Long time brewer...first time mead!

[Behemoth]

Ok, I have been given the go ahead for a 5 gal batch of Fruit mead (Melomel) for my Bro's wedding day......in March of '15..
So we are looking at 6 months at best to create something drinkable to share with the wedding party as a remembrance gift from the Bride and Groom, the happy couple will rec a few bottles for their own consumption.

I've looked at many a recipe and decided on a Melomel like Curt Stock's 2005 winning Mead. Problem is that will be around $200 for ingredients if I follow his recipe by the letter (but it does sound damn good) Not me!

I have 5 pounds of store bought clover and sourced some local wildflower for around 4.75 a pound (thinking of buying a gal more) I know I want to use cherries and blueberries, my question is should I add the fruit to the primary or secondary or both.
Obviously I'm concerned with a good palatable sweetness so that takes center stage during our day of celebration and days thereafter.

If I'm over thinking this feel free slap me back into reality and lead me to the promised land!

 

[WVMJ]

I like to add most of it to the primary and then some in the secondary, add like 5 or 10 pounds of strawberries whole or sliced, NOT crushed, at the very end of the primary for a day or 2 for greatly improved nose. Dont forget the pectinase. You will have to push this a little, degass as soon as the ferment is done, allow the clear awhile and be prepared to fine it with something like sparkaloid. Dont make the gravity very high, stay below 1.100. A little bit of oak goes very well with this. Better get started. WVMJ

 

[Behemoth]

I like to add most of it to the primary and then some in the secondary, add like 5 or 10 pounds of strawberries whole or sliced, NOT crushed, at the very end of the primary for a day or 2 for greatly improved nose. Dont forget the pectinase. You will have to push this a little, degass as soon as the ferment is done, allow the clear awhile and be prepared to fine it with something like sparkaloid. Dont make the gravity very high, stay below 1.100. A little bit of oak goes very well with this. Better get started. WVMJ

thanks for the reply WV....so do you recommend strawberries over blueberry and cherry?

 

[WVMJ]

Not the point, adding some strawberries to any berry mead or wine can give it a very nice fruity nose on top of the blueberries and cherries. A strawberry made without adding water is also very good on its own as a mead. WVMJ

 

[bernardsmith]

Behemoth, You say that you are looking for a sweet mead. What kind of gravity are you considering starting with? What kind of yeast are you considering using? I ask this because there is no good reason that mead will finish "sweet". Honey is not grain and all the sugars in honey (for all intents and purposes) are highly fermentable. Unless you are planning on using a very low alcohol tolerant yeast or a very high starting specific gravity (ie a large amount of honey per gallon) your mead will likely finish drier than you might imagine (honey is sweet, but mead does not necessarily have any residual sugar - although to my palate a mead at 1.000 tastes sweet enough). Obviously, you can stabilize and back sweeten but if you have never made mead before (or wine) then you may be surprised how dry those liquors can be. Unlike grains honey has no residual sweetness because it contains no unfermentable sugars.
On a separate note, you might want to aim for about 12.5 - 15 lbs of honey to give you a potential of about 12 percent ABV, although certainly, the fruit is going to provide additional (fermentable) sugars.