help with melomel process.

So, I finally have enough honey and raspberries and about 12lbs of freshly picked blackberries. I want to get this batch started but am unsure how to procede. Do I puree'(sp?) the berries and filter out the seeds and add it straight to the must or just crush them up and put them in a bag in the must or do I add them after the first racking like a recipe on here suggests. Please help me with this.

thanks,

Brant

so I have decided to run the berries thru a strainer to seperate the seed from the pulp and juice and will add them to the primary from the beginning...hope this is ok

my plan is to use all of the blackberries with 9 lbs of honey and 3 lbs of raspberries and red star Pasteur champagne yeast. (for a 5 gal batch of course)

I thought of doing the black berrries in the primary and then add the raspberries in the secondary....good idea-bad idea? I am going for a slighty dry but fruity sparkling mead. Please leave any feedback/ideas/critiques....my first batch of this...up until now I have only made cysyer.

thanks Oskaar,

Brant

Oskaar,

Iam shooting for a semi to dry finish that is why only 9lbs. That amount has served me well with the cyser recipe I use so I thought why mess with a good thing. The yeast...well I should have thought ahead but I did this kind of on a whim when the opportunity presented itself to pick berries I went for it and that was the only yeast that was available right now at my supply store. I am fairly new at this so bare with me...why that particular strain of yeast?

so the final recipe was
2 lbs of raspberries (one lb was freezer burnt so I threw them out...actually I used them to tie dye a tshirt for my daughter...worked quite well)waste not want not
13.5lbs of blackberries
9lbs of honey

I will pitch the yeast thursday. I used camden tablets and had issues in the past with my cysers if I pitched them too soon...I will wait 48hrs just to be sure. I have just had issues trying to get the fermation started if I did it with only a 24hr wait period.

With only 2 lbs of raspberries it may not make a difference but I use raspberries in everything...pathetic I know but I like them

I know I could improve things like maybe pasturizing things instead of camden but since I pick all of my own fruit and am afraid of overheating it and possibly ruining it I go that route.

I would like to do a cyser and just let it ferment naturally but am afraid of the results...its a lot of time to wait to find out your efforts were for naught.

a

So we are coming up on a year (close to it) since I started the blackberry melomel.

It is my first melomel so I have no idea how they look as the process moves along. Initially when I put it into the secondary fermentation took off again and it fermented and bubbled for several days. The these things I called clouds began to form and floa to the top....It looked like the pulp from the fruit but I really cant say it that is what it was or not. After that stuff dropped the mead a a really nice color. I later transfered it again, not knowing what the "clouds" would do to the taste of the mead. It now sits in its 3rd and final carboy and is a beautiful color. It did began to burp and bubble for a few days after the last x-fer and there is a layer of sediment on the bottom again but nowhere near what it was in the secondary.

I tasted it from the secondary back in december and it was still harsh. I steamed some oak chips and added it to the 3rd carboy with the hopes that it will mellow it out....I'm hoping that we can have some really good mead to drink during the holidays this year

Now I still want this to be a sparkling mead...do I have anything to worry about in this aspect?

And I know I may get shot for this thought but has anyone taken something like this and mixed it with a spakrling white wine and then bottled it?

well that's my update on the blackberry....any suggestions are welcome.