Medium Apricot Mead

Classification: mead, apricot mead, melomel

Source: brewed and posted to CompuServe by Dan Fink, reposted to Mead Digest by Steve Stroud, 10/2/92

Ingredients: (for 5 gallons)

13 pounds fresh, raw alfalfa or clover honey
2 pounds fresh, raw wildflower (or other dark) honey
7 pounds fresh frozen or fresh apricots, crushed
2 pounds fresh frozen or fresh apricots, crushed (in secondary)
2 teaspoons Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa mead yeast nutrient (made up to Roger Morse's formula in the book Making Mead)
2 packets Champagne Yeast (dry or liquid)

Procedure:

Add honey, nutrient and 1.5 gallons water to the brewpot. Crush fruit, add to brewpot. Bring the whole mess slowly to 170 degrees F and hold for 30 minutes to pasteurize. Skim off any white scum from the surface as it forms. Pour into a fermenter containing cold water, top off with water to 5 gallons. Since you won't be able to shove the fruit thru a carboy neck, you'll need to use a plastic or stainless steel fermenter. it MUST be closed! Pitch yeast when cooled to 80 degrees F. This will take awhile due to sugar content. Ferment at 65-70 degrees F for 1-2 weeks. Don't leave your mead on the fruit for much longer than this to avoid spoilage! Carefully rack mead off of fruit parts into a carboy. Ferment until clearing is evident (usually 4-5 months). At this point, rack to another carboy. After mead is fairly clear, pasteurize the other 2 pounds of crushed fruit in a little water and add to must. . Bottle or keg when mead is CRYSTAL clear. If this takes a long time, rack off of fruit parts after no longer than a month.