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

[bob1852]

Nice! I need to make this again. I only have one bottle left from the original batch.

 

[Sirthomas42]

The wife and I bottled this a couple days ago, it's freaking amazing. My first wine/mead using raspberries, and I'm quite pleased. I can't wait until it ages a little, if it improves the way my blueberry mead did!

 

[Ecaz]

What is the full recipe for a 5 gallon batch?

Would it be okay to use local Wildflower honey?

Has anyone considered trying a chocolate based Rooibos instead of a black early grey?

Obviously, if I change the recipe, it's NOT THE SAME MEAD.

But, would the general idea be the same w/o using Clover honey, and using Wildflower instead? I have 15lbs of local wildflower honey and would like to make a nice raspberry mead w/ a chocolate based Rooibos, but should I still add the limes and lemon? Interesting!

Thanks!

 

[Sirthomas42]

I'm not an expert on mead, but I think any honey would be fine. I made this from Blackberry honey (it's what we had - a 60 lb bucket) and it turned out great!

Actually, all our meads so far have been made from Blackberry - we just used up the bucket and our next few batches will be from mixed black/blue/raspberry.

 

[CidahMastah]

Will let you know how this turns out (in about a year!) - started my batch on 11/6 and plan you either force carbonate it in a keg or prime. But I will be putting this in champagne bottles either way and cellaring once I decide the carbonation method.

Looking forward to it!


Update: I racked it off into a keg for aging and carbonating when I feel froggy. My F.G. was 1.000 so I fermented dry. I added campden, and sorbate and honey to get to 1.014 (my wife likes things a little sweeter).

 

[BoxMan]

I picked up a few bags of frozen raspberries on a whim today. I'm thinking this might be my next batch.

 

[lawpaw]

I picked up a bag on a whim two days ago and think I will make this one as well.

Except that I plan on using 1122 and forgoing the Dextrose (it won't be carbonated, don't want to age on 1122 anyway). Probably backsweeten with more honey and/or cold crash where I want it.

I'm using Raspberry honey.

 

[Jukas]

AZ, I found your recipe looking for a nice Raspberry mead and would like to make a 5 gallon batch of this.

Could I simply take your existing recipe, divide the ingredients by 3 to get the base for a 1 gallon batch, then multiply by 5, perhaps going a bit light on the earl grey tea?

Or is there a better method for scaling this up?

 

[bob1852]

That'll work; though you'll only need 1 pack of yeast for 5 gallons.

 

[Jukas]

Any idea what your ABV works out to be on this? A raw OG to FG conversion shows it about 12.7% but I'm guessing the additional ferment able sugars in the fruit push it higher?

 

[Bigbeavk]

Does this mead need to be stirred any to degass? I just got a 5 gallon batch started! Thanks so much for the recipe!

 

[Jukas]

Does this mead need to be stirred any to degass? I just got a 5 gallon batch started! Thanks so much for the recipe!

I don't know what the op did, but I degassed 2x a day for the first three days and then once a day through the 7th day as well as providing SNA.

Mine went completely dry and ended at .999 after 12 days. I racked to secondary and put a co2 blanket on it for bulk aging.

 

[Bigbeavk]

Thanks Jukas! I pm'd him and he did indeed stir a few times a day the first week and maybe some in following week or so.

 

[NineMilBill]

Made a 3 gallon batch today, no real issues to report. Subbed raspberry honey that LHBS had plenty of. Seems to be a straight forward recipe.

 

[Elshauno]

My raspberries have pretty much lost most of their color should I rack them out of the mead or wait for primary fermentation to complete first. This is my first mead I would assume just let the primary finish but I wanted to be sure.

 

[bob1852]

My raspberries have pretty much lost most of their color should I rack them out of the mead or wait for primary fermentation to complete first. This is my first mead I would assume just let the primary finish but I wanted to be sure.

It shouldn't matter, just keep punching the cap down into the liquid if you don't rack for a bit.

 

[Vox]

I'm from AZ and had to check this out when I saw the name. I've only made a few batches of cider, but I may give this or JOAM a try. Where do you get decent priced honey in AZ?

 

[bob1852]

I've been ordering bulk honey from Miller's in California. Even with shipping, it turns out to be a pretty decent price per pound for quality honey.

 

[Vox]

How would you describe the finished product and how long do you have to age it? Never had a melamel. I'm a cider guy. Deciding if I want to try this or joam.

 

[Sirthomas42]

I made this recipe a year ago. The yeast stalled out at ~1.010, so I didn't sorbate and backsweeten. Well it looks like the yeast fermented a little bit in the bottle -- not blowing any corks, thankfully. I cracked a bottle last night, and it was lightly carbonated, and AMAZING. It was tasty right out of the gate, but a year's aging and the light carb, it was super good.

 

[NHowell16]

It's been over a year since the last post, but hopefully someone is still around to answer a quick question!

My apartment is often too hot for me to use the D47 yeast ... Normally between 20-25 degrees (70+ Fahrenheit). Can I use a different yeast and get the same flavour? What do you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Jukas]

It's been over a year since the last post, but hopefully someone is still around to answer a quick question!

My apartment is often too hot for me to use the D47 yeast ... Normally between 20-25 degrees (70+ Fahrenheit). Can I use a different yeast and get the same flavour? What do you recommend?

Thanks!

If I remember right, D47 likes fermentation temps between 60-68F. If you don't have an area at that temp, or a ferm chamber, can you setup a swamp cooler for primary fermentation?

I too have issues with ambient temps for primary fermentation and use the carboy in a water with ice bottles swamp cooler method. Once it's hit FG and it stable I put it in the coolest place in the house and bulk age at ambient.

 

[NHowell16]

I ended up using EC-1118, just because I'm not able to keep the temp low enough. Except, I'm not sure if i messed it up or not.. because it's day 2 and nothing seems to be happening.

Here's what I did (variation from the original recipe)

6.6 lbs of clover honey (3 kgs)
3 gallons of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 thawed bag of mixed field berries (600g)
juice of 3 lemons, and 3 limes

I mixed it all up together, then rehydrated the yeast, then pitched it... except, i used the wrong bung size, and pushed the bung into the carboy! Oops...

So I had to dump the entire contents into another carboy, which really agitated the entire mixture. My question is: Do you think this ruined the fermentation??? It's day 2, and there is a thin layer of foam on top, but NO bubbles or action in the airlock. Help!

 

[johnfrankl]

Great thread!!!

Any problem with doing the primary in a bucket and then racking to a carboy once the berries lose their color?

Thanks.

 

[fun4stuff]

Great thread!!!

Any problem with doing the primary in a bucket and then racking to a carboy once the berries lose their color?

Thanks.

im trying in a bucket now! on day 3.

 

[Jukas]

I ended up using EC-1118, just because I'm not able to keep the temp low enough. Except, I'm not sure if i messed it up or not.. because it's day 2 and nothing seems to be happening.

Here's what I did (variation from the original recipe)

6.6 lbs of clover honey (3 kgs)
3 gallons of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 thawed bag of mixed field berries (600g)
juice of 3 lemons, and 3 limes

I mixed it all up together, then rehydrated the yeast, then pitched it... except, i used the wrong bung size, and pushed the bung into the carboy! Oops...

So I had to dump the entire contents into another carboy, which really agitated the entire mixture. My question is: Do you think this ruined the fermentation??? It's day 2, and there is a thin layer of foam on top, but NO bubbles or action in the airlock. Help!

I doubt it ruined anything. My batch fermented very gently with a barely visible krausen and still finished at .999. You should be able to see some visible sign of fermentation by 72hrs.

 

[fun4stuff]

So I started a 5 gallon version of this recipe 9/2 with an OG of 1.100. Adjusted honey/raspberies/lemons/limes proportionately and followed Highest nutrient addition.... fermented in bucket, aerating 1x per day for the first 2 days until the SG fell below 1.06. Otherwise everything else the same.

Yesterday, 9/7, SG was 1.014, and today the airlock is not bubbling! Doesn't this seem like an extremely fast fermentation? Leaving for 1 week vacation next Friday... is it safe to let everything sit under airlock in the bucket until I get back?

 

[bob1852]

Proper nutrients + aeration + degassing = fast fermentation!

It should be fine to let it sit while you're gone.

 

[rideincircles]

I am thinking about making a 3 gallon batch of this this weekend. How does aeration an degassing work with a 3 gallon carboy glass carboy? This will be my first true mead. I have 2 gallons of JAOM and 2 gallons of Joe's pyment also.

Would going with 6 lbs. Orange Blossom honey and 1.5 clover make a big difference or should I just do 7.5 lbs clover and save my orange blossom for something else?

How well controlled does fermentation temps need to be? I just use water bath with ice bottles which maintains around 65-70 most of the time. My ambient house temps measure 72-77 on my carboys. Does it need a constant temperature throughout the entire fermentation or just primary? Would want to let sit at normal house temps after a racking or two if possible. The water bath eats up so much space.

Rookie questions for this batch, I just ordered the compleat meadmaker today.

 

[calcnerd]

How would you describe the finished product and how long do you have to age it? Never had a melamel. I'm a cider guy. Deciding if I want to try this or joam.

I've had this aging since April. I tried one fresh and WOW...it's extremely hot. Almost undrinkable. I'm letting this sit at LEAST a year before I dip into it again.