Blackberry Mead (Melomel) - Page 4

WarrantedFED · 09-03-2011, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrantedFED

I just made a batch of this using a half flat (about 3-4 lbs) of great big black berries and about 4.5 lbs of huckleberries. All were mashed up pretty well and added to the boil for about 5 minutes.

I followed another recipe for mead that calls for 1 tsp of citric acid and 1 tsp of pectic enzyme. I figured the former would be okay to add and the latter would only help the yeast.

I plan on leaving the brew in the primary for about a month then transferring to a secondary onto an additional half flat of pasteurized and mashed black berries.

I also want it to be extra spritzy so I will be adding a little more than a cup of honey for priming when I decide to bottle.

Overkill? I don't know, but it should be quite good.

How long is too long for the brew to sit on the fruit in primary and secondary?

Thanks all,

-Will

I just transferred the huckleberry / blackberry mead to the secondary.

I was able to get my hands on a few more pounds of huckleberries. After letting them hit 160 degrees for a few minutes and mashing them, I then carefully poured into the carboy and racked the mead on top of it.

I'll probably let it sit for a month in there and then do a tertiary transfer.

WarrantedFED · 02-14-2012, 05:26 AM

This stuff is awesome!!! It didn't carb up at all in the bottles, but no worries, it knocked my socks off!!

MarsColonist · 02-14-2012, 06:20 AM

I finally did a 6 gallon batch with 9# frozen blackberries in a nylon bag, crushed; poured boiling water over them, waited a day, added pectinase, waited another 24 hrs and pulled the bag and squeezed. Added 6# wild blackberry honey (SG 1049). Pitched D254 @ 63-65°F. Finished at 1.000. Stabilized and backsweetened to 1010 with more blackberry honey. 6.5% ABV. Kegged and crashed, then coarse filtered to another keg. Force carbonated to 3 volumes. Delicious in 6 weeks.

YeastieBoys · 02-24-2012, 03:27 PM

I can attest, this is a good mead. I did this recipe, but added an additional 1 lb. of blackberries. I killed the yeast at month 5. I also back-sweetened with 2 lbs of clover-1 lb at fifth month, another lb. at the sixth month. It turned out awesome. It is semi-sweet.

My homebrew buddy knocked down a 12 ounce bottle of it in 5 mins.