm suspecting that the addition of the fruit (and all the sugars they contain) caused all the yeast that was starting to go dormant and do the mead thing (tick along slowly for months) to wake up and put in a finishing burst.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Airgead]

Update - final racking over the weekend. There was enough fruit pulp and crud left in both batches to make me add an additional racking to the schedule. I also tested acid. Interestingly, batch 1 cam in at about 85ppm and batch 2 at only 50. I did have to use a different pack of berries for batch 2 but I can
t imagine they were that different. They were both from the same production lot. All I can assume is that the fruit in primary method extracts a lot more acid from the fruit.

I'll adjust batch 2 to 85ppm which is where I wanted them anyway and bottle next weekend. 330ml bottles with corks. I'll taste 1 from each batch each month and see how they age. I should get about 10 small bottles from each batch.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Airgead]

OK.. first month's tasting.

Batch 1 - fairly pale in colour. Slight brownish tinge. Not a lot of fruit character. OK.

Batch 2 - Very nice colour. Lots of fruit character. Really nice.

I suspect batch 1 has been affected by oxygen. Given that they were both handled in exactly the same way I am wondering whether the late addition of fruit has protected the wine from oxidisation.

Both were racked twice - once 7 days after it went onto the fruit and again at the end to help it clear. With batch 1 all the fermentation was well and truly over by second racking time but batch 1 the fruit was added at the end so there may have been some yeast still active to scavenge o2. There was some residual fruit pulp carried through from the first racking on both batches so batch 1 was sitting on that for a lot longer which may have lead to problems.

Anyway, batch 2 was the superior batch at all stages of fermentation. It fermented faster, cleared faster, had better colour and flavour. I think I'll make late fruit additions my standard practice from now.

BP - I wonder whether the late fruit addition works a bit like the late nutrient additions in your fermentation profile - the fruit will contain nutrients as well as sugar so it may give the yeast the same late boost as the late nutrient additions...

Cheers
Dave

 

[pdilley]

The brown colour could be oxidation, you are right. It also could be an ascorbic acid reaction or a metals reaction.

For the oxidation there is not much we can do.

For a while it was thought that ascorbic acid would protect against oxidation as well as SO2 does. Research has demonstrated this belief to be false. In an oxidative environment, ascorbic acid leads to rapid browning of catechin, a component in the finished fermentation. The co-presence of SO2 delays the browning, but the delay is prolonged without ascorbic acid present. In other words, the wine ages better with sufficient SO2 present and without any ascorbic acid.

The only hope for an easy answer would be metals contact in equipment or in the batch of water used. If iron or copper caused citric acid will clear. If zinc or aluminium baked and crushed egg shell.

Any off tastes that come out in Batch 1 will be another clue in to what might be up.

Oxidation browning is usually within 24 hours of bottling or racking and saturating it with SO2 is the only way its normally handled if caught early.

Its no surprise that Batch 1 will not have the flavour. Primary fermentation is very violently scrubbing of all the essential oils and aromas. Thats why JAO smells so lovely fermenting but all that goodness in your nose means that its been stripped out of your liquid. Almost everyone today is following the rack onto fruit instead of fruit in the primary technique. Mostly because its so expensive for good quality fruit in good quantity you want to stretch your fruit dollar as much as you can.

Staggered additions of fermentables is a way to push a yeast beyond its normal ABV range capabilities and practiced a lot in making Sake. Nutrients are usually added in bulk 80% or more by the 1/2 sugar break as it helps the yeast cells develop and reach the long stretch to the finish line before giving out. All up front in the beginning and you get big fat lazy yeast cells that don't have enough puff to handle ethanol as well

Fruit acidity and sweetness will vary from location on tree and tree-to-tree and orchard to orchard. There is a big difference in sunlight hit and shaded fruit and harvest date. That means year to year variations as well. Shading affects hexanal, hexenal, ethyl methyl butyrate, and methyl butyrate concentrations. Sucrose is dependent upon harvest date. Some acids and glucose though are all over the place with no real marker to their influencing drivers.

We just have to put up with it with store bought fruit unless we can find and grow our own heirloom varietals.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Airgead]

The brown colour could be oxidation, you are right. It also could be an ascorbic acid reaction or a metals reaction.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Pete

I'm pretty sure its not Ascorbic acid and nothing metal went anywhere near either batch.

It tastes like oxidisation. Not too bad yet so I'll drink that quickly and let the other one age a bit.

Cheers
Dave