Mixed berry mead

[videojunkie1208]

This was a fun one.

Started with 32# of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) from Costco. Added 1 gallon of water and 12 lbs of local honey for a SG of 1.125

D47 (3 Packets), standard TOSNA additions (Fermaid O and Go Ferm). Fermentation took about 10 days to complete (SG 1.00)

Racked from primary. And using a mesh bag pressed as much juice from the berries as possible. Net yield about 4 gallons. Flavor is intense raspberries, full bodied, but too concentrated the fruit needs room to breathe.

Mixed 7 lbs honey with 2 gallons of water (SG 1.120) and added to secondary to top off 6.5 carboy. Slow active fermentation in secondary, didn't monitor for speed as I planned on aging for several months.

Sampled after 2 months of aging. Clarity is very good, color is amazing. The mead is ready for kegging and bottling.

Very mellow raspberries on the nose and front of the palate. Definitely get the Blueberry and Blackberry flavor. Super smooth at first, mild bite on the tail end probably from the blackberries. Should improve with additional bottle aging. ABV is right around 15-16%.

The lingering aftertaste is fresh berries, waiting for a bite of dark chocolate.... I'd garnish it with a mint sprig.

 

[Dan O]

This was a fun one.

Started with 32# of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) from Costco. Added 1 gallon of water and 12 lbs of local honey for a SG of 1.125

Just a quick question. Was that 1 gallon of water supposed to be 4 gallons? 12 pounds of honey for 1 gallon of water , would that even ferment? The recipe sounds great, just wondering if that was a typo.

 

[videojunkie1208]

The fruit provided the rest of the volume. 32 lbs of berries was just shy of the 6 gallon mark in my CF10. Thus my surprise at only netting 4 gallons of mead after fermentation.

 

[Buckhuntr]

Sounds amazing! Think I'll try this after my next good honey harvest (I'm a beek, mead was one of the reasons i got bees 4 years ago ).

 

[videojunkie1208]

Sounds amazing! Think I'll try this after my next good honey harvest (I'm a beek, mead was one of the reasons i got bees 4 years ago ).

The best advice I can give you is to rack this as soon as primary fermentation is complete. I am also not sure if it will work right if you add all 3 gallons of water and 19 lbs of honey at the beginning.

 

[Dan O]

The fruit provided the rest of the volume. 32 lbs of berries was just shy of the 6 gallon mark in my CF10. Thus my surprise at only netting 4 gallons of mead after fermentation.

Thank you for clarifying that for me. I appreciate it.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Finally got around to kegging this. A couple of months of additional aging has helped it come a long ways. The bite at the end is mellowing. Nose is raspberries, nice body, similar to a lighter red wine. Very drinkable. The color continues to impress.