Blackberry Melomel...not enough water?

My Blackberry Melomel is fermenting away. I used 12 lbs. of honey, 1 can (49 oz.) of Oregon Blackberry Puree, 1 can (96 oz.) of Blackberry Fruit Wine Base, and water to get to 4 gallons total. The OG was 1.122. My question is: is this mixture going to be too thick? I plan to rack to the secondary in the next week or so, and was wondering if I should plan to increase the overall volume to 5 gallons during the racking by adding some water, or just let it go and figure that the alcohol conversion should serve to thin it out some...

Well, you can always add water later if you decide it needs to be thinned out. I doubt that will be the case.

Which yeast did you use?

Used D-47. I had read in Schramm that it was a good yeast for fruit meads.

Okay, you were right, it turned out fine. I just racked last night and the consistency was excellent. I did have to top up with a cup or so of water, but that isn't a big deal. I was, however, very impressed with the D-47 yeast. That yeast took it from 1.122 to 1.000 in a week!

Are you shore you used D47 because 1.122 to 1.000 in a week sounds more like a champagne yeast like EC1118 & 1.122 would be a potential alc. of 17 to 18%ABV with D47's tollerance limit being 14%.
Oh and did u mix the Blackberry Puree in or did u put it in a strainer bag to separate it from the must?

Duff_Man said:

Are you shore you used D47 because 1.122 to 1.000 in a week sounds more like a champagne yeast like EC1118 & 1.122 would be a potential alc. of 17 to 18%ABV with D47's tollerance limit being 14%.
Oh and did u mix the Blackberry Puree in or did u put it in a strainer bag to separate it from the must?

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Positive. Additionally, an OG of 1.122 equates to 16% abv. However, remember that the FG number is never accurate due to the presence of the alcohol lowering the FG. So, the real abv is probably between 14 and 15% which is within the average tolerance specified on the yeast data sheet.

The puree was mixed in with the must, no strainer bag was used.

I added a single oak spiral to this mead about a month ago. It was a medium-toast, French Oak spiral. I plan to bottle this in the coming weeks. After having bulk aged for a year, it should be pretty tasty.

Ace_Club said:

I added a single oak spiral to this mead about a month ago. It was a medium-toast, French Oak spiral. I plan to bottle this in the coming weeks. After having bulk aged for a year, it should be pretty tasty.

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It sounds awesome!

Just bottled this and...it's an oak bomb. I guess 6 months may have been too long for the oak spiral. It's now been tucked away in the basement, and I'll let it age some more to let the oak fade.

Final SG on this was 0.998. The color is a nice purple, and it's crystal clear. It has a great aroma, and once the oak mellows it should be excellent.

Tried another 12 oz. sample bottle. Still pretty oaky, but it's definitely mellowing. It's pretty tasty now and I can see it being great in another year.

I would like to see a photo to compare color with a batch I made this spring. (only in the window to see its deep color )

Next time I crack open a bottle, I'll be sure to post a picture.