Blackberry Melomel — Home Brew Mead Recipe

A melomel is simply a mead made with fruit, and blackberries are a perfect partner for honey. They give colour, a gentle tartness and a jammy depth. This recipe makes about 4.5 litres (six or seven 750ml bottles) and suits a first-time mead maker.

At a glance

• Batch size: 4.5 litres
• Estimated OG: about 1.100
• Estimated FG: about 1.010
• Expected ABV: roughly 12%
• Ready to drink: 3 months after bottling is good, 6 months is better

Ingredients

• 1.3kg runny blossom honey
• 1kg blackberries, fresh or frozen (frozen is ideal, as freezing breaks down the cell walls)
• Cold water to make up to 4.5 litres, plus a little warm water to dissolve the honey
• 1 tsp Pectolase to break down pectin and keep the mead clear
• 1 sachet Bulldog Mead Yeast & Nutrition
• ½ tsp citric acid (optional, if the berries are very sweet)
• 1 Campden tablet and ½ tsp potassium sorbate (only if you want to back-sweeten)

Equipment

• Fermenting bucket with lid and airlock
• Fine nylon straining bag
• A 5 litre demijohn with airlock
• Siphon tube
• Sanitiser, such as Chemsan
• 750ml swing top bottles

Method

1. Prepare the fruit. Thaw frozen blackberries, or freeze and thaw fresh ones. Put them in the straining bag and crush them well with clean hands or a sanitised masher.
2. Sanitise everything. Clean and sanitise the bucket, bag, spoon and anything else that touches the must.
3. Make the must. Warm about 1 litre of water and stir in the honey until it dissolves. Do not boil it, as heat drives off the delicate honey aromas. Pour into the bucket and top up to 4.5 litres with cold water. Add the bag of crushed fruit.
4. Add pectolase. Stir in the pectolase and the citric acid if using. Cover and leave for 12 hours.
5. Check the gravity. Take an OG reading with a hydrometer. It should be around 1.100. Adjust with a little more water or honey if needed.
6. Pitch the yeast. Sprinkle in the yeast and nutrient according to the sachet instructions. Fit the lid and airlock. Keep the bucket at 18–22°C.
7. Primary fermentation (5–7 days). Push the fruit bag under the surface once a day, and give the must a gentle stir. Fermentation should be vigorous within 48 hours.
8. Remove the fruit. When the foaming slows, lift out the bag and let it drain. Don't squeeze hard, as that releases harsh tannins and cloudy pulp.
9. Secondary fermentation. Siphon into the demijohn, leaving the sediment behind. Top up with cooled boiled water if the level is low. Fit an airlock and leave for 4–6 weeks until the gravity is stable at about 1.010 or below.
10. Clear and rack. Rack off the lees into a clean, sanitised vessel and leave for another 4–8 weeks. If it is still hazy, chill it or use a finings.
11. Bottle. Check the gravity is stable over three days. Bottle in swing tops or wine bottles with corks.

Brewing tips

• Feed the yeast. Honey is low in nutrients. Using a proper mead yeast with nutrient makes a big difference, and splitting the nutrient across the first few days helps prevent stressed, sulphurous flavours. Our guide to step feeding covers this in more detail.
• Sweet or dry? This will finish fairly dry with a lingering fruit character. For a sweeter mead, wait until fermentation is completely finished. Then stabilise with one crushed Campden tablet and ½ tsp potassium sorbate, wait 24 hours, and sweeten with honey to taste.
• Don't rush it. Young melomel can taste sharp and hot. Time smooths it, and the colour and aroma improve noticeably after three months.
• Variations. Swap half the blackberries for raspberries, or add a cinnamon stick in the demijohn for a spiced version.
• Keep air out. Avoid large headspace in the demijohn once primary fermentation has finished.

Further supplies

Browse our treatments, nutrients and enzymes for finings, nutrient and stabilisers. Or, if you'd like to try a different yeast, see the Gervin yeast range.

Serve lightly chilled in small glasses. It pairs well with blue cheese, roast pork or vanilla ice cream.