Sweet Raspberry recipe questions

[eogaard]

I've seen this recipe a bunch of places, so I decided to buy the ingredients and give it a shot:

4.5 pounds filtered, unprocessed wildflower honey
1.5 pounds red raspberries
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one orange
3 tablespoons of strong-brewed black English tea
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient (generic, white crystals)
Water to make one US Gallon (boiled and then cooled)
Ferment with Yeastlab Sweet Mead yeast M62 (Steinberg Riesling)

Before I do, I'd like to clarify a few things. This is supposedly a 1 gallon recipe, doesn't 4.5 pounds seem like WAY too much, even for a sweet mead? I'd like for it to finish out around 1.018-1.020, maybe even a little lower. I've seen one person's account of this ENDING around 1.070, which seems like a nightmare. Also, I bought White Labs WLP720 because I've never even heard of Yeastlab, hopefully this will still have a similar result?

Secondly, should I add the juices, raspberries and tea during fermentation or after? It seems like a lot of those flavors and tannins will get fermented out, but I'm not a pro. Please help!

 

[SkeletorMob]

Well I'm no pro either but I will add my immature speculation. Yes at first sight 4.5 lbs seems like much, especially with that there will be some sugar in the fruits and citrus. I would think possibly they weren't scraping out the honey which would have them belive 4.5 lbs went in but really 3.5 or 3.75 lbs actually went in. If we deem that to be false then you could think about stepfeeding the yeast. I've read with melomel styles there can be a timing for fruit profile but I'll get back when I have that book in hand again after work! The tea and juice should be fine at the must mix as long as your ph isn't out of range from it! I'll be back!

 

[Maylar]

4.5 lbs in a gallon will give you a really high starting gravity. I'd back that down to 3 lbs. and let the yeast decide where to end.

 

[SkeletorMob]

As per Ken Schramm's book, the suggested fruit addition for raspberries (and actually every fruit except apples in cider) is in the secondary. I do not know from any experience! He also has suggestions for amounts per mild medium or strong fruit character for 5 gallon recipes. But that would require a little math on your part and I'm don't know if you're keen to change the recipe at all

 

[CKuhns]

For Melomels I target 3 pounds honey per gallon using Cotes Des Blanc Yeast and have settled on brewed / steeped Tea in the water for Primary (I prefer Hibiscus tea but black tea works too.) and 1.5 to 2 pounds of fruit in secondary. Ends up just off dry (Not sweet) at an FG of 1.004 +- a bit. The fruit does add some sugars and the flavor tends to mask the dryness. If you wanted to kick it up and go sweeter you might try 3.5 lbs honey. I would be cautious of 4.5 lbs. May end up cloying sweet.

There is really no real "right way" to do this as we tend to do what works for us. I would encourage you to experiment a bit and see what you prefer.

Never used the Sweet Mead yeast you mentioned so do not know where that will end up and have no opinion on how that will work.

 

[Masbustelo]

If you step feed the 4.5lbs honey, it should ferment and you will have somewhere around 20% ABV. But not with Cote des Blancs. I would suggest KV1-1116.

 

[eogaard]

Thanks for the responses guys! I think I'll take the advice and back it down to somewhere around 3 pounds. I'll add the juices and tea in primary, and I'll probably even add some of the raspberries in primary and then add more in secondary since I've already frozen and thawed about a pound of them.

For Melomels I target 3 pounds honey per gallon using Cotes Des Blanc Yeast and have settled on brewed / steeped Tea in the water for Primary (I prefer Hibiscus tea but black tea works too.) and 1.5 to 2 pounds of fruit in secondary. Ends up just off dry (Not sweet) at an FG of 1.004 +- a bit. The fruit does add some sugars and the flavor tends to mask the dryness.

This sounds delicious! I've found that I generally prefer sweetening with the flavor of the fruit rather than honey, this sounds right up my alley. Do you always add tea to your melomels? This is new to me, but sounds like something I'd really enjoy if it adds natural tannins. I've tried using powder blends but just can't get it right. One more question: I'd like to try Cotes Des Blanc but does it have temperature restrictions? I'm not able to get below around 70 degrees on average in my apartment.

 

[CKuhns]

Cotes does have a pretty wide range 50 t oh 80 I believe m I have found it to do best at about 64 +- a few. Have used D47 as well but goes bone dry tried wyeast 1388 with limited success. Folks have had good success with others I just have found Cotes works for me.

Good luck, let us know how it comes out.

I have not always added tea to primary but have done so the past 10 or so Melomels. Just like the way it rounds out the flavor.

Your plan sounds reasonable and should work.

 

[eogaard]

Just wanted to do a quick update, I went ahead with 1.090 for my starting gravity and White Labs Sweet Mead WLP720. I thought I'd read the alcohol tolerance was 11% so I figured I'd be left with a little bit of sweetness, but I am now reading that it's 15% and as such it fermented out to 0.999. I'm not disappointed though, I'm loving the way it's coming along with the raspberries. The second batch of raspberries just went into the secondary and I'll see how much sweetness I can get out of those now that fermentation is finished. If it's tasty enough I might consider leaving this one dry!

 

[eogaard]

Dry on the right (1.004) semi-sweet just racked on the left (1.012), both delicious, both very raspberry. I highly recommend this recipe

View attachment 1467940394153.jpg

 

[nickwoo]

did you end up putting the fruit in in primary or secondary?

 

[nickwoo]

did you end up putting the fruit in in primary or secondary?

 

[eogaard]

I actually ended up doing a pound in primary and another pound and a half in secondary, so upped the total quite a bit to 2 1/2 pounds. But if you like a lasting flavor of raspberry it's perfect

 

[nickwoo]

Great I really want to make a raspberry mead.