FuggleHops

Recipes 

If I wanted to make a melomel with berries (I'm currently thinking about raspberries, but this question would also apply to any other kind of berry), would the final product differ significantly with each of the following methods?

1. Putting the berries in whole.
2. Replacing some of the water with berry juice (strained, no pulp)
3. Replacing some of the water with pulpy berry juice (as it would be out of a blender)

I have never brewed mead before, but I was doing some research and what really interests me is how many different techniques exist for every step of the mead making process. I read a bit about Polish meads, and learned that Poles make fruit meads by replacing at least 30% of the water in the must with fruit juice. Many of the melomel recipes that I have come across online call for the addition of a few pounds of whole fruit in either the primary or secondary fermentation. So I'm left to wonder about the pros and cons of each method.

DaleP

Recipes 

If you add the fruit to primary, you will get a more wine like flavor from the fruit. Adding to secondary will produce more fresh fruit flavor. You can substitute fruit juice for water, in whole or in part (make a cranberry mead that way, all cranberry juice plus cranberry blossom honey, cyser and pyments are made this way) to make your mead. For most berries, I prefer adding later, in smaller increments (like 5 pounds to a five gallon batch), racking off each addition when the mead has taken all the goodness out, tasting, and if needed, add more fruit, till I get the honey/fruit balance I want.