Breaking the Fruit Cap
Since this is my first time doing the whole "Melomel" thing, I have been documenting everything pretty extensively. This whole process requires a lot of doctoring throughout. While I know a lot of people do the fruit in the secondary, I went with the BYO article I saw and fruited in the primary. This creates a dynamic where you need to break up the fruit that collects at the top of the fermentor and allow the CO2 to escape while also introducing some O2 to the mix. I made a short YouTube video of the process:
Pretty interesting stuff right? It's actually pretty easy. I have been taking refractometer readings once or twice a day (when I break the fruit cap) and once I get to the proper gravity, I'll rack over into the secondary. So far it's moved about 10 brix since I pitched it. It's at a pace of 1 brix per day. My goal is 18brix (1.025). At this point, I just need to keep those little guys moving to get there! Cheers!
2 comments:
Pretty cool :-) I'm brewing a one gallon batch of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. Everybody says its a great way to get started with mead. Pretty much fool proof so I thought this could be great way for my friend to start. Here's the recipe...
Joe's Ancient Orange Cinnamon Clove Mead
Nice, that looks pretty cool. Mine is down to 1.030 right now so it's pretty close to my target FG. I am pretty stoked, it's good, but OH BOY is it strong. This hoss is weighing in at 17%abv and you can taste it.
I am going to serve this sparkling so my hope is that the carbonation will cut the burn.
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