How much fruit for 1 gallon batches?

[user 30639]

So I am new to making mead. I kinda did it just for the heck of it since I found 5 gallon jugs of honey for a good price at Costco. I've got 5 gallons of mead in the carboy. My plan is to split it into 5 one gallon batches since I have a bunch of one gallon carboys. And while I like mead, I'd never drink 5 gallons of just straight mead by myself. I'm thinking.

1 gallon plain honey
1 gallon raspberry jalapeno
1 gallon mango habanero
1 gallon coffee and oak
1 gallon...still unsure. I'm open to ideas.

Any suggestions on how much fruit/additives to use and the best way to add them would be much appreciated.

 

[Yooper]

It depends on how strong your mead already is by this point. Normally, for a melomel, I add the fruit in primary when I add the honey. But say you're at 12% already- you only want to add a bit of flavor and not a ton of fermentables so you may use less fruit than I normally would.

I love blackberry melomel, and I'd use about 3 pounds of pureed blackberries per gallon.

 

[user 30639]

It depends on how strong your mead already is by this point. Normally, for a melomel, I add the fruit in primary when I add the honey. But say you're at 12% already- you only want to add a bit of flavor and not a ton of fermentables so you may use less fruit than I normally would.

I love blackberry melomel, and I'd use about 3 pounds of pureed blackberries per gallon.

I don't have my notes handy but I should be around 12%. I checked the gravity last week and was at 1.002.

 

[dmtaylor]

2-3 pounds per gallon is a pretty good guideline.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Just flavoring, 2-3 lbs seems to be the norm, but if you wanted it to make it a fruit wine, upwards of 6lbs per gallon.

 

[user 30639]

Just flavoring, 2-3 lbs seems to be the norm, but if you wanted it to make it a fruit wine, upwards of 6lbs per gallon.

I'm just doing it for flavor. Thanks for the info, everyone!