Marjorie Melomel (Plum Mead)
Ingredients:
Method:
Soak plums in a solution of crushed Camden tablet and cold water for an hour to kill off the wild yeasts on their skins. (You should not boil the plums to kill the yeasts as this releases pectin and will make the wine cloudy. If you did boil the plums you would have to add pectolase to kill the pectin.)
Boil the water and add the honey, reducing it to a gentle simmer. Skim scum as necessary and continue to gently simmer for about half an hour.
Halve and stone plums (do not use any damaged fruit).
Cool the honey/water mixture to "off the boil" and then add plums, juice and quartered rind of the Lemon and the cinnamon stick.
Activate yeast and add to must. Add yeast nutrient.
Transfer to a fermenting bin and stand in a warm place for a few days, stirring daily.
After the first vigorous fermentation has calmed down, Strain through a jelly bag (squeeze plums a little but not too much as this will make the wine cloudy) into a demijohn.
Fit fermentation lock and leave in a warm place to ferment.
After a couple of weeks rack into a clean demijohn. Take the specific gravity at this point (or taste test) and if it is getting too dry add some more honey watered down with hot water. Do not add until cooled or you will kill the yeast and don't make too watery or it won't fit into the demijohn.
Continue to rack and monitor until fermentation stops and the wine clears.
As with all Mead - beware a quick finish where you think it has stopped then a second fermentation starts. Mead is notorious for false "stops"!
This makes a light rosé type table wine.
Note: After 9 days a batch of this had used up practically all its sugar and made 15% alc! I added more sugar to sweeten or it would have ended far too dry. It depends on your tastes in the final analysis!