raspberry honey mead

Raspberry Mead
one gallon batch

3 lbs raspberry honey
1.5 lbs frozen raspberries
vanilla bean
wyeast mead sweet or red star champagne or lalvin d-47

what do you guys think about those quantities?
also if you have any experience with raspberry mead, what other ingredients have tasted good with yours?

be careful with the frozen raspberries. taste some before you put it in the mead. we used frozen raspberries for a rasp. wheat and it was very very sour. didnt check to see what thwe berries tasted like.

do not use the raspberries or the vanilla bean until the secondary. you may want to use 2# of raspberries i only used 1# in a mead and the only thing that came threw was the color

sweet i think ill go with two pounds but i might add one pound initially and then rerack onto the vanilla and the other pound of raspberry. oh and i meant i will get some fresh raspberries and freeze them..or will that be unnecessary?

I've found that fresh berries are almost always better than store bought frozen berries. As soon as you get them home wash them then freeze them. The freezing process helps break down the berries releasing the sugars and juices. I also like to use some fruit in primary and some in secondary. Champagne yeast with this will dry it out, possibly leaving this very tart and dry. The Honey spreadsheet by Hightest, found in the Sticky (^) can help you pick the right yeast/honey ratio to leave your mead with the right balance of sweet-tart for your liking.

I've made great melomels with frozen raspberries.

I would thaw, smash them, add to secondary and rack on top of them when fermentation is slowing.