Raspberry Melomel

[NyQuil]

So this weekend I am going to start a one gallon batch of a raspberry melomel and just wanted people's opinions on a couple topics.

1) For those of you that have done batches of melomels, do you prefer to use a campden tablet to kill the natural yeasts in the fruit or not?

2) Also, when do you feel the best time to use pectic enzyme in the recipe?

Thanks.

 

[NyQuil]

Here it is on brew day.

Starting gravity was 1.14.....I may have to do 2.5 lbs of honey on the next batch instead of 3.

 

[fuelish]

FWIW, I add pectic enzyme up front, just to get it in there...I don't bother with campden tablets, ever...I usually use a combo of juice and fruit - juice goes in up front, and I toss my fruit in when ferment has slowed somewhat, and add more in secondary....has worked well enough for me, anyways...eemmv

 

[NyQuil]

Thanks for the reply. I added a tsp of pectic enzyme, 1 tsp of nutrient (i'll add more at 1.06) and 1/3 tsp of and acid blend. The honey is two pounds of orange blossom and one pound of clover.

When I went down stairs to start my laundry it was already bubbling at 50 minutes since pitching the yeast.

 

[NyQuil]

Edit: So I didn't leave enough headroom and almost had an airlock blowout last night. A quick run to Wegmans to grab a turkey baster and I saved myself by about 20 minutes from having to siphon it in to a new carboy.

I think for my next back I'm going to start in a 2 gallon bucket so I don't risk the blowout instead of just going straight in to the carboy.

I also think that being able to add the whole gallon of water will help with the high starting gravity.

 

[NyQuil]

So I think I just ran in to too much honey and not enough water in my carboy.

Here is the SG at 4:30 yesterday before adding the yeast, hovering around 1.60:

And here it is at 1:30 today, 21 hours later, right around 1.00 after degassing:

Which prompts the questions, is this way too fast? Should I take the starting gravity after adding the berries next time? Is this generally a not enough water issue? Should I be taking hydrometer reading before or after degassing?

 

[NyQuil]

Or is it that I used a whole packet of D47 in a 1 gallon batch?

 

[loveofrose]

First, you went from 1.160 to 1.100 according to your pictures. Not 1.000. If it was 1.000, I should see the top of your hydrometer.

Second, when you add the liquid from the berries to the must, the gravity drops. In reality, your SG was a lot lower than 1.16. The yeast will stall out unless you really baby them at gravities higher than 1.14 so the dilution worked in your favor.

Third, fast ferments are clean ferments. Fast fermentation means your yeast are happy. Happy yeast produce less fusels which leads to faster drinking mead. No such thing as too fast!

Lastly, keep that D47 below 68 F or you will have a batch of fusels.

 

[NyQuil]

Thanks, I'll degass and take another reading when I get home from work.

Is D47 known to be a nutrient hog?

 

[NyQuil]

1.086 today. Took a sniff of the liquid in the beaker, definitely beginning to smell like a fermented beverage. I'll keep degassing until I hit 1.054 which will be the 1/3 yeast break (kind of) and then i'll rack it after two weeks and then every month until its cleared and maintains at 1.000 or below.

Really nice looking color two days in:

 

[NyQuil]

1.076

 

[NyQuil]

1.068 today.

Can't wait for 1.050 (1/3 sugar breakish) so I can stop degassing every day. I took a sip of it today and its definitely starting to taste like a raspberry flavored fermented beverage.

 

[NyQuil]

Getting closer to the break. Actually a nice little taste to it atm.

 

[buzzerj]

The trick I did with my Raspberry BOMM was to make a regular Orange Blossom honey BOMM just like loveofrose says but I added pectin at the start. Then after three weeks of fermenting in the primary, I racked it onto raspberries in muslin for a week. I used 24 oz. of raspberries per gallon. Then I rack it back into a carboy and the raspberries are mostly all eaten up. My wife used the leftovers to make a raspberry bread. After a little more aging, bottle it and you are set to go.

 

[NyQuil]

I was debating raspberries in the primary or secondary.

I think for my next batch I will use them in the secondary and see how it turns out.

 

[NyQuil]

1.053

Looks like tomorrow will be the 1/3 sugar break and the end of degassing.

 

[NyQuil]

Looking like 1.047.

So I added more yeast nutrient for the 1/3 break. A lot of the literature I have read has said to stop degassing after the last nutrient addition. How do you guys feel about that?

 

[On-target]

I see you said you went to Wegmans for the turkey baster. Are you from WNY. Good luck and keep that mead cool.
Ps gently degassing at this point is still a good idea.

 

[NyQuil]

Yup, I live in Rochester.

I haven't degassed since Sunday so I am just going to leave it be for now. I'm debating if I should rack it off the raspberries this Sunday (two weeks) or wait for the following Sunday.

 

[NyQuil]

Since I may rack this weekend, should I fill the secondary with spring water after racking to prevent oxidation?

 

[buzzerj]

Just make sure you have pectic enzyme in there. My berries got eaten up nicely with just one week in the secondary. I left air in the bucket because it was only one week then I racked back onto a gallon jug. It worked fine.

 

[NyQuil]

Thanks, I added pectic enzyme to the must when before I added the berries.

Still debating to do it tonight or next week. I'm leaning towards tonight because the berries look pretty well chewed through.

 

[NyQuil]

So I racked it today and I may have killed it.

So I was getting a bubble through the airlock every 7-8 seconds today before I racked. I racked it, took a SG (1.020).

Then I added some spring water to prevent oxidation.

I threw an airlock on it (with vodka, not sanitized water) and put it back to ferment. I watched for two minutes and the level on the airlock didn't change at all. So I figured maybe it had something to do with adding water after the must so I gently agitated the mead to hopefully mix some of the spring water. I'll check on it in a few hours but I really hope I didn't kill this batch.

 

[NyQuil]

Checked and its back to fermenting away. So now to let it sit for a month.

 

[NyQuil]

Actually its really going away now. Almost as fast as initial fermentation. I did seem to siphon a bit of the old yeast so I'll probably rack it again in two weeks instead of a month.

 

[NyQuil]

Racked mead still fermenting like it was just pitched a couple hours ago.

 

[NyQuil]

Still going at a rate of a bubble every 15 seconds.

I think I may rack it tomorrow since I transferred over too much dead yeast the last time I racked it.

 

[NyQuil]

Well I took a SG and its hanging right around 1.00 so fermentation is almost completely done.

At over three weeks in length I didn't have much hope for the taste and sure enough it tastes like either rocket fuel or just the driest thing on earth. Oh well I guess we will rack it every month and see if it improves. So I racked it into a new carboy, topped up the water will let it sit for another 30 days.

 

[NyQuil]

So its been about 28 days so I racked it today and topped the carboy off. The SG of the mead before it was racked was 0.998.

My iPhone isn't the best but its a very pale pink when poured in to the glass. Still a very dry taste and only a slight hint of raspberries. So it looks like I will be back sweetening this one in a few months.

I really do prefer semi-sweet meads. To make a semi sweet mead should I add more honey upfront (4-5 lbs per gallon) or let it ferment down and them bump it back to 1.020-1.025 until the yeast eventually die off? The second attempt at this will be done adding raspberries to the secondary, not the primary, and seeing how that turns out.