whole fruit vs. juiced fruit?

[solusveritas]

When making a melomel, it seems in most cases that all you want is the juice from the fruit. So with that in mind, I was wondering if instead of putting the whole fruits into my fermenter, I could use a juicer on the fruit and use just the juice that it yields. Also this would seem to make clean up easier, and I wouldn't lose so much volume when I rack the mead off the fruit. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

 

[MedsenFey]

It depends on the fruit. With dark berries, for example, you may want the whole fruit as the color comes from skin contact.

 

[jblaschke]

You can get good results either way. Be aware that some fruits contain significant flavor/tannins in the skins, so just using juice would affect the flavor (for good or ill, depending on what you want).

 

[mindghost]

I made a blackberry melomel at the end of April. dealing with the whole berries was a royal PITA, especially since I was only using a 1 gal jug, That said, the color is beautiful, the tannins helped it clear super-fast, and it tastes fantastic (though still "hot" from being so young).

I'm actually annoyed that it has come out so good because I reeeeeeeally didn't want to go through that process again in making another batch. Darn it...

 

[solusveritas]

Thanks, I'll keep all that in mind for my next melomel.