Make your own dry and fizzy berry mead thanks to this recipe specially created for you. A pure delight to liven up your festive evenings!

This mead with berries has an alcohol content of about 10% and a fruity flavour balanced with lightness, sparkle, and shine.

A Glass of Fizzy Melomel With Berries

Mead, or honey wine, is a fermented beverage that is very easy to make and has been around since the beginning of time. There are many variations of mead – in this recipe, we are preparing a type called “melomel”.

Melomel is the name given to any mead that contains fruit, whether whole, pureed, or juiced.

In this recipe, we use blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which give a unique colour and flavour to this beverage of the gods. Learn how to make mead at home!

Note: to get the equipment you need for this recipe, take a look at our homemade cider kit.

Berry Mead Recipe

Make your own beverage of the gods with this berry mead recipe! Light, dry and fruity, it has it all!

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Preparation Time 2

Cooking Time 60

Servings L

Equipment

1 glass carboy (1 gal) with airlock
1 large fermentation glass jar (or 2nd carboy)
1 Funnel
1 Kitchen whisk (or large spoon)
5 Pressure resistant glass bottles
1 racking cane
1 hydrometer (density meter) (optional)
Star San Sanitizer

Ingredients

1 kg clover honey (or other light honey)
1 sachet Champagne yeast
3.5 L filtered water
100 g blueberries (frozen)
100 g raspberries (frozen)
100 g blackberries (frozen)
yeast food (optional)

Steps

Sanitizing the Equipment

Clean your kitchen sink and secure the stopper.
Fill your sink with cold water to ¾ of its height, or about 20 litres.
Pour in 2 tbsp. (30ml) of Star San sanitizer.
Immerse the jar, carboy, funnel, and whisk.
Leave them in contact with the sanitizer for at least 2 minutes. (no rinsing required)

Preparing the Wort

Dissolve the contents of the yeast sachet in a glass of warm water and set aside.
Pour the water and honey into the large fermentation jar.
Using the whisk, mix thoroughly until the honey is completely dissolved.
Pour the yeast into the jar and mix again.

Primary Fermentation

Pour the contents of the jar into the carboy using the funnel.
Fit the lid and airlock and fill the airlock with water.
Let it ferment at room temperature until there is less than 1 airlock bubble per minute (about 1 to 2 months).

Maceration

Crush the fruit with a blender.
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.

Bottling

Rack the mead from the jar to the bottles, taking care not to transfer any fruit residue.
Let the bottles stand for 1 month at room temperature (above 18°C/65°F) to allow carbonation to occur.

Notes

Note: Light and fruity, this mead can be drunk very quickly! However, it will gain in finesse if aged for another year or two at room temperature and away from light.

Have you tried it?Share and tag @revolutionfermentation!

Accelerating the Fermentation

It is possible to speed up fermentation by using yeast food. They supplement the nutrients available in the wort and ensure that yeast has what it needs to ferment successfully.

The fermentation time can thus be reduced to about 2 weeks.

Monitoring the Fizz in the Bottles

The amount of carbon dioxide depends on the amount of sugar in the mead at the time of bottling.

This gas, created by the yeast, will be trapped in the bottles until they are opened. The more sugar, the more fizz.

Sugar is measured with a hydrometer (density meter).

A density of 1.007 will give a sparkling mead
A density of 1.005 will give a fizzy mead
A density of 1.003 will give a pearly mead
A density of 1.000 will give a non-fizzy mead

If the density is higher than 1.007, it is recommended to prolong the fermentation in order to lower the density to the desired level. Alternatively, sugar can be added to achieve the desired density if it is too low.

It is also possible to not carbonate your melomel. After the maceration stage, the mead is racked from the jar to the carboy, then left to ferment for a few weeks until a density of about 1,000 is reached. The mead is then chilled again and bottled (preferably in swing-top bottles).

Clarifying the Mead

To have a very clear mead without deposits, you can:

Prolong the first fermentation as long as possible
Before racking, place the carboy in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours to precipitate the deposits (cold crash).
Add an extra racking step in the recipe (preceded by a cold crash).

Can I Use Fresh Fruit?

It is possible to use fresh fruit, but it is better to freeze them. This releases more juice and flavour.

Why Is This Recipe So Magical?

The use of light honey in this recipe results in a mild flavoured melomel that clarifies well while adding a floral touch to the fruit. An exceptional blend of flavours!

The three fruits in the recipe work exceptionally well together! The raspberry is the most dominant fruit in taste in this recipe.

The blueberry, on the other hand, brings a less fruity, but more graceful aroma. The blackberry is even more subtle, bringing a very light fruity taste.

The combination of the three is absolutely divine. And it is mainly the blackberries and blueberries that give this melomel its beautiful ruby colour.

These fruits also contain a certain amount of non-fermentable residual sugars, so that the melomel is not 100% dry (but almost), which is also very pleasant.

The champagne yeast adds that festive touch and the champagne mouthfeel!

Inspirations for Variations

For those who like to experiment, try other combinations with berries from your region like haskap berries, cranberries, sea buckthorn berries, etc.

Have fun experimenting!

Berry Mead Recipe (Melomel)