Raspberry Melomel
Classification:
mead, raspberry mead, melomel
Source: Martin J. Preslar (mpreslar@prairienet.org),
r.c.b., 7/7/94
Ours turned out good, but a bit dry. If you want a sweeter melomel,
try using a bit more honey when you rack to the secondary (maybe 4 or
5 #). Also, you may want a stronger fruit flavor than we got.
With only 4# of fruit we got a very subtle fruit flavor, but it
was appropriate with the dry character of the melomel.
Ingredients: (for 4 gallons)
- 1 Gallon of Honey (about 13#)
- 4# raspberries
- 2 Tsp gypsum
- 5 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/2 tsp Irish Moss
- 1 package Pasteur Champagne Yeast
Procedure:
Dilute honey with 3 gallons of water and add gypsum, yeast nutrient,
and irish moss and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Skim the top of the
honey to remove the scum that forms a few times. Lower temperature
to about 190 deg F. add raspberries & steep for about 10 minutes. Cool
and pitch the yeast. The primary fermentation will need to be in a
bucket rather than a carboy due to the fruit.
Rack off the fruit to a secondary fermenter in a few days. (If you
can think of a good method to keep raspberries out of the siphon
hose, let me know!) Add some more honey when you rack, we added
1# at this time.
Wait until it clears and bottle.