Blackberry Melomel
Deep purple, jammy, and worth every week of the wait.
ABV
12% ABV
Time to bottle
~4 months
Original gravity
1.095
Final gravity
1.004
Blackberries bring tannin and acidity that honey lacks, so this melomel drinks closer to a red wine than most meads. Fruit goes in primary for color and again in secondary for fresh aroma.
What you'll need
- 2.5 lb (1.1 kg) wildflower honey
- 1.5 lb (680 g) blackberries, fresh or frozen (split between primary and secondary)
- Spring water to 1 gallon
- 1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 or 71B-1122 yeast
- 2 tsp yeast nutrient, staggered
- Batch size
- 1 gallon (3.8 L)
- Yeast
- Lalvin EC-1118 or 71B-1122
Taste profile
What a finished batch should taste like.
Aroma
Flavor
How to make it
- 1
Freeze and thaw the blackberries first; it ruptures the cells and releases far more juice and color.
- 2
Dissolve honey in warm water, add 1 lb of berries in a sanitized mesh bag, and top up to 1 gallon.
- 3
Pitch yeast with the first nutrient dose; ferment at 62–70°F (17–21°C).
- 4
Punch the fruit bag down daily for the first week so the cap stays wet.
- 5
After 2–3 weeks, pull the spent fruit and rack onto the remaining 0.5 lb of fresh berries in secondary.
- 6
Rack off the fruit after 2 more weeks, then bulk age until clear, usually 8–10 more weeks.
- 7
Stabilize if back-sweetening, then bottle around week 16.
Brewer's notes
- Frozen commercial blackberries work as well as foraged and are picked ripe.
- The secondary fruit addition is what gives the nose that fresh-berry pop; do not skip it.
- Expect a stubborn pectin haze; pectic enzyme at day 0 keeps it brilliant.
After bottling: 4–8 months. The fruit fades slightly while the honey rounds out underneath it.
Brewing this one? Let MeadMate keep it on track.
Log gravity readings, get reminded when it's time to rack, and compare your taste notes against this profile.
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