Raspberry Melomel

[Bob]

First attempt at mead wine. Decided to go with raspberry melomel. Have 5# 6oz of raspberries and 6# of raw wildflower honey. Will probably start this on monday.. still researching a proven recipe.. any advice certainly welcome. Should I freeze the berries until monday or just put in fridge

 

[TheTooth]

I haven't done this, but I've read in quite a few places that fruit breaks down easier if you freeze it prior to fermentation.

 

[Bob]

Yeah... I tossed it in the freezer... The wife is scolding me about starting it on monday... she doesnt want something fermenting during thanksgiving.. so looks like I will have to wait until the following weekend.. Thats ok, gives me time to settle on a recipe. Thanks for the reply

 

[Dragon Slayer]

What is with the guys on all these boards. Everywhere I go they say, "My wife won't let me..." My wife and I have an arrangement. She doesn't tell me how to make wine and I don't tell her how to clean the house.

 

[Bob]

Really none of your business on that issue... if you dont have any positive feed back on the issues keep your statements to yourself.

 

[smurfe]

I had a reported post about this thread. It appears what ever was objectionable was edited. I will add that it is everyones right to disagree to someones post and a response does not have to be positive. I will further add though that if the response isn't something constructive, keep it to yourself. Many time a comment of "jest" gets mistaken for a flame. Flaming isn't tolerated and the post will be deleted. Just keep it civil.

 

[Dragon Slayer]

My post was intended to be in jest. Apologies if I offended. Some humor is hard to convey in this format. I will endeavor to be more obvious in the future. Please don't let my comments ruin your day. Never been reported before. Cool.

 

[Luc]

Never been reported before. Cool.

That is the best statement I have seen in a while

And this is just my living room.
You should see my hobby room.

If you do not want comments on your private life
or issues not having to do anything with winemaking
then do not make statements about them.

Luc

 

[petes]

Geez Luc, that's impressive man!

 

[Wade E]

Dont know if you have started this batch yet but here is what i did for my Raspberry Melomel in 07 and it was awesome.

Raspberry Melomel
6 gallon batch
21 lbs of Fresh Raspberries from parents garden
15 lbs of honey (BJ's Brand), Local honey would probably be even better but this came out awesome.
3 32 oz. bottles of Pure Raspberry juice from nature with no meta or sorbate in it.
6 tsps. of nutrient - 1/3 at start, 1/3 at 1.065, and the last 1/3 at 1.030.
3 tsps. of energizer
Water to 6 1/2 gallon mark.
pectic enzyme per manufacturers recomm. (I used the liquid concentrate)
No acid as it was for some reason at .75 TA already.
2 sachets of red Star Montrachet yeast as Melomels can typically be troublesome.
Ph 3.4, TA .75
Fermented at 66*
Starting SG was 1.085
I always freeze my fruit for 1 week and then thaw in primary and pour hot water over them.

 

[jbullard1]

Wade; I hope by posting this recipe is is OK for me to use it

Luc; that is impressive but what about the light??

 

[Luc]

Well as you can see most of my fermenting vessels are plastic.
Light is not an issue there.

I do have several carboys made of glass and use the clear ones for
white wines. That is no problem either.
Those are at my hobby room. Another 6 pieces (filled with apple wine) which are not in the photograph.
Under the window there is 1 plastic vessel as you can see but actually there are 3 more which did not fit on the Photo.

The problem is in the 3 carboy's that are seen in the photo.
1 of them is green glass so that is no problem.
The other 2 are red wines in clear glass. That could cause a problem.

But then again I do not let my wines age in carboys.
When they have finished they are bottled, and then aged.
That way I set my carboys free for next batches.
So the red wines will actually be at their most just a few
weeks to 3 months in a carboy and I have never experienced
color problems form that.
Sometimes I however put the carboys in a plastic garbage bag.

But most of the time, my timelap is too short to bleach the wines.

However, this is a great idea for an experiment on my web-log.
I put red wine in white bottles and test how long it takes for the color to change.
I store some of them in my living room in daylight conditions, and put some others in my sub-basement were no light exists. So I can test
how long it will take for a wine to de-colorise.

Luc

 

[Wade E]

If I post it to the public it is there for the taking, no need to ask. Hop you like as much as every person that tried mine, if so you better stash some in a hole in the wall where no one can find it!

 

[TheTooth]

Very nice, Luc. I would love to have enough containers to do that. When I grow up, I want to make wine just like you.

 

[jbullard1]

Am I understanding right
If I use opaque plastic I'm OK in room light
If I use colored glass I'm still OK
I have one blue tinted 5 gallon glass carboy