For those that are interested, here is the recipe I followed. Critiques on my procedure are welcome...
Sweet Berry Melomel (Makes 4 L)
1 pint fresh raspberries
1 pint fresh black berries
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
4.5 lbs. Star Thistle Honey
Juice from one lemon
Juice from one orange
1/4 cup strong green tea
water to make 4 L of must
Liquid Yeast (Sweet Mead Strain)
Bring 1 L of water to boil. After 10 minutes then take off of heat. The honey was added followed by the yeast nutrient and energizer. The honey water was returned to the stove and reheated.
While the must reheated, the berries were mashed (with a potatoe masher) and added to the must along with the juice of the orange and lemon. The tea was strained and added as well. The must was heated at 150-160 degrees for 10 minutes.
The must was carefully transferred to the fermentation bucket and cold filtered water was added to the 4 L mark (I used 4 L beacuse that is the size of my carboys). The must was cooled in an icebath until the temperature was in the 70-75 degree range. While it cooled the must was occasionally stirred to aerate it.
Once the temperature was reached, a SG was taken and the yeast was added (I originally added 1/5 of the bottle, then added the rest on day two). Creating a starter would be a good idea for this, too (as gaudet suggested).
I can post the racking and additional nutrient additions when I'm finally done as well.
I plan on bottling this into 375 mL bottles (Maybe it will last longer that way.....maybe)
Let me know what you think.