Raspberry Mead

[shotgun craig]

Try to start my first batch of raspberry Mead not sure when to add raspberries and what procedure I should use my nutrient and Energizer for my yeast

 

[IAmPistolPete]

There are more than a couple "standard" nutrient protocols. Depends on what your nutrient is & the actual recipe amount of honey added. Large gravity recipes I tend to do 3's - 1/3 nutrient every 3 days. Lower honey sessions I just front load or somewhere in between. I figure a good healthy ferment goes thru 10 gravity points/day on average, so split it how you like that makes sense to you. If your nutrient is DAP just add it in the beginning. If it's a Fermaid-type, split it.
Be VERY careful -- adding any dry powders to an established ferment may result in you cleaning mead from your ceiling & walls from the volcano effect. Dissolve it in a few ounces of water first.

 

[Dan O]

I like to add raspberries in both primary and secondary. Primary for the wine qualities and complexities it adds, and then after I rack it into secondary, so you get the raw, unfermented flavors from the fruit. Where raspberries have so many seeds, I highly recommend a brew bucket that has a food grade label like the one in this picture, and also a brew bag, which will drastically cut down on the mess and racking losses.
Also, because of the high volume of seeds, they add quite a bit of tannic value to your mix, (small but mighty), so I caution against leaving them in too long.
Typically, once the color is gone from the fruit, you're pretty much just extracting tannins, average between 10-14 days for primary. Make sure you push the bag down twice a day to soak the fruit. Dry fruit will promote mold growth, which is super bad for your mead.
Once you add fruit to secondary, start tasting it for tannins after day 10....raspberries can go overboard on tannins quickly.

As far as a nutrient schedule, TOSNA 2 OR 3 , ( TOSNA---tailored organic staggered nutrient additions),works very well for most batches. As @IAmPistolPete has mentioned, be cautious of adding dry powdered nutrient. To avoid the volcanoe effect, mix in a separate glass with either water or a sample from your must & add slowly to guage the reaction it will have with the bucket you're adding it to. Mead volcanoes are a real thing. There's no mess like a mead mess.

I hope this helps you.
Happy meading

 

[shotgun craig]

There are more than a couple "standard" nutrient protocols. Depends on what your nutrient is & the actual recipe amount of honey added. Large gravity recipes I tend to do 3's - 1/3 nutrient every 3 days. Lower honey sessions I just front load or somewhere in between. I figure a good healthy ferment goes thru 10 gravity points/day on average, so split it how you like that makes sense to you. If your nutrient is DAP just add it in the beginning. If it's a Fermaid-type, split it.
Be VERY careful -- adding any dry powders to an established ferment may result in you cleaning mead from your ceiling & walls from the volcano effect. Dissolve it in a few ounces of water first.

Well I used a 6 lb bottle and a 3 Kg tub Orange Blossom honey and Wildflower honey in a 5 gallon batch with 30 oz of raspberries and I used the half a teaspoon of North Mountain Supply yeast nutrition and a teaspoon of yeast Energizer by North Mountain and I added it again yesterday for the second time and today I'll add it this evening I haven't had the volcano so that's good and it's working well the raspberries pretty much lost their color there not quite all white yet but I think I'll racking into a another container and can get rid of the raspberries after today I think I'll do that tomorrow and I could always add more fruit on later in the fermentation when it slows down I don't know but thank you for the replying the information I very much appreciate it shotgun Craig

 

[shotgun craig]

Well I used a 6 lb bottle and a 3 Kg tub Orange Blossom honey and Wildflower honey in a 5 gallon batch with 30 oz of raspberries and I used the half a teaspoon of North Mountain Supply yeast nutrition and a teaspoon of yeast Energizer by North Mountain and I added it again yesterday for the second time and today I'll add it this evening I haven't had the volcano so that's good and it's working well the raspberries pretty much lost their color there not quite all white yet but I think I'll racking into a another container and can get rid of the raspberries after today I think I'll do that tomorrow and I could always add more fruit on later in the fermentation when it slows down I don't know but thank you for the replying the information I very much appreciate it shotgun Craig

That I used the yeast that I used was red star Premier blank

There are more than a couple "standard" nutrient protocols. Depends on what your nutrient is & the actual recipe amount of honey added. Large gravity recipes I tend to do 3's - 1/3 nutrient every 3 days. Lower honey sessions I just front load or somewhere in between. I figure a good healthy ferment goes thru 10 gravity points/day on average, so split it how you like that makes sense to you. If your nutrient is DAP just add it in the beginning. If it's a Fermaid-type, split it.
Be VERY careful -- adding any dry powders to an established ferment may result in you cleaning mead from your ceiling & walls from the volcano effect. Dissolve it in a few ounces of water first.

And the yeast that I used was red star Premier blanc. Do I add more yeast or just nutrient and energizer?

 

[IAmPistolPete]

I'm not sure what "energizer" is but it sounds like a Go-Ferm type product for yeast starters to wake up from there freeze-dried slumber. No need to add more if that's the case. No need to add more yeast either. Just split the manufacturers recommended dose of nutrient into staggered split doses. No need to obsess about the particulars, do what makes sense to you & it'll get there. Heck I've used boiled yeast, epsom salt, DAP, and multivitamins as my nutrient additions before. Every case is different but given time it almost always finishes ok.

 

[Craig Clark]

Thanks for the information . I'll let it work, I'm hoping for a good brew. So I'm going to let it be. It is what it is. Thanks