Blackberry Melomel

[Frige]

I am new to mead as this is my 3rd batch, the first 2 being jaom. Basically a 5 gal recipe. 15 lbs of clover honey, 6 lbs of 3 berry mix, and 1118 yeast. I stirred it once a day for a week and added nutrient each time. After 2 weeks I strained off the floating berries and added 3 more lbs of blackberries. The fg has settled around 1.00 So is it time to rack it to a secondary and get rid of all the berries?

 

[Frige]

Ah so everyone is tired of melomel threads huh? LOL No problem I went ahead and racked it to a secondary Im sure it will be fine.

 

[Arpolis]

lol it has been busy today so missed this thread untill now. What you did is fine and not bad at all. I seem to take the lazy approach to meads and I dont even go for first racking untill I get close to the 2nd month mark. Just let this clear over the next 30 - 60 days and give it a taste. If you should have left the berries in longer then you will notice it then. If needed then add another 3lb of berries, wait a few weeks and taste again. If you like the flavor then rack off any sediment and just keep bulk aging for as long as you can stand it.

Oh and everyone bring on all the melomel threads as you can. My most recent batches are 3 melomels, one Metheglin and a white grape peach wine. I am starting to enjoy the melomels more and more as time goes.

 

[Frige]

I killed off the yeast last week and added 4 lbs more blackberries and back sweetened. Yesterday I bottled and put it in the closet. Taste pretty good, still has a harsh taste but overall is mighty tasty. Hopefully it will mellow out over time.

 

[Kdog22]

I think 2 weeks is a good time frame to rack off the berries. You're probably not going to get anymore berry flavor leaving them in any longer. Plus you were probably about due to rack into your secondary anyways.

 

[epyonxero]

I just started a blackberry melomel last night. I did 1/4 of the fruit in primary and plan to add the rest in secondary. One thing Im not sure about is if I should kill the yeast or not before adding the seconday fruit.

 

[Kdog22]

I just started a blackberry melomel last night. I did 1/4 of the fruit in primary and plan to add the rest in secondary. One thing Im not sure about is if I should kill the yeast or not before adding the seconday fruit.

Any particular reason to add majority of the fruit in the secondary? Why not to the primary?

Also, why would you want to stop fermentation before adding more fruit? Are you wanting to backsweeten using fruit?



Don't feel obligated to reply to all those questions. Just curious.

 

[epyonxero]

Any particular reason to add majority of the fruit in the secondary? Why not to the primary?

Also, why would you want to stop fermentation before adding more fruit? Are you wanting to backsweeten using fruit?



Don't feel obligated to reply to all those questions. Just curious.

From what I understand, fruit seems to loose a lot of is character when it goes through primary fermentation and I want to keep its body and flavor. Adding fruit after primary has stopped and yeast is still available would start the fermentation process again and Im not sure thats what I want.

 

[Frige]

Update:
I will make this again for sure, it is really tasting good after being in the bottle for 8 months. Not sweet at all and a big blackberry taste.

 

[Arpolis]

Sounds great. Glad it worked out for ya. Next time think about changing up the yeast to a good red wine/berry yeast like Lalvin RC212 or an all around favorite of mine is lalvin 71b-1112.