Homebrew / Moonshine - Sink vodka appreciation

[Squanto Airi]

How large a batch are you making? 2-3 lb honey to 1 gal water will push the limits of most yeast varieties and will probably end up medium dry to sweet on its own. Adding a substantial quantity of peaches will make it very sweet and probably even syrupy. You are probably better off deciding batch size and target ABV first, then cutting up your peaches, simmering them, and taking a specific gravity reading before adding honey to reach your target gravity. Don't forget pectic enzyme to prevent pectin haze, and yeast nutrient and tannin, both of which are lacking in peaches.

I haven't started it yet, but yeah it'd be a gallon. Looking for about a 10-12% abv. I'll take your advice, though a thought just popped in and had another question: If I were to make it more of a spiced peach flavor (so like a peach pie/peach cobbler filling), should I add those spices towards the end?

 

[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]

speaking of peaches, how much of a difference in flavor does cooking them before fermentation have from just freezing them? Is either form superior flavor wise or is it more of a personal preference?

As a disclaimer, I haven't made mead with peaches so I can't speak from personal experience here. Ken Schramm discusses this a bit in The Compleat Meadmaker, and he mentions that freezing can change the aroma and flavor of peaches somewhat. He says that blanching can make them easier to peal but doesn't say much about cooking beyond that.

He discusses a couple of ways of adding fruit, mentioning a method in which you boil water, mix in your honey, and then pour that over the fruit. You cover that with foil, let it come down to 150 degrees or so, and then chill to your pitching temperature. His preferred method for adding fruit is to add fresh fruit to a secondary vessel once signs of fermentation have significantly slowed or stopped. He claims that this reduces the need for sanitation due to the high alcohol percentage and preserves the fruit's character better. My understanding then is that cooking the fruit before fermentation generally reduces the flavor and aroma compared to adding the raw fruit during secondary, but I can't speak to exactly how much of a difference this makes for peaches.