Recipe Design Input for a Golden Raspberry mead.

OK, so never one to give up without a fight, ( after my simple mead which turned out to smell like smoked ham as some of you might have read about), I am ready to get back to it and start a new batch.

I have roughly four pounds of golden raspberries and wineberries from my back yard that I froze fresh and ripe back in the summer that I'd love to use.

For those unfamiliar, golden raspberries are quite a different beast than the standard red variety, they have a taste that reminds me of the raspberry flavor in italian water ice I used to have as a kid. They aren't sickeningly sweet, and they have a very distinct unique flavor. The wineberries are somewhere between a wild raspberry and a strawberry I'd say. I think the combination of the two could make for a very beatiful, complex drink.... with the right amount and variety of honey, timely nutrient additions and of course time.

I have some ideas but I'd rather hear from others first to see if my thinking on the matter lines up with anyone else.

I'll say this much though...



I'd like to make a small batch, 1 gallon preferably, and have it somewhere in between semi-sweet to semi-dry with an equal emphasis on the honey as to the berries.


Thoughts?

Bueller?

Bump because I'm interested.

Haha, ham mead. That cracked me up (no offense). Anyways, so, as for the fruit flavour, you basically have three choices, A: Make traditional mead, than rack onto fruit in secondary, to taste. (more fresh fruit taste) B: Primary fermentation with fruit. (More wine type of taste) C: Combination of sorts. I would say that if your looking for a complex flavour, a combination of fruit in primary and secondary racking sounds right down your alley. But I really have no idea the flavour of these fruits so I can't properly judge in that aspect.

Thanks Bugeaud. No offense taken btw, I mean, come on... I'd be failing pretty hard as a human if I was incapable of seeing the humor in that whole debacle.

I think I'm just going to go with racking onto the fruit in secondary.

I've never made a raspberry mead before, but my guess is the have a tendency to be on the tart side of things. Bearing that in mind I'm leaning towards using a fairly neutral honey, ( wildflower, or clover), to let the fruit flavors take the lead and the honey be the backbone.

Any thoughts on how long to wait before racking onto the fruit? Better to do it soon after primary or to let the mead sit and mellow before putting it on the fruit? I'm also assuming 2-3 months on the fruit would be a good mark.