Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Concord Pyment....backsweeten method.

Making your favorite pyments and melomels just got easier. Just make your mead and backsweeten with properly pasturized or frozen fruits or grapes.

Concord Grape Recipe:

6 gallon carboy

1 gallon Oakiehoma wildflower honey
1 6 oz can of frozen lemonaid juice or 3 juice lemons
1/4 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite or 4 campden tablets
1 packet 5g Pasteur Champagne yeast or Montrachet or Lavlin 1116
3.5 gallon filtered water 70F/21C - 80F/26C
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient/energizer, (yeast hull/DAP diammonium phosphate)
1 teaspoon acid blend

Prepare yeast starter in 1 litre or 1 quart of water and lemonaid or lemon juice.

Pasturize honey and water by heating to 140F/60C for 5 minutes or 170F/77C for 3 minutes.

Mix all these ingredients EXCEPT YEAST starter, let stand 24 hours, then add yeast starter to 70F/21C must, stir vigorously.

Stir lightly twice daily, after 4 weeks or when fermentation finishes rack into a new sterile carboy and add 1 gallon crushed concord grapes. It should start fermenting again, if not add more yeast; rehydrate yeast for 2 hours, then pitch into must and stir lightly.

After 4 more weeks second fermention, rack into new sterile carboy. Add and stir 1/2 teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite to new carboy before last backsweetening to prohibit additional fermentation. Or 5 campden tablets and stir.

You may add concentrate juices and/or sugar to sweeten to taste. The high gravity/acids make for a pyment that will carry a very sweet taste.

Do not add potassium sobate as it will give concord an off flavor.

I just added 10 gallon crushed concord grapes to 30 gallon of mead. Additions of (3 to 1 water to juice concentrate) concord concentrate will be used to further sweeten after crushed concord grapes second fermention.

It will be a tawny/sweet (port style) pyment you will enjoy serving.

ARISTAEUS

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This used to be the grape of preference while growing up in the 1960's around these parts. To this day I hunt the Finger Lakes Region of New York during the fall time and it is a ritual to stop and pickup a basket for the return trip. The problem is I eat more than I should as the distance is a good hour and a half to home! The little devil's are addicting. The region is also famous for their grape pies, not bad with a bit of Vanilla ice cream to go with :) I think this fall I may give this one a try.

Tannin Boy