Blackberry Melomel?

[TheZymurgist]

My wife bought a 16oz jar of Blackberry Cider from a roadside produce stand, and I was thinking about using it in a melomel, assuming it doesn't have any preservatives. I'll check before I actually do anything.

So what size batch would 16oz of blackberry juice do well in? I've only made one mead so far, and that was a kit from Austin Homebrew, so I have very little experience. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Arpolis]

16 oz is not a lot. I like to use anywhere from 100% juice to 1/2 juice 1/2 water ratio in melomels. You can substitute some of the lacking fruit body by adding raisins or another frozen or dried berry like a bag of mixed berries, blueberries, raspberries... The smallest batch I would make would be 1 gallon so you could do your 16oz blackberry cider with 1lb of dried berries or 2lb fresh/frozen berries and add honey to a gravity of 1.110. That may be anywhere of 2-3lb of honey. Also even if there are preservatives in that cider don't worry about it. If there are sulfites then mix up the must and just wait 24 hours before pitching the yeast. Make sure to mix it up well a few times in that 24 hour period and that will let the sulfites gass off.

 

[bssrf4]

I agree with Arpolis...in my experimentation you need at least 1/4 fruit juice to make any real difference. 1/2 is better. Aside from a cyser, I have not tried a 100% fruit juice mead.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Sounds good. I'll tell her to drink this bottle, then see about getting a larger one. I think they sell them by the gallon, so I'll try doing a 50/50 batch. Thanks!

 

[billingsbrew]

I'm using 6 pounds of Merion Berries in a five gallon batch. I was told that these, as well as black berries can go a long way in flavoring a melomel. It kind of depends if you are making a sweet mead or a dry.