ScottD13

Recipes 

A buddy of mine in my brew club brews melomels/cysers and have come to like them. I'm looking to brew one next week but have no experience so please help.

I’ve been reading and researching some recipes and ideas. This is all new to me so don’t hold back.

Raspberry Melomel...or would it be a cyser since it's apple juice? Raspberrie are in season here in NJ and I'm 5 minutes from a pick your own farm.

14lb honey
3gal apple juice
1/2gal juice of fresh black and red raspberries (2:1 ratio of black to red)
1gal water
1pk champagne yeast
1oz Medium Toast French Oak cubes
Yeast nutrient
Pectic enzyme
Potassium metabisulfite (would I need this with juice?)

Now I’ve read about the debate between fruit in the primary vs in the secondary but since I’m using juice only will that make a difference? I woudl imagine that I'll drive off most of the aromatics but I had thought that I could layer the flavor/aroma by adding additional fruit into the secondary.

I would add the oak into the primary because I want most of the aromas to blow off so that I have just a hint of oak in the nose with the majority of it in the taste. I’m also looking for subtle so I’m going with a very small amount.

All thoughts are welcome.

gratus fermentatio

Recipes 

I'd save that oak for secondary, if you want less oak flavour, use less oak, or leave it in for less time IMHO. Just out of curiosity, does oak go well with raspberry? As far as the fruit goes, I like to save it for secondary & use the whole fruit, the reason being that you get more fruit flavour & that flavour is more like the fresh fruit than fermented fruit. I've used fruit in primary, secondary, and both, there are benefits to all three. Also, IMHO, using whole fruit that's been frozen & thawed a couple times is often easier than juicing; and sometimes (depending on the fruit) there are benefits to using it whole due to color or tannin in the skin/rind of the fruit. Nothing wrong with your recipe though, I'm curious to see how it turns out for you. Regards, GF.