Boysenberry Jam/Jelly mead

[mjhughes]

Hello,

I wanted to start a boysenberry mead and Havent been able to find a supplyer that stocks fresh or frozen fruits yet. Is there a way to make a mead from the jam or jelly?? Anyone know of any supplyers that may carry the fruits?

they also make a boysenberry syrup (maple syrup with boysenberry added)that i can use as a last resort?

Thank you

Matt

 

[wayneb]

Hi, Matt. If you don't mind paying a premium for high quality fruit, there's always the west coast suppliers who sell IQF (individually quick frozen) berries. Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/Willamette-Valley-Fruit-Company-Boysenberry/dp/B0028M6W2S

Making mead out of any jam or jelly can be done, but you're going to have to put up with the incredibly high pectin concentration in any set fruit preserves. Pectic enzymes will help, but your mead will still likely take an uncommonly long time to clear. Additionally, any cooked fruit preserve will taste like the preserve, not like fresh fruit. So if it is real boysenberry fruit flavor that you're after, I'd suggest going for the fruit itself, either fresh or flash frozen.

 

[Medsen Fey]

If you do plan to use jelly/preserves, use extra pectic enzyme and beware of adding acid. Some of the commercial products add a lot of acid (citric in many cases) and this frequently causes slow/stuck fermentations, especially when you add more acid blend up front. Save any acid additions until after the fermentation is complete unless you can monitor and adjust the pH.

 

[mjhughes]

wow is there anything amazon doesn't sell, I think i will stick with the fresh fruit. 8lbs should be enough for a 5gal recipe? I am thinking a strong sweet mead 18lbs of honey and 4lb primary and 4lb secondary.

This will be my 1st attempt at a mead not from a recipe so any suggestions would help. I assume i will need nutrients and energizer 2tbls of each? check the p.h before pitching the yeast, and some pectic enzyme( not sure on ammounts).

Anything else?

Thank you again for your help

 

[wayneb]

I personally like lots of "big fruit" presence when I do a melomel, so the minimum I'd consider for a 5 gallon recipe would be 15 to 18 lbs of fruit. But that's just me.

Seriously, take some time to formulate your recipe, post it up here, and we'll be happy to provide feedback. However, the question "how much fruit is enough" is really a matter of personal taste, so we can only give you general guidelines. You'll have to figure out how much fruit to add in your recipes based on your own taste, and experience. I can tell you that 8 lbs of fruit will give you a nice mid-strength red color, and perhaps enough fruit presence to satisfy you. It will be more than a hint of fruit flavor, but it won't knock your socks off, either.

 

[mjhughes]

thank you, I would't have known that wasnt enough I want the finished product to have a strong berry flavor. I dont want any "well it has a mild boysenberry flavor" so if i should go to 24 let me know.

ok so so far we have:
18lbs good honey
16lbs boysenberry's
2tbls yeast nutrients
2tbls yeast energizer
?? pectic enzyme (not sure how to figure out how much to use)

Check the p.h. before pitching and make corrections to 3.7.

8lbs in the primary and 8lb in the secondary,

I would like a suggestion on a yeast, I have used d-47, champagne and 71b-1122 but none have finished yet.

 

[Medsen Fey]

The amount of pectic enzyme recommended on the package should work okay.

Unless the pH is really low, like below 3.2, I wouldn't make any adjustment until after the fermentation is going for a day or so.

71B could be very good. RC212 is great for berries, but you have to use extra nutrients because it is a hungry yeast. I still like K1V for berry batches. There are lots of choices.

 

[dr9]

My gf makes jams and jellies which I experiement with in bbq sauces.

I have found that a puree of fresh fruit, strained, is better than jam or jelly. The jam/jelly has a large amount of added sugar which "brings out" the flavor more, psychologically, when you put a spoon in your mouth right out of the jar. In a fermented drink, I imagine, and have read here, the sugar will be fermented leaving you with an ultra-pasteurized memory of fruit in your final product.

If you decide to puree your fruit and strain it, and add it like a juice, I recommend freezing it first. All the little cells in the flesh bust apart, releasing more juice when the blade spins.

And if you are feeling Frenchy... roast some of the fruit before you puree it. It's ok if some of it burns, and it's also OK if you salt it a little before you roast it.

What is a boysenberry? Is that a blackberry?

 

[wayneb]

Boysenberries are a cross between a couple of "wild" strains of berry, including blackberries, raspberries and loganberries. Although they were originally the product of a single farmer experimenting with hybrid berries on his farm in the Pacific Northwest, the guy who started Knott's berry farm really made them popular by transplanting and cultivating the berries in Orange County, California, back in the late 1930's, I think.

 

[ash]

this gives me an idea: I have some homemade jam (so it contains a lot of sugar but no preservatives). I think this will be used in my next bach of mead !

 

[jug8mead]

Hi Guys I love your forum!

I just started home brewing mead in Aug after googling into it on line. All that talk of honey wine on Spartacus series got me curious and has been a wonderful journey of discovery
on my latest small batch (basic honey water raisins bread yeast recipe) which was about two weeks old and still slightly bubbling. i racked into secondary with a strawberry jam water mix.

here's the interesting part. after one day this mead is crystal clear absent haze. i could read a newspaper thru the bottle. a large gelatin mass now sits at the bottom. much clearer than my first batch with is still aging bottled which is clear but still somewhat hazy.

cheers from Borneo !