At a glance
- Style
- Melomel
- Alcohol
- About 13.4% ABV
- Finish
- Semi-sweet
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Honey
- Orange blossom or clover
- Yeast
- Lalvin K1-V1116
- Ready in
- 4 to 6 months
- Batch
- 1 gallon, scalable
Ingredients
Quantities are for one US gallon (3.8 liters). Pick a batch size and every amount updates; one packet of yeast covers up to six gallons. Not sure how much honey your own twist needs? Use the mead calculator.
- 2.5 lb Honey, orange blossom or clover
- 4 lb Ripe peaches, pitted and sliced (fresh or frozen, unsweetened) (pitted weight; added in secondary)
- 0.75 gallons Spring water (to make 1 gallon of must with the honey)
- 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 wine yeast (5 g; one packet covers up to 6 gallons)
- 6 g Go-Ferm (yeast rehydration nutrient) (optional but recommended)
- 5 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 4 doses, see steps)
- 1 tsp Pectic enzyme (double the usual dose, half with the fruit, half after)
- 0.5 tsp Acid blend (to taste before bottling)
- 0.5 tsp Potassium sorbate
- 1 Campden tablet (potassium metabisulfite)
Swapping the fruit or changing the amount? Adding fruit to mead covers how much to use per gallon, when to add it and how long to leave it. The dose and timing of the enzyme are explained in how much pectic enzyme per gallon of mead. This recipe ferments dry and is sweetened at the end: how to backsweeten mead has the stabilizing doses and a honey chart for any batch size.
Equipment
- 2-gallon bucket with lid
- 1-gallon glass jug
- Airlock and drilled bung
- Hydrometer
- Fine nylon straining bag
- Auto-siphon and tubing
- No-rinse sanitizer (Star San)
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
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Mix and pitch
Dissolve the honey in half the water, top up to 1 gallon (about 1.088) and pitch the K1-V1116 rehydrated with Go-Ferm. Keep it at 59 to 65°F (15 to 18°C); this yeast holds on to fresh fruity esters best when it is kept cool.
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Feed the yeast
Add a quarter of the Fermaid O at 24, 48 and 72 hours and at the 1/3 sugar break (about 1.059) or on day 7.
-
Choose and prep the peaches
Use ripe yellow freestone peaches that smell like peach from across the room; hard supermarket peaches give little. Wash, halve, pit and slice them, leaving the skins on for color and flavor, and freeze for at least 24 hours. Unsweetened frozen sliced peaches work well.
-
Enzyme before alcohol
About 8 hours before racking, thaw the peaches in the straining bag inside a sanitized, covered bucket and sprinkle 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme over them. Pectic enzyme works faster before it meets alcohol, and peach is one of the most pectin-heavy fruits you can put in mead.
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Rack onto the peaches
When the gravity is below 1.005 (2 to 4 weeks), rack the mead onto the peaches. Push the bag under daily for 7 days; the slices will go soft and brown, which is normal.
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Drain without squeezing
Lift the bag and let it hang over the bucket for up to an hour. Do not squeeze: peach pulp forced through the bag becomes haze that never quite settles.
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Second enzyme dose and clearing
Rack into the glass jug with the remaining 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme and top up. Give it 6 to 8 weeks; peach is one of the slowest fruit meads to clear. If it is still hazy after that, use a fining agent such as Sparkolloid.
-
Acid, stabilize, sweeten
Add the crushed Campden tablet and sorbate and wait 48 hours. Taste, then add acid blend 1/4 tsp at a time until it tastes lively rather than soft. Sweeten last: about 8 oz of honey takes it from 0.996 to 1.012.
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Bottle
Bottle and give it at least 2 months. Peach mead is lovely young and at its best in the first year or two, while the aroma is fresh.
Timeline
- Day 0Mix, pitch yeast
- Days 1 to 7Nutrient additions; freeze peaches
- Weeks 2 to 4Enzyme on thawed fruit, rack onto peaches
- Week 5Drain fruit, second enzyme dose
- Weeks 11 to 13Acid, stabilize, sweeten, bottle
- Month 5 and onDrink; best within about 2 years
Why this recipe works
Peaches go in secondary because their aroma is the whole point and primary strips it. They are about 8% sugar, so 4 lb (pitted weight) adds roughly 15 gravity points, taking 2.5 lb of honey from 1.088 to about 1.102. Under 3 lb per gallon the peach tends to disappear behind the honey.
Pectin is the peach problem. Peach flesh is rich in it, and pectin haze does not settle with time the way yeast does. Hence the double dose, the first half added to the fruit before it meets any alcohol, and the rule about never squeezing the bag.
Peaches are low in acid, and so is honey, so a peach mead left alone tends to taste soft and sweet-shop. The acid goes in at the end, by taste, because you cannot judge it until fermentation is over and the pectin haze has dropped.
K1-V1116 is known for preserving fresh fruit aromas when fermented cool, and it is a strong, reliable finisher that does not soften malic acid, and peaches have none to spare. It also copes well with the renewed fermentation when 15 points of fruit sugar arrive in secondary.
Variations
- Peach ginger: add 0.5 oz of thinly sliced fresh ginger for the last 3 to 5 days on fruit (see our ginger mead recipe).
- Bourbon peach: add 0.5 oz of medium-toast oak cubes soaked in bourbon during clearing for 2 to 3 weeks.
- Apricot: use the same weight of apricots. They are more acidic than peaches, so you may not need the acid blend.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| It will not clear after 2 months | Pectin haze. Add another 1/4 tsp pectic enzyme at room temperature, wait two weeks, then fine with Sparkolloid. |
| The peach flavor faded | Usually underripe fruit or too little of it. You can rack onto another 2 lb of ripe peaches for a week before stabilizing. |
| It turned orange-brown | Peach browns quickly when exposed to air. Keep headspace small and add the Campden tablet on schedule. |
More mead recipes to try
- Mango mead (and pineapple mead) recipe: Ripe mango in secondary with lime for lift, plus a pineapple swap.
- Ginger mead recipe: Fresh ginger twice, lemon for lift and a crisp, dry finish. Excellent sparkling.
- Strawberry mead recipe: Fruit in secondary, a gentle yeast and a semi-sweet finish that keeps the fresh-berry nose.
More fruit mead recipes: Raspberry mead, Blueberry mead, Blackberry mead, Cherry mead, Cyser (apple mead), Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM), Pyment (grape mead), Elderberry mead, Banana mead, Pomegranate mead, Pumpkin mead, Cranberry mead, Apple pie mead.
Or browse all our mead recipes. If this is your first batch, start with the traditional mead recipe or the step-by-step guide to making honey wine.
Frequently asked questions
How many peaches do I need per gallon of mead?
About 3 to 5 lb of pitted fruit per gallon, which is roughly a dozen medium peaches for the 4 lb in this recipe.
Should I peel peaches for mead?
No need. The skins add color and a lot of the peach flavor. Peel them only if you want a paler, more delicate mead.
Can I use canned peaches for peach honey wine?
Yes, if they are packed in juice or water with no preservatives. Canned peaches are cooked, so the mead will taste more like canned or baked peach than fresh.
Do peaches go in primary or secondary?
Secondary. Peach aroma is delicate and most of it would be lost in the active primary fermentation.
How long does peach mead take?
About 3 months to bottle, because it clears slowly, and 4 to 6 months to drink.
What is the ABV of peach mead?
This recipe is about 13.4% ABV.