Need help choosing fruit in mead

[Kittyfeet]

I'm trying to clean out my freezer from last year's fruit picking frenzy. It was my intention to start a blackberry blueberry mead, but I just took an inventory of my freezer fruit, and I also have strawberries and raspberries, in addition to the other two fruits. Pretty sure I have at least 8 lbs of each type.

I'd like a fruit combination, but I don't know what combo would be the best.

Here is my recipe:
6 lbs honey
water to 2.5 gal
Yeast nutrient and energizer
bentonite in primary (aids in clearing)

This will give me about 9.3% before fruit, which is fine.

After vigorous fermentation slows down (maybe around SG 1.030? will have to track), I would add the fruit. Hoping the late addition of the fruit will keep some of the bouquet from escaping out in co2 bubbles.

The sugar in the fruit would boost the % a little, and the juice from the fruit should get me to 3 gallons total.

So, what combination of fruit should I use? How many pounds of each? Any tweaks to make the recipe better?
Your choices: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries

 

[Bush_84]

Raspberries FTW!!! Currently making my first raspberry melomel so I can't speak from experience as to how much.

 

[biochemedic]

I guess it'd be hard to go wrong with any of them...I've heard that if you use blueberries by themselves, you need a fair bit of them to get a good flavor. Perhaps you could just make a mixed berry melomel, and add say, a half pound of each?

 

[JettGeek]

I just picked up some prickly pear cactus fruits last night for mead based on a recipe in Charlie Papazians "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing".

He raves about it as the best he's ever had, not sure if it has to do with the fruit or other parts of the recipe.

 

[jguy898]

Here is my recipe:
6 gal honey
water to 2.5 gal
Yeast nutrient and energizer
bentonite in primary (aids in clearing)

Do you mean, 6 lbs. honey? 6 gallons would gag a horse

Well, since you're asking for ideas, here goes... (this is for 3 gallons of Mead Total)
I'd do 1/2 lb. Blueberries (for bouquet and color), then 1 & 1/2 lbs. Raspberries (For the best flavor possible) and then 1/2 lb. strawberries to lighten the whole thing up just a tad, and Lalvin 71B-1122 with a staggered nutrient addition. I'd also throw the Blueberries in the primary, and Rack onto the raspberries and strawberries in secondary for about 3 weeks.

I'd be smashed for months on that stuff.

 

[Kittyfeet]

Do you mean, 6 lbs. honey? 6 gallons would gag a horse

Oops! Edited. Yes, 6 lbs, not 6 gallons.

Interesting flavor combo. I like it. 3 1/2 lbs total fruit for a 3 gallon recipe, though? Isn't 3 - 4 lbs per gallon the norm?

 

[jguy898]

Oops! Edited. Yes, 6 lbs, not 6 gallons.

Interesting flavor combo. I like it. 3 1/2 lbs total fruit for a 3 gallon recipe, though? Isn't 3 - 4 lbs per gallon the norm?

I think more like 1.5 - 2.5lbs is the norm, but many people have gone as high as 5 lbs per gallon. When I try a straight red raspberry melomel I will be racking, secondary, onto 2 lbs crushed raspberries per gallon, and leave it on for maybe two to three weeks. Maybe a month.

Jonas

 

[GinKings]

Oops! Edited. Yes, 6 lbs, not 6 gallons.

Interesting flavor combo. I like it. 3 1/2 lbs total fruit for a 3 gallon recipe, though? Isn't 3 - 4 lbs per gallon the norm?

One more oops. Should be 2 1/2 lbs total, not 3 1/2.

IMO that's not nearly enough fruit. I also wonder if 1/2 lb of strawberries would even be noticeable with triple that amount of raspberries.

 

[Kittyfeet]

One more oops. Should be 2 1/2 lbs total, not 3 1/2.

Thanks for catching that. I used to be good at math. Really.

Gin, how much fruit do you suggest?

 

[jguy898]

One more oops. Should be 2 1/2 lbs total, not 3 1/2.

IMO that's not nearly enough fruit. I also wonder if 1/2 lb of strawberries would even be noticeable with triple that amount of raspberries.

One More oops, on my part. My suggested fruit amounts are supposed to be per gallon, not three. I forgot that I had written "for 3 gallons total". So that's 2 1/2 lbs per gallon. Also, I wrote that the strawberries were simply to lighten things up, not to add noticable flavor. They will add slight undertones, but they are there mainly to lighten the flavor without needing to dilute the mead with more water or honey. They will also help to lighten the color, making it a more appealing mid-summer drink, 'on-the-rocks' that is.

 

[MedsenFey]

When you add the fruit, the juice (which will probably have a gravity of around 1.035-1.040) you will actually lower your ABV. If you want to end up around 9%, you should probably start with a gravity of around 1.080 (something around 7 pounds of honey in 3 gallons), and when the effect of the fruit is factored in, you'll end up somewhere around 9-10% ABV.

Strawberries are going to be buried under the raspberry and other fruit, and you might want to save them for something else.

If you use 12-16 pounds of fruit you should get something really rich in aroma and flavor. I tend to think raspberry gives too much tutti-fruitti character in blends, but using 6 pounds of blackberry, 6 pounds of blueberry, and 2 pounds or raspberry would probably work for me. This is a highly personal choice however, and you may be more partial to raspberry than I am.

If you used 8 pounds of strawberry and a couple of pounds each of the black and blueberry, you'll get a much more strawberry mel with rich color.

As long as you use at least 3-4 pounds per gallon, you should get something tasty.