LOQUAT MEAD
May. 26th, 2015 05:31 pmA few weeks ago I (with some help from Marcel and my niece Jerrica) harvested Loquats from a tree my friend has in her backyard and the tree of her neighbor down the street. This is a first for me. While I see these trees all the time in our area, I've never tasted the fruit. The fruit also are not for sale at the supermarket for some reason. It seems like, while lots of people have these trees, nobody is very keen on harvesting and eating the fruit.
Loquats have the texture of a firm grape and the taste is a combination of grape/lemon/apple. They are the size of a jumbo grape with a firm skin (kind of th like the skin on a passionfruit. They have large seeds inside - usually two...sometimes one or three. They skin tannins will stain your fingers kind of like the husks of pecans will do if you aren't careful.
I processed the fruit by peeling and seeding it. What a HUGE PAIN IN THE BUTT.
The first thing I made was a few pints of preserves. Then I was going to make juice from the rest, but I finally decided I would make a batch of Mead with the juice (I think Mead made with honey and fruit is a Melomel - or something like that).
Here is how I did it (this is my own recipe adapted from a basic Mead recipe)
Batch Size 2.5 gallons
Ingredients
1 gallon and 16 ounces of juice from Loquats
5 pounds (80 ounces) Honey
80 ounces water
1 Campton Tablet
1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient (I will be adding more nutrients as the fermentation continues)
To juice the Loquats I ran them through a food processer and then strained through a jelly bag. I thought about just fermenting the pulb puree, but I didn't want to have to keep a super close eye on it while it ferments - the juice won't require constant monitoring.
I added the campton tablet to the juice as I was making it
I heated the honey just enough to make it very fluid then I added the juice. I let it all cool down to room temp.
While waiting for it to come to room temp I dissolved the yeast in a little water to get it ready to add to the must.
After adding the must to the fermenter I rocked it to add oxygen.
I pitched the yeast and added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient.
I am going to put it in the Fermentation Chamber at 68F for now. I will be doing a Koelsch beer in the next few days and when I put that in the chamber I'll lower the temp to 66F.
Loquats have the texture of a firm grape and the taste is a combination of grape/lemon/apple. They are the size of a jumbo grape with a firm skin (kind of th like the skin on a passionfruit. They have large seeds inside - usually two...sometimes one or three. They skin tannins will stain your fingers kind of like the husks of pecans will do if you aren't careful.
I processed the fruit by peeling and seeding it. What a HUGE PAIN IN THE BUTT.
The first thing I made was a few pints of preserves. Then I was going to make juice from the rest, but I finally decided I would make a batch of Mead with the juice (I think Mead made with honey and fruit is a Melomel - or something like that).
Here is how I did it (this is my own recipe adapted from a basic Mead recipe)
Batch Size 2.5 gallons
Ingredients
1 gallon and 16 ounces of juice from Loquats
5 pounds (80 ounces) Honey
80 ounces water
1 Campton Tablet
1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient (I will be adding more nutrients as the fermentation continues)
To juice the Loquats I ran them through a food processer and then strained through a jelly bag. I thought about just fermenting the pulb puree, but I didn't want to have to keep a super close eye on it while it ferments - the juice won't require constant monitoring.
I added the campton tablet to the juice as I was making it
I heated the honey just enough to make it very fluid then I added the juice. I let it all cool down to room temp.
While waiting for it to come to room temp I dissolved the yeast in a little water to get it ready to add to the must.
After adding the must to the fermenter I rocked it to add oxygen.
I pitched the yeast and added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient.
I am going to put it in the Fermentation Chamber at 68F for now. I will be doing a Koelsch beer in the next few days and when I put that in the chamber I'll lower the temp to 66F.