Mixed Berry Melomel

[ffemt128]

Started a 2 gallon batch of this last night. I started with 5 lbs of Dutch Gold Clover Honey from Costco and 6 lbs of mixed berries. My starting sg was 1.098 this morning. Will pitch the yeast later today and see what goes. It smells delicious.

Wish me luck with this...

 

[Wade E]

That sounds pretty good! Did you use nutrient and energizer?

 

[ffemt128]

Affimative Wade. Added nutrient, did not add energizer, should I? I have some.

It is a really dark reddish purple color now sitting in the primary.

 

[ffemt128]

I added energizer now. It was fermenting like crazy last night. I had a brew belt on to get the initial temp up, I accidentally unplugged the wrong one and this morning my melomel was over fermenting onto my kitchen table. It smells so good......

 

[ffemt128]

Melomel is fermenting nicely, can start to smell the alcohol. I'm squeezing the bag containing the berries 2x a day and will remove this from the primary the end of the week. It's progressing along nicely and is such a pretty color.

 

[ffemt128]

Checked the SG of the Melomel last night, reading was 1.022. Quite a substantial drop from the initial 1.098 after 3 days of fermenting. I'll transfer into my gallon jugs probably Friday night and allow to finish fermenting. It has great aromas at this point.

 

[Malkore]

with the fruit, especially berries, something the energizer isn't needed. fruit has good amounts of nitrogen a lot of the time.

but it doesn't hurt to add energizer either

 

[ffemt128]

Visible fermentation has stopped. I can see a light about 1/2 way through a gallon jug at this point.

 

[fatbloke]

Visible fermentation has stopped. I can see a light about 1/2 way through a gallon jug at this point.

make sure that you check it with a hydrometer before you actually start racking and further processing.

Just because it's starting to clear, doesn't necessarily mean that it's finished fermenting. If it has then that's great, but you can get fermentation after the sediment/lees have dropped - it's better to be safe, than sorry.

 

[Weddingshooter]

Doug,
Are you using the mixed berries that Costco sells? (Raspberries, Blueberries and Marionberries.) If so you stole my idea. I almost bought those today at Costco. I was planning on making a 5 gallon batch. Please keep up posted.
Wally

 

[ffemt128]

Doug,
Are you using the mixed berries that Costco sells? (Raspberries, Blueberries and Marionberries.) If so you stole my idea. I almost bought those today at Costco. I was planning on making a 5 gallon batch. Please keep up posted.
Wally

That's the batch I bought. I never heard of Marionberries before. I also had a lb of blackblackberries and a lb of raspberries in the freezer so I threw them in. Fermetation is done, I racked off into clean jugs, I have a full gallon jug, a full Riunite Bottle (I think it's 4 ltr, not a gallon) and have a touch in a 375ml bottle. It tastes very berry right now almost 30 days in. I didn't check the sg as I wasn't to worried. I check that at next raking the middle of May.

 

[ffemt128]

I stabilized and back sweetened this last night. SG has been at .994 for quite some time. I used a simple syrup of 1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water. I just tasted the remaining that would not fit back into the 4 ltr and gallon jugs. There was about 1/2 cup after sampling last night and I put it in thr fridge.

Oh my is all I can say. This is delicious. According to my calcs this came out about 13.8%

I can see a 6 gallon batch going this fall. May have to keep an eye on the berry supply. I think 4 bags for to 15 lbs of honey from Costco will be the very tasty for a summer dring if started in the fall.

 

[countrygirl]

well, doug, how is this going/how did it turn out? i'm searching the forums looks for information/recipes on pears/perry and this came up on the search.
sounds like a delicious recipe to me

 

[ffemt128]

well, doug, how is this going/how did it turn out? i'm searching the forums looks for information/recipes on pears/perry and this came up on the search.
sounds like a delicious recipe to me

It is quite good. I made a 2 gallon batch and we have drank some of it already. I think I have 6 bottles left. I gave a 375ml bottle to friends that have a commericial winery and they said they enjoyed it very much. I believe her word was "superb".

I will be making this again probably late fall. It inexpensive enough if you get everything at Costco. For the 2 gallon batch I think I had $20 invested. The biggest cost was the berries.

I can post the whole recipe later. It was the mixed berry wine recipe from the little purple book that came with my equipment kit, except I substituted the 5 lbs of honey for the sugar. I'll get everything up tonight or tomorrow.

 

[countrygirl]

It is quite good. I made a 2 gallon batch and we have drank some of it already. I think I have 6 bottles left. I gave a 375ml bottle to friends that have a commericial winery and they said they enjoyed it very much. I believe her word was "superb".

I will be making this again probably late fall. It inexpensive enough if you get everything at Costco. For the 2 gallon batch I think I had $20 invested. The biggest cost was the berries.

I can post the whole recipe later. It was the mixed berry wine recipe from the little purple book that came with my equipment kit, except I substituted the 5 lbs of honey for the sugar. I'll get everything up tonight or tomorrow.

i may have gotten a little purple book with my kit too? now we're both lookin' around, lol

 

[Takeadoe]

Hi Doug - I would love to see your recipe. Sounds like it may be the same purple book that came with my kit. I have 18lbs of blackberries and would love to try a melomel. I'm new at this, so more details you can share, the better.

Best,

Mike

 

[brian1947]

I started 9 gallons yesterday, I used 15 lbs of Costco Blueberries, 8 lbs of Costco mixed berries and 4 lbs of Marrion berries, with 27 lbs of honey.