Fruits and Mead with Ken Schramm – BeerSmith Podcast #289

by Brad Smith on September 21, 2023 · 0 comments

Ken Schramm joins me this week to discuss which fruits work best in meads.

Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or Spotify or Google Play

Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file.

Topics in This Week’s Episode (51:42)

  • This week I welcome back Ken Schramm from Schramm’s Meadery. Ken literally “wrote the book” on mead making called The Compleat Meadmaker (Amazon affiliate link).  Ken was also a founding member of the Mazer cup and has won numerous national awards including a lifetime achievement award from the American Homebrewers Association.  His meadery arguably makes some of the highest rated meads in the world from fresh fruit, spices and honey.
  • We start with a short discussion of Ken’s progress with the farm where he’s growing varieties of fruits specifically for making meads to find out which varieties work best.
  • We talk about the type of mead that Ken makes – which is basically very high gravity fruit meads (Melomels) with a big flavor impact.
  • Ken introduces his “Noble” fruits which he believes are the top fruits to use in meads including fruits like tart cherries, raspberries, currants and blackberries.
  • We discuss how the acidity and tannins provide the flavor and structure needed for a large gravity mead with a substantial amount of residual sweetness.
  • Ken explains why some acidic fruits like cranberries actually don’t work that well in a fruit mead.
  • He also tells us why many stone fruits and lighter fruits like peaches, blueberries and strawberries don’t hold up well to fermentation.
  • We talk about low acid fruits like pears and apples and how they can work with certain mead styles.
  • Ken talks about the importance of family businesses and how many of the problems he is trying to solve actually could span multiple generations.
  • He finishes with a description of why mead making is a team sport and requires a lot of people working together.

Sponsors


iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast?

Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio

You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

Related Beer Brewing Articles from BeerSmith:

Enjoy this Article? You'll Love Our BeerSmith Software!
  Don't make another bad batch of beer! Give BeerSmith a try - you'll brew your best beer ever.
Download a free 21 day trial of BeerSmith now

{ 0 comments… add one now }

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: