Assistance

Ok, here's the deal. I am operating on severely limited funds (student loans, huzzah!). I have blackberries. I have honey. I have yeast. What I don't have is a recipe. I realize there is a recipe section, but all the ones I found were for 3 gallons +. So. Here's my question for all you meadmasters: can any of you come up with a recipe for a one gallon batch of blackberry mead? I don't have the money to experiment so I was looking to get it right the first time. Also pertinent: i dont have a LHBS, so I will be using raisins and orange for yeast nutrition.

Thanks in advance!

Just a guess as I am just getting into mead myself, but split the ingredients down to the batch size you want to produce. Most cooking is all about ratios, so if you maintain the ratios (reduce everything by half) then you can make smaller batches.

Truthfully, I just need help with the blackberries. I have a couple of batches of JAOM variants under my belt and a mapfelwein aging right now. I didnt really know the best way to use the blackberries. They are frozen right now. Do I put them in primary or secondary? If so, for how long? Would it be worthwhile to make a brewbag or should I just chuck them in?

How much blackberries do you have? I read that you will get better flavor out of putting them in during secondary. I'm doing a strawberry mead right now and I'm putting fruit in during primary and secondary. If you don't have a lot I would recommend just secondary.

Edit: I'm doing a pound of fruit per gallon for mine. As for the time I'm keeping mine till fermentation stops. For the secondary probably 2 weeks to a month. I also just threw the fruit right in cut up.

I used three pounds of cherries mashed up in the primary for a one gallon batch. Color and taste are not a problem.

Joe's Ancient Orange is my suggestion for a way ahead.

Recipe designed for a 1 gallon batch. All ingredients can be obtained from a grocery store (including a 1 gallon plastic can of water, water for the brew and the can as the fermenter). Compared to most meads, it doesn't take long i.e. can be ready or close too, in a couple of months.

It's scalable and repeatable.

Once finished (ferment finished, clear liquid and fruit dropped to bottom) it's reasonably drinkable (IMO it needs to be aged for at least 3 to 6 months, but Joe considers it drinkable so.......)