Berry Bliss Melomel

Here is the recipe for Berry Bliss, based on Danger Dave's Red Dragon Melomel.
This is for 6 gallons, I usually bump mine up and make 8 gallons.

Ingredients


·20-24# of White Clover Honey Enough to bring the SG to 1.075 - 1.090
·2 gallons of hot water
·4 gallons room temp water
·1 tsp. tannin (I use Tannin Riche but any will do)
·4 tsp. yeast nutrient
·2 tsp. yeast energizer
·3 tsp. pectin enzyme
·12 -15 lbs. of Triple Berry Blend (raspberry/blackberry/blueberry/Strawberry all work well)
·1 packet of Yeast Lalvin ICV D47 or 71B-1122
·6.5 grams Goferm Hydrating Nutrient
·¾-1 American Oak Infusion Stick Medium Roast
· 1/4 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite
· 3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate
·Sparkolloid
·Honey for back Sweetening to taste, usually 1.010 -1.020

Preparation:

I place the honey in a sink full of hot water to facilitate easy pouring.

I add to the fermenter in this order:

• 2 gallons of hot water
• 18# of Wildflower or Clover Honey, stirred until completely dissolved
• Stirred thoroughly for 2-3 minutes to mix in all dry ingredients
• 12-15# of Triple Berry Blend ), Frozen then thawed, in a nylon fine mesh bag (tied shut), placed in primary: Give the bag a couple of squeezes to work in pectin enzyme. May also toss fruit directly into primary, but this makes for a "messier" fermentation and subsequently will require more clearing time and racking.

Top water to six (6) gallons* (looking for a SG btw 1.075-1.090) and stir well
Add 1/2 American Oak Infusion Stick Medium Roast

I let this concoction sit overnight with heat mat around fermenter to bring the temp up to 80° - 85°

The following day:

Start the yeast as follows and add to the primary
6.5 grams Goferm Hydrating Nutrient – hydrated in 1.4 cup of water at 120°
When water reaches 110-105° add
You selected yeast And rehydrate, let sit for 15 minutes stir in ¼ cup of must, (the sugars in the must will help the yeast reproduce) let sit until you can see visible yeast reproduction, then and add to primary.
Stir Primary Vigorously!

**The first three days after fermentation starts, I add 1/2 tsp of Fermaid K Yeast Nutrient, each day.

Each day, do the following, in this order:
Check temp
Check specific gravity
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove fruit pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bucket.
Stir primary vigorously: To introduce oxygen into must.
Replace fruit pack
Cover primary

When specific gravity (SG) reaches at or below 1.000, do the following:
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter
Remove Nylon bags with fruit and too the fruit.
Rack to cleaned and sanitized six gallon carboy
Add 1/4 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite (stir)
Add 3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate (stir)
Degas very thoroughly: I cannot emphasize this enough!
Add Sparkolloid* (or other clearing agent)

Allow to clear undisturbed for no less than 1 week

When wine is clear:
Carefully rack off of lees into cleaned & sanitized six gallon carboy
Add enough Honey to back sweeten to your taste usually 1.010 -1.020
The honey will blend with the berry flavors over time, and the sweetness will come forward. Do not over-sweeten!
Allow wine to clear free of all sediment: This may or may not require more racking over the next few weeks.

Once clear, I filter and bottle.

so the main difference is the honey instead of white sugar?

Yes, that's the main difference, a mead is made with honey, plus it will have to age for a month or two.

which one you liked better, original DB with sugar or this one?

I prefer the melomel, the honey adds a lot to it, it tastes a bit different. We did a side by side test and we prefer the melomel.

Hey just wondering? Did DangerDave use lemon in his?
This is a mead/melomel recipe you have posted here and should not be compared to DB or SP, because you are not using lemons in the recipe? It's a Triple Berry Blend mead/melomel. I just started a gal melomel...Blueberry~White Clover Honey.


Here's the thing!
I just don't know which yeast to pitch?

I read about some, but not sure which is the best for a Semi-dry or semi sweet mead/melomel.

I have the following yeasts on hand.

Red star Montrachet-Levure Oenologique...
Lalvin EC-1118
Lalvin-D47. I was thinking about using this one, but I thought I read something here at forum, stating it caused some type of issuses.
Or is this the best to use for Meads.

Should I go ahead with the Lalvin-ICV-D47?

Pumpkinman said:

Yes, that's the main difference, a mead is made with honey, plus it will have to age for a month or two.

Click to expand...

or 12.... You'd blow your own mind, if you waited that long..

btom2004, I don't compare this to Dragon Blood or Skeeter Pee, I did however compare it to Dave's Melomel, and I am not trying to take anything away from Dave's recipes. A few people asked for the recipe, so I posted it here.
I do not use Lemon in the mead, I don't want the acidity to over power the honey.
I used both D47 and 71B-1122 and have had no problems, I do use Go ferm and fermaid k.

Deezil, I plan on holding a dozen or so bottles back, I cannot believe how much the first batch changed in just 2 weeks!

Pumpkinman said:

btom2004, I don't compare this to Dragon Blood or Skeeter Pee, I did however compare it to Dave's Melomel, and I am not trying to take anything away from Dave's recipes. A few people asked for the recipe, so I posted it here.
I do not use Lemon in the mead, I don't want the acidity to over power the honey.
I used both D47 and 71B-1122 and have had no problems, I do use Go ferm and fermaid k.

Deezil, I plan on holding a dozen or so bottles back, I cannot believe how much the first batch changed in just 2 weeks!

Click to expand...

Ok I just didn't want to get confused is all and also didn't want to Mead Society comming down on you...lol

I think I read something about D47 causing some problems during or after fermentation of honey. I can't find that thread, but I also did read that others have used it with out incidents.

Personally, if the "Mead society" can find a reason why this recipe isn't a mead, (it's actually a melomel), I'd be glad to hear it.
There have been absolutely no issues with D47 for me, I've used it several times now,it is actually listed for mead on the lalvin website.

You misunderstood me. I was saying that your recipe is a Mead/Melomel, not a DB or SP and that they would come after you for calling it the latter...joke.

@ I pitched my yeast yesterday at about 5 pm. There is still no activity in the primary, so I just placed another pack of yeast on the must. If this does not start it up, what should I do?

I don't know the temp in my wine closet, but could it be too cold or does these melomels take longer for fermentation to start?

Usually starts around ~24 hours after pitching the yeast, that's what happened to mine, from my quad berry passion DB variance, here's my notes:

Dec. 23 3pm 1.074 added yeast
Dec. 24 3pm 1.072 no fermentation
Dec. 25 9pm 1.070 active fermentation/foam

..

geek said:

Usually starts around ~24 hours after pitching the yeast, that's what happened to mine, from my quad berry passion DB variance, here's my notes:

Dec. 23 3pm 1.074 added yeast
Dec. 24 3pm 1.072 no fermentation
Dec. 25 9pm 1.070 active fermentation/foam

..

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Ok great I'll wait. All my other wines just toook off as soon as I added yeast. This is my first mead/melomel.

Thanks for the info.

Btom, my apologies I misunderstood.

As far as the yeast, I really treat the yeast with a lot of care, it is one of the most important pasts.

I've never had problems with it, are you folks using GoFerm when you hydrate? Are you hydrating at 105° - 110°?
You should really get the water to 120, hydrate the Goferm, wait until it is about 110°, sprinkle the yeast in the water, wait for it to hydrate, then after 10-15 mins when you see active reproducing, take the same volume of must as the volume of water that you used to hydrate the yeast and add it in, half at a time, the sugars from the must will be nutrients for the yeast, plus it will acclimate the yeast to the must temp.
I always get the must to at least 75° - 80° to start and let it do it's thang.

What temp did you hydrate it at?

Pumpkinman said:

Btom, my apologies I misunderstood.

As far as the yeast, I really treat the yeast with a lot of care, it is one of the most important pasts.

I've never had problems with it, are you folks using GoFerm when you hydrate? Are you hydrating at 105° - 110°?
You should really get the water to 120, hydrate the Goferm, wait until it is about 110°, sprinkle the yeast in the water, wait for it to hydrate, then after 10-15 mins when you see active reproducing, take the same volume of must as the volume of water that you used to hydrate the yeast and add it in, half at a time, the sugars from the must will be nutrients for the yeast, plus it will acclimate the yeast to the must temp.
I always get the must to at least 75° - 80° to start and let it do it's thang.

What temp did you hydrate it at?

Click to expand...

To be honest most times I don't even rehydrate. All the videos I've watched never calls for rehydrating the yeast. My first kit wine ever didn't even require it. I've tried it once in the past and didn't get the fermentation to start until I just pitched dry yeast into the must. I tried it on this batch of Mead/Melomel and again nothing, until I pitched another pack onto the must. I guess I'm not patient enough to wait or not doing it correctly. However all I do is warm up a bit of sugar water or wine for a few secounds in microwave and add yeast. When it starts to bubble I add it to the must. I never take temp.

My Melomel has been slow fermenting since yesterday, but just started to really show airlock activity today, when I stirred and squeezed the fruit pack. I also added a tad bit more yeast energizer.

@ Pumpkinman: You were dead on, when you described how the fruit flavors taste along with the honey. I sampled some. I really didn't taste much honey at all. It's a smooth blend. I don't like honey much and this will be great when it's done. I hope mine ends up with some residual honey/fruit sugar flavor, so I won't have to backsweeten. However if not I add just a bit of honey. After all it is a mead/melomel.