Curt & Kathy's Strawberry-Banana Melomel Instructions

Size – 5 gallons

Included Ingredients:

• 15 pounds of honey
• 2 cans of Vintners' Harvest Strawberry Wine Base
• 4 sachets of Curt & Kathy's Nutrient Blend
• 1 vial of Go-Ferm rehydration nutrient(12g), packed in a sterile 30 ml vial.
• 2 packets of yeast: Lalvin 71B-1122 “Narbonne”
• 1 sachet of pectic enzyme
• Corn sugar for priming

Ingredients you supply:

• 2.25 gallons of clean chlorine-free water (Bottled Spring Water works well)
• 5 ripe bananas

Procedure:

1. Carefully sanitize all equipment that will come in contact with the mead must.
2. Fill a sink or cooler with hot tap water and soak honey containers to make the honey easier to pour.
3. Open the two cans of Vintners' Harvest Strawberry Wine Base and pour them into the fermenter. To get the strawberries through a funnel, it can help to force them through with a sanitized racking cane.
4. Add 1.5 gallons of room temperature water to the fermenter.
5. Add the contents of one sachet of Curt & Kathy's Nutrient Blend to the water and stir before honey is added.
6. Boil 0.75 gallons of remaining water.
7. While water is coming to a boil add honey to the fermenter containing the strawberries and water.
8. Take the boiled water and carefully pour a small amount into each empty honey container.
9. Replace covers and shake to dissolve remaining honey. Be careful, pressure will build in containers.
10. Pour the warm water and dissolved honey into the fermenter.
11. Stir until all honey is dissolved and well mixed. This may take 5 to 15 minutes, possibly longer.
12. Place 1/2 cup of warm water (105-110 degrees F) into a sanitized measuring cup. Add the Go-Ferm vial and stir to mix well. Add both packs of yeast and stir slightly.
13. After 15 minutes (yeast should begin to foam), stir well to mix the yeast into a slurry. Pour the yeast slurry into the fermenter.
14. Insert sanitized airlock and locate carboy in an area that is 65 to 70 degF.
15. Fermentation should start within 24 hours.

Primary Fermentation

Add nutirent vials following the schedule below. Remember to carefully sanitze all equipment used to stir the mead for each nutrient addition.

• Add one sachet of Curt & Kathy's Nutrient Blend 24 hours after yeast pitch and stir
• Add one sachet of Curt & Kathy's Nutrient Blend 48 hours after yeast pitch and stir
• Add one sachet of Curt & Kathy's Nutrient Blend 72 hours after yeast pitch and stir

Secondary Fermentation

• Rack the mead into the 5 gallon carboy leaving as much fruit as possible behind.
• Clean the bananas well and dip into sanitizer.
• Carfully peel bananas and force through the carboy opening.
• Clean the opening well and insert a sanitized airlock.
• Let stand for 2 to 3 weeks.
• Rack into a clean sanitized carboy and add pectic enzyme.
• Once the mead is clear and no fermentation activity exists it is time to bottle.

When fermentation stops and the specific gravity as measured by a hydrometer is stable, carefully siphon the mead into a santized secondary fermenter. Leave as much sediment as possible in the primary fermenter. Let the mead clarify in the secondary fermenter for three months. You may wish to add a fining agent such as isinglass to facilitate clearing.

Bottling

Sanitize siphoning and bottling equipment and bottles. Carefully siphon the mead to a bottling bucket.

Add priming solution to the mead in the bottling bucket before filling the bottles. To make a priming solution, bring 1 pint of water to a boil for 10 minues. Add ¾ cup of priming sugar to this boiled water and stir to dissolve. Allow the mixture to cool for 30 minutes. Gently stir the solution into the mead in the bottling bucket.