Curious about young Raspberry Melomel flavor at racking.

Hey all,

Just racked a raspberry melomel made from the following recipe:

(for 3 gal)
7 pounds honey
3 pounds Oregon Raspberry puree
3 tsp yeast nutrient
Wyeast 4783 - Rudesheimer

O.G. 1.080
S.G. (at racking) 1.002

Brewed: 11/14/09
Racked: 12/05/09

Used the Ken Schramm no heat method from The Compleat Meadmaker (a great book, btw).

This ended up a little drier than I was hoping, which is okay, but the issue I ran into is that when I tasted it, it tasted very much like Robitussin. Now, I know that it is very young, so I'm not worried as I plan on bulk aging it for 3-6 months and then bottle aging for about the same. However, I am curious as to what is causing it. I made a blackberry melomel a year or so ago and don't remember getting the same flavor at racking. Is it something to do with the raspberrys?

Anybody else experience similar flavors at racking?

No it is the alcohols produced from fermentation and will reduce with age.

Thanks for the reply bubba.

I understand that the alcohols have something to do with it, but I've never noticed this type of flavor in any of my beers, or in the Blackberry Melomel that I made. Which is why I'm curious if the raspberrys add to the flavor or if others have experienced it with other types of meads/melomels.

You said it was drier then the blackberry yes? If so the sweetness in your previous mead could have hid some of the harsher notes of a young mead.

I have had this in nearly every mead, and in a choc RIS that was around 9%

No, the blackberry mead was a very dry mead. This one was supposed to be a little sweeter, but finished out drier than I expected it too.

Did you taste that Oregon Puree before adding it? I am not a big fan of their purees. I have used the blackberry and raspberry purees from them with not very good results. They are very bitter, and very "dry" to the taste with out alot of flavor. I prefer frozen or fresh fruit now over those puree's...good luck with it and keep us posted. You could always sweeten with some 100% raspberry juice or something simliar. I won't use those puree's again unless I am making a flavored beer. I made a blueberry mead and it has been in the keg now for over a year, and it still tastes like cough syrup. The remaining keg is going to get dumped for a new mead I am starting.

Dan

Give it time. I just today bottled a gallon of pear nectar wine that I started in June. Last summer you could taste it with your eyes closed and swear it was Nyquil. Now it's quite nice and on its way to being even nicer.

danielwhitted said:

but the issue I ran into is that when I tasted it, it tasted very much like Robitussin.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how mine tasted ~3 months after I made it. Now, it's been bottled 10 months and it's starting to taste awesome!

I really need to stash a sixer away to make sure I have some another year from now!

there's a lot of acid in the raspberries...that give them that tartness we love.

give it time, it'll mellow a lot after a year.

Question on this type of recipe. I have seen some profess a preference to adding a second (or in some cases all) batch of fruit when transferring to secondary or right before bottling as a way to establish more of the fruit flavor on top of the base mead.

Do I have the reasoning for doing so stated correctly?

I have a batch of fruit puree and a vintner's 96oz can of whole berries and will probably be adding one at primary and the other at some time later (can you tell I have no idea where I am going with this thing?)...

Any suggestion?

Raspberries are great when eaten, but when used in brewing, you have to be a little careful, because they can be quite over powering. And you end up having to back sweeten a fair amount to get over the acidic bite that they can cause.

I'd say just continue handling it "as is" to the point where you've got it ready for ageing. Age it 6 months and then taste to see how the flavours are abating/mellowing. Then you'll be at the stage whether you want to back sweeten or not.

If so, then it's sulphite/sorbate time, before back sweetening (personally I'd probably be using honey for that, but it's up to you what you consider best...)