New melomel - would this recipe be too "busy"?

[BearBait]

I'm new to the forum, but have gotten helpful advice reading through here in the past.

I've made a few melomels over the years, but usually stick to a simple recipe with only one or two types of fruit. This year, I wanted to try something with a few more layers. I started a 6.5 gallon batch with the following:

18 lbs wildflower honey
8 lbs granny smith apples, sliced, sprinkled with lemon juice, and baked (I wanted to play with ways to get the flavor out)
4 lbs bartlett pears, peeled, sliced
10oz ginger root, peeled, chopped
2 packets 71b yeast

Nine days in and the must is kicking. I swirl the carboy a few times of day to break the cap. It smells amazing. I almost don't want to touch it, but I'll have several pounds of fresh huckleberries (and possibly thimbleberries and wild strawberries) in a little over a month. Just in time to rack them into the secondary! I plan to simmer them a bit in some water to break them down and kill the wild junk. I'll be adding 2 lbs per gallon of mead, with maybe a bit more water if the primary is booze heavy. I'll probably cold crash before the remaining yeast eats up all the berry sugar. I'm also thinking of (lightly) adding:

Cinnamon sticks
Cloves
Cardamom
Wild mint (fresh)
Lavender (possibly overdoing it at this point)

I want something with a crisp, tart foundation and a nice warm punch of wild berries and spice. However, I'm fully aware that nobody wants to drink the kitchen sink. Has anybody had success mixing and matching a bunch of different fruits? Any tips would also be appreciated!

 

[S-Met]

I would use your base recipe and add either the berries or the cinnamon/cloves/cardamom or lavender. Mint could go with berries or lavender.

I don't think the warm spices pair well with the berries or lavender. Peppermint may stand up to the spices, but more subtle mint may not.

 

[madscientist451]

I don't think you're going to have much pear or apple flavor so the added berries will have to compliment the ginger.
For the spices, I'd wait until the the secondary fermentation was done and see what it tastes like.
You could then make tinctures with vodka and do some blending trials.
Or you could wing it and toss everything in and risk having 6.5 gallons of something you don't like.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hiya BearBait and welcome - I know that this is not the method that most folk on this forum use but rather than "wing" recipes that may or may not hold together it always strikes me as more practical to make micro batches of different ingredients and then bench test the blends to see whether the flavors complement or fight one another or whether they disappear or swamp the entire batch. Making five or six gallons of an unknown outcome is to my way of thinking incredibly risky. Spending a few weeks/months making five or six individual gallons of flavors you like and then determining the best ratios of each is virtually risk free and at worst leaves you with three or four gallons of very drinkable but different meads even if the blends are all zeros.

 

[BearBait]

I don't think the warm spices pair well with the berries or lavender. Peppermint may stand up to the spices, but more subtle mint may not.

Interesting. I had a good blueberry cinnamon melomel once, but the blueberry wasn't strong and that might be why they didn't clash. Thank you!

I don't think you're going to have much pear or apple flavor so the added berries will have to compliment the ginger.
For the spices, I'd wait until the the secondary fermentation was done and see what it tastes like.
You could then make tinctures with vodka and do some blending trials.

That's not a bad idea at all.

I know that this is not the method that most folk on this forum use but rather than "wing" recipes that may or may not hold together it always strikes me as more practical to make micro batches of different ingredients and then bench test the blends to see whether the flavors complement or fight one another or whether they disappear or swamp the entire batch.

I think you're right. I'm definitely leaning toward creating multiple 1-2 gallon batches. I'll probably add the spice combo to one without adding anymore fruit, add the berries to another (with or without a little bit of cinnamon), and make a 1 gallon frankenstein batch with everything just because.

Thank you all for the excellent advice.