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Trying Raspberry Melomel for the first time
Hello everyone,
After trying Mead for the first time. I had the pleasure of drinking a tall glass of Redstone Black Raspberry Mead, it was delicious.
I set out to try my hand at homemade mead. I began reading here, Redstone's site, Wikipedia and Google were helpful too. After a few weeks of research, I contacted a local shop (The Cracked Cork) here in MD and bought my supplies.
My first batch consists of:
* 1 Gallon of fresh Honey
* 1 32oz Package of Raspberry Puree
* 5 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1/2 tsp Irish Moss
* 1 package Pasteur Champagne Yeast
I brought 3 gallons of water to near boil, added honey brought back up to temp and boiled for a few minutes, then I kept at aprox. 190 degrees for about 20mins skimming the mixture for the bits of junk on top. I then added Puree stirred and let simmer. Cooled then pitched the yeast. I have been watching it closely for about 6 days now and it is VERY active, I am told all is well by my local shop. I will update after next racking.
I hope someone finds this to be interesting, maybe even informative. I appreciate any feedback or tips.
Redstone Meads have won many awards, but I've never had the pleasure of trying them. I looked up the Black Raspberry Mead online and it seems to be sweet, with a very light carbonation. The meadery would have filtered out the yeast with any particulate when the mead reached the flavor profile the brewmaster wanted. This would have stopped the mead from fermenting any further.
Since you used quite a bit of raspberry puree you should have a lot of raspberry flavor. You will lose some in the primary ferment, but can always make adjustments using a raspberry extract in the secondary or when you bottle. I'm not sure how much naturally occurring pectin you have in raspberries but you might end up with a pectin haze in the final product. The haze does not affect the flavor at all, but since you added Irish moss to your recipe I am assuming you would prefer a nice clarity to your finished mead. Peptic enzyme or pectinase is normally added when you pitch the yeast but can still be added at this time to help breakdown the polysaccharide chains that form the pectin.
Having used a champagne yeast you might end up with a dry or semi-sweet mead, if allowed to ferment as long as the yeast would like. You can taste test your mead at regular intervals to determine when you are approaching the sweetness level you like. Stopping the yeast can be done, but then you wouldn't be able to naturally carbonate your mead if you wanted. Another method is keep adding honey to your mead (feeding the mead) until the yeast poops out and just can't convert anymore sugars. With champagne mead this could take a lot of extra honey and time, and end up with a very high percentage of alcohol. You might instead, enjoy a drier mead, and can definitely give it sparkle by adding a bit of honey at bottling time. You could also try a lower-alcohol tolerant yeast with the next batch.
Raspberries tend to be a bit acidic in flavor when allowed to ferment to dryness. This can over-accentuate the dryness. If you decide you prefer the sweet mead and sweeter raspberry flavors, stop the fermentation with potassium sorbate at the rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Stir it in and let it work for at least a day. Give the mead a taste and see if it needs any tweaking. Add honey or fruit extract until you get the flavor you like. Bottle and enjoy a sweet but still (non-sparkling) mead, or carbonate by some other method.
What kind of honey did you use? Were you shooting for a 5 gallon batch? Were you planning to top off your carboy with sterile water? How long do you plan to let this batch age?
One last note: I was in Maryland in April and meant to do a tasting at Berrywine Plantation & Linganore Wine Cellars. Alas, I never got the opportunity. However, they do make the Medieval Mead which is served at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and have other fruit wines you might like to try. If you do get the chance to taste the mead please let me know what you think of it.
Cheers,
Thank you for the info, it was quite helpful!
I am planning to rack off the fruit tomorrow, it's been a week and I want to add more honey and some pectinase before fermentation stops. I plan on taking a Gravity reading as well. The local Homebrew shop just got Hydrometer's back in stock. I used about 1/3 gallon of distilled water(1 gallon left over from coolant flush on my Bimmer)to top the 5 gallon container. I will then let it sit in secondary for about 1 month, checking gravity after 2nd week at 1 week intervals. I then plan on adding a bit more honey and fruit at the bottling stage.
On a side note, I am only about 45 minutes from the Winery you mentioned and about 1 hour from the Renn Fair
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