First no-water melomel. Any tips?

[merlyone]

Hi all,

I want to make a no-water melomel. Aiming for that thick, black and juicy body (Sorry for that ). I really like blueberrys so maybe that's the biggest berry ratio in it and then maybe cherrys or other berry. I did taste a cherry-blueberry melomel while ago and it was phenomenal. Some swedish meadery.

So few questions:

1. is it better to use only fruits or fruits and purees? How much each?
2. what should the ratio be between honey and berrys? OG?
Should I just use all the juice from the fruits and then add honey until the OG is correct? Like 1.100?
3. what honey would be the best option?
4. is it better to add the berrys only in secondary and keep it there about 2 weeks or in primary for a month? I've read that if they're in there too long you'll get too much tannins? Is that right?

Batch size should be pretty small, around 5 litres (1,3gallon)

Any other tips, recipes?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Raptor99]

Here are my thoughts on your questions:

1. I prefer to use only fresh or frozen whole fruit. Some people use concentrates or purees. It's up to you.

2. yes, do this:

Should I just use all the juice from the fruits and then add honey until the OG is correct?

Set the target OG based on the desired ABV. I think that for a melomel, 12% ABV provides a good balance. That would require an OG around 1.090

3. Since you will be adding a lot of fruit, any type of honey would be fine. Look for pure honey. Raw honey is better if you can get it.

4. Since in your case the berries will be providing a significant percentage of the sugar for fermentation, I would add them in the beginning. When I make blueberry wine, I don't have a problem with too much tannin when I leave them in for the entire fermentation. In fact, I usually add a small amount of oak in the secondary to supply additional tannins.

I put my berries in a nylon brew bag, so I can remove them when I am ready to do so. For blueberry wine, that is usually about 5-7 days after pitching the yeast. I haven't tried leaving them in for longer than that, because the fermentation is usually mostly finished by then.

 

[merlyone]

Here are my thoughts on your questions:

1. I prefer to use only fresh or frozen whole fruit. Some people use concentrates or purees. It's up to you.

2. yes, do this:

Set the target OG based on the desired ABV. I think that for a melomel, 12% ABV provides a good balance. That would require an OG around 1.090

3. Since you will be adding a lot of fruit, any type of honey would be fine. Look for pure honey. Raw honey is better if you can get it.

4. Since in your case the berries will be providing a significant percentage of the sugar for fermentation, I would add them in the beginning. When I make blueberry wine, I don't have a problem with too much tannin when I leave them in for the entire fermentation. In fact, I usually add a small amount of oak in the secondary to supply additional tannins.

I put my berries in a nylon brew bag, so I can remove them when I am ready to do so. For blueberry wine, that is usually about 5-7 days after pitching the yeast. I haven't tried leaving them in for longer than that, because the fermentation is usually mostly finished by then.

Thanks! That’a a good idea to put the berrys into nylon bag. So maybe first squeeze the juicy out of the and then put the skins and left of it in a bag. Then check gravity, add the honey and ferment it.