Raspberry Melamel (Bronze Medal winner at 2010 Great Arizona Homebrew Competition)

[bob1852]

This scored a 43 at the 2010 Great Arizona Homebrew Competition

7.5 lbs clover honey
24 oz. fresh raspberries
4 lemons, juice of
4 limes, juice of
1/2 cup brewed earl grey tea
Lavlin D47 yeast
staggered nutrient addition (see hightest's FAQs)

Mix everything together in a 3-gallon carboy. Top off with spring water to 3 gallons. Ferment until fruit loses color; rack off of fruit and top off with water; rack when fermentation is complete; rack as needed until clear; bottle with 3 oz. dextrose and age for 1 year

Boquet/Aroma: "good lite honey aroma, massive raspberry nose" "great raspberry up front, slight honey"

Appearance: "perfect color (pink!), clarity, & carbonation" "pink bubbly! lots of carbonation, great clarity, some legs"

Flavor: "good honey to fruit flavor balance. nicely warming alcohol. carbonation great." "good berry flavor, more dry than sweet, very carbonated"

Overall: "very nice mead. I'd like to have a case stashed away! great job!" "this would be a great celebration bubbly - very much like a fruity champagne. thank you!"

 

[esarkipato]

Nice work. Was your FG measured after priming sugar? How did you manage to get your yeast to peter out, but still carb?

 

[humann_brewing]

sweetness!

 

[Pivovar_Koucky]

Wow, I make a very similar raspberry cyser (actually I don't know what to call it, its 1/2 gallon of apple juice, 3-4 lbs of honey, 12 oz. frozen raspberries, and about a quart of earl grey tea, total 1 gallon). I can't believe that someone else uses earl grey tea.

 

[bob1852]

Nice work. Was your FG measured after priming sugar? How did you manage to get your yeast to peter out, but still carb?

I honestly think I just got lucky...

sweetness!

how's yours coming along humann?

Wow, I make a very similar raspberry cyser (actually I don't know what to call it, its 1/2 gallon of apple juice, 3-4 lbs of honey, 12 oz. frozen raspberries, and about a quart of earl grey tea, total 1 gallon). I can't believe that someone else uses earl grey tea.

a quart of tea in a one gallon batch? how many tea bags? let me know how that works out.

 

[Pivovar_Koucky]

a quart of tea in a one gallon batch? how many tea bags? let me know how that works out.

2 bags, it turned out pretty well last time. The gravity was 1.128 so its not like it's watered down or anything, just a hint of bitterness and aroma fromt he tea. I'll let you know when the current batch is done, though I just started it last night so it will probably be at least a month.

 

[rowingbrewer]

I hope this is as good as you all make it out to be, cause I am going to be making a 5 gallon batch very soon.

 

[bull3tmagn3t]

Hey there AZ_IPA. Thanks for the recipe. I just started a batch this Friday, and unlike when I made a JOAM batch, this one seems to be off to a slow start. When you started with yours, did you notice your yeast getting off to a quick start or was it a slower, gradual process?

 

[bob1852]

Hey there AZ_IPA. Thanks for the recipe. I just started a batch this Friday, and unlike when I made a JOAM batch, this one seems to be off to a slow start. When you started with yours, did you notice your yeast getting off to a quick start or was it a slower, gradual process?

It did start off really slow. I think it's because with JOAM, you're using bread yeast which probably takes off a little quicker.

Give it time, and if you think you're stuck, hit it with some nutrient (but watch out for foam over!)

 

[bull3tmagn3t]

It did start off really slow. I think it's because with JOAM, you're using bread yeast which probably takes off a little quicker.

Give it time, and if you think you're stuck, hit it with some nutrient (but watch out for foam over!)

When I made my JOAM I used EC-1118 and it took off at a blistering pace. I'll let this one go since the yeast groups appear to be growing, and they're giving off CO2. It's just nowhere near as fast as the JOAM recipe did.

 

[bull3tmagn3t]

Had a question about the fermentation: Mine has been fermenting for about 4 weeks now. At the three week mark I racked it off the raspberries to new carboys on to some vanilla. Since the racking, there's been zero activity from the carboys. Has the yeast given up? Is my fermentation stuck? Is it done and I'm just paranoid? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bob1852]

What's your gravity?

 

[humann_brewing]

how's yours coming along humann?

haven't done the raspberry one yet but about the bottle the cherry one from May.

 

[mallob9]

Have you made this again? If so did the same "luck" with the bottle carbonation take place? I'm interested to give this a whirl, it's sounds fantastic.

 

[bull3tmagn3t]

What's your gravity?

Nevermind. Apparently I was just paranoid. I think I went a little lite on the honey for mine, but I still have a nice semi-dry (it's not sweet enough for semi-sweet) mead with great raspberry nose and taste up front with a little tart aftertaste. Good stuff. Thanks again for the recipe.

 

[bob1852]

Have you made this again? If so did the same "luck" with the bottle carbonation take place? I'm interested to give this a whirl, it's sounds fantastic.

I have not made this again yet - waiting for raspberries to go on sale.

 

[dummkauf]

Any pics of the finished product? I'm curious how clear this gets and whether it's still that red once it's cleared.

 

[johnp]

Can i just divide the ingredients by 3 for a one gallon batch? Also, do you think this would taste good without carbonation?
Thanks!

 

[bob1852]

Any pics of the finished product? I'm curious how clear this gets and whether it's still that red once it's cleared.

It's crystal clear - with more of a pinkish, strawberry color than red. I try to remember to take some pics next time I crack one open.

Can i just divide the ingredients by 3 for a one gallon batch? Also, do you think this would taste good without carbonation?
Thanks!

Of course!

I'm sure it would taste fine without carbonation.

 

[rumbuster]

calll it ol grey apple =P

 

[mnlaxer]

OK...I am new to making mead, but I took the instructions literally "mix all the ingredients together" using the no-boil technique, and threw it all into a 6 1/2 gallon carboy. I shook the ever livin' piss out of the thing, but I have a nice 2 1/2 inch layer of honey on the bottom of the carboy, and all my raspberries on top. Will the yeast eat away at the honey layer on the bottom, or am I screwed? The honey just would not dissolve, which I guess is indicative of 100% pure honey.

 

[Zymurg]

Wow, I make a very similar raspberry cyser (actually I don't know what to call it, its 1/2 gallon of apple juice, 3-4 lbs of honey, 12 oz. frozen raspberries, and about a quart of earl grey tea, total 1 gallon). I can't believe that someone else uses earl grey tea.

Cyser and pyment are subsets of melomel, like apples and grapes are fruit, but not all fruit are apples and grapes. Tea in mead makes it a metheglin, but I'm not sure what you call a metheglin mixed with a melomel...

... a meloglin?

 

[Sirthomas42]

SWMBO and I put on a 5 gallon batch of this today -- after I gave her her birthday present, "Misty's Birthday Fruit Punch, 10.3% ABV, we had an extra vessel. We had a few pounds of raspberries, and a half full bucket of honey, mixed it all up, and started a starter. We'll pitch that tomorrow. I'm paranoid about yeast -- well, I'm paranoid about everything in winemaking -- so I *always* make a starter. 30 batches in now, and I haven't lost a one of them to contamination or infection. Hooray OCD!

See you in a few weeks with updates!

 

[Ridcully123]

Cyser and pyment are subsets of melomel, like apples and grapes are fruit, but not all fruit are apples and grapes. Tea in mead makes it a metheglin, but I'm not sure what you call a metheglin mixed with a melomel...

... a meloglin?

It can either be a Spiced Melomel or Fruited Metheglin

Sounds lovely, did you use local spring water?

 

[calcnerd]

OK...I am new to making mead, but I took the instructions literally "mix all the ingredients together" using the no-boil technique, and threw it all into a 6 1/2 gallon carboy. I shook the ever livin' piss out of the thing, but I have a nice 2 1/2 inch layer of honey on the bottom of the carboy, and all my raspberries on top. Will the yeast eat away at the honey layer on the bottom, or am I screwed? The honey just would not dissolve, which I guess is indicative of 100% pure honey.

I just did the same thing when I made this recipe today. Any insight???

 

[bob1852]

I just did the same thing when I made this recipe today. Any insight???

The yeast will get to the honey...

And, the laws of osmosis will cause the honey to eventually equalize into the must.

 

[calcnerd]

Okay so it may just have to sit a while longer, but in the end I'll achieve the same result?

*whew*...that could have been a costly mistake.

 

[bob1852]

Yes. The results will be the same...

It's kinda fun to watch the honey "layer" disappear over the next couple weeks.

 

[huesmann]

And, the laws of osmosis will cause the honey to eventually equalize into the must.

Since no membrane is involved, it's diffusion, not osmosis.

 

[Sirthomas42]

I took a small taste of this at it's last racking. OMG it's fooking amazing! Huge raspberry flavor, a bit sweet (it crapped out at 1.010)... I seriously wanted to grab a straw and drink it straight out of the carboy. I can't wait for this to finish!