Raspberry Mead – Micro Batch Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How many raspberries for a gallon of mead? ›

You'll need 3 pounds of honey and roughly 6 ounces of raspberries per gallon.

If you want to make smaller batches, use the three pounds to a gallon ratio to calculate a convenient rate. Three pounds of honey means four cups of honey. A quart batch is ¼ the size of a gallon batch, which means for a quart batch of homemade mead, you need roughly a cup of honey. If you like your mead sweet that is.

How Much Honey Should I Use? In this recipe, you can choose exactly how sweet you'd like your wine to be. We'll go over it in further detail later, but we recommend using between two and three pounds of honey per gallon of mead — 2 pounds if you want it on the dryer side, and 3 pounds if you'd like it to be sweeter.

Fermentation: Keep fermentation temps up to around 70° or 75° F. Fermentation should last between 10 to 20 days. Rack into a conditioning vessel and bulk age for 3 to 6 months.

Ken introduces his “Noble” fruits which he believes are the top fruits to use in meads including fruits like tart cherries, raspberries, currants and blackberries. We discuss how the acidity and tannins provide the flavor and structure needed for a large gravity mead with a substantial amount of residual sweetness.

Pour the fruit puree into the fermentation jar. Rack the mead from the carboy to the fermentation jar, taking care to leave as much lees as possible at the bottom of the carboy. Place the lid on the jar and refrigerate for 1 to 2 weeks.

Why did it fall out of favor? There were some new tax laws, as well as an increased availability of West Indian sugar in the 17th century that made honey harder and less necessary to obtain. But it was also the rise of other alcohols—namely beer and wine—that really did it in.

Mead Distribution Problems

Because it doesn't really fit neatly into any current category of American alcohol, it's tough for many pubs and liqueur stores to obtain permission to sell it. That is, if they've ever even heard of it.

Keep in mind that a one-gallon batch will almost always ferment faster than a five-gallon batch, but there are a few techniques for speeding up both. To put it simply, mead has a lot of sugars.

So, out of the 300 types, what is the best honey for mead? Meaderies, whether commercial or homebased, agree that honey harvested locally is the best kind. As for a specific kind of honey, orange blossom came out as a highly popular one because of its consistent flavor as well as citrusy taste.

Is raw honey OK for mead? ›

The best honey for mead is raw and local. If you have our Mead Making Kit & need honey to get started, try some of our favorite regional honey varieties: Clover & Midwest. The perfect bulk honey for mead, each bottle contains 40 oz (2.5 lb) - exactly what you need to ferment 1 gallon of mead.

If you put in a bunch of honey and you get enough yeast (the right kind of yeast where it ferments all the way out) then you'll have a really dry, high alcohol champagne-like mead. You can use less honey to make a lower alcohol mead. Using less honey might make it a little bit more dry, though not necessarily.

Traditional meads usually require six months to 2 years for the flavors to mellow and smooth and any off flavors to diminish. Melomels or fruit meads can take six months to 5 years for the flavors to fully integrate and the tannins and acids to mellow. Metheglin or spiced meads are quicker, six months to a year.

How to Store Mead. An unopened bottle of mead should be stored in a cool dark place like a pantry, cabinet, or wine cellar. Do not to store mead in the sunlight. Do not store mead near a heat source.

Stirring twice a day is generally sufficient (if you have a fast fermentation, you might want to stir three or four times a day).

A good starting point with most fruits is about 3 pounds of fruit per gallon of mead, though I have been known to use 5 or even 6 pounds of fruit. Fruit blends can produce some great-tasting meads.

A new planting in sandy loam soil requires 18 gallons per day per 100 feet of row. A mature planting in the same soil type requires 27 gallons per day per 100 feet of row. Increase the water rate for sandier soil, and decrease it for heavier soil.

Planting tips: Plant raspberries in a container that is at least 24 to 36 inches wide and deep. Half-barrels or five-gallon pots are ideal sizes that allow enough room for new canes to grow in future years. Start with three to six canes, depending on the size of the container.

One pound of raspberries is about four heaping palmfuls of marble-sized berries.