"Melomel" is the name for a mead with fruit in it. Have you ever made a melomel and was disappointed by the fact that even though you had a full pound of fruit in there it ended up only having a hint of the fruit?

Or maybe you are going to make your first melomel and you want it to have a fruitier taste!

This tutorial gives you some tips and techniques for achieving a more potent fruit flavor in your mead making.

Includes a video at the bottom of the page

There are a whole lot of variations when it comes to making a fruit mead melomel. And there are a whole lot of different fruits that you can use to make your mead. For this tutorial I will simplify things a little bit and assume you are using some kind of typical fruit and you are using a pound of it. That's pretty standard.

Breaking down the fruit

The whole secret is to break down the fruit as efficiently as possible. This allows the juices within it to be released into the mead. And there are several different ways to do it.

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces. This causes much more surface area in contact with the mead and it breaks up the cells.
2. Put the cut fruits into freezer or ziploc bags and put the bags in the freezer for 24 hours. This freezing process causes ice crystals which break open the cells in the fruit.
3. About the honey you use. Clover honey is a good choice for a fruit mead. This is because clover honey is mild. It doesn't overpower the fruit flavor. Other types of honey can be a bit too strong - particularly wildflower honey.

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces. And cut in ways that really break up the fruit. Don't cut gently with the grain. Cut against the grain. The goal is to allow the juices of the fruit to escape into the mead.

2. Put the cut fruits into freezer or ziploc bags and put the bags in the freezer for 24 hours. This freezing process causes the fluid in the cells to expand and burst the cells.

3. Before adding the fruit to you mead you should break it up with a mallet. The goal is to further break open the cells and release the juices.

4. And for the safety of the yeast you need to bring the temperature of the fruit back up to about room temperature. You can do this by waiting. Or you can do this by warming it in heated water. Note that you may have to put the fruit in new bags after hammering.

5. Then go a head and add it to your mead.

Tip: I used a gallon jug with airlock for my fruit mead. But you can use a fermentation pail. It makes the addition and handling of fruit very easy.

Watch the Video Here:

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2 Gallon Fermentation Pail with lid and drilled hole for airlock.

• Perfect size for making one gallon batches
• Included grommet Hole for airlock, airlock NOT included
• Metal or plastic handle depending on supplier

Home Brew Ohio Glass Wine Fermenter Includes Rubber Stopper and Airlock, 1 gallon Capacity

My Kindle book on how to make mead. It is a no-nonsense easy guide to making a one gall on batch of mead. And one gallon is a good place to start. It keeps your expenses down and it yields four bottles of wine. You can get it in the kindle store.

My paperback Book on Mead Making

I have ebooks above if you want to get off to a quick start in mead making but some people really prefer a regular book and I have one of those too. Read more about it here and you can order it from amazon.com And as usual for me this is a small, no nonsense book that takes the approach of showing you in easy terms how to make mead.