Melomel Fruit Addition Calculator
Pick a fruit style and your batch size to see how much fruit to weigh, how much sugar it brings, and what those points do to the must's gravity and potential ABV.
Results
- Extra sugar from the fruit
- 307 g
- Added gravity points
- 6.2
- Potential ABV from the fruit
- up to 0.8% ABV
Add fruit in secondary for aroma and fresh flavor, in primary for color and body - or split the dose across both. Fruit in primary ferments with the must; secondary fruit needs patience and a tight airlock.
How the fruit math works
Fruit weight comes straight from the per-gallon recipe rate: pounds per gallon x 453.592 g, scaled by the batch in gallons. The fruit's sugar percent gives the extra fermentable sugar, and dividing that sugar by the must volume and 2.61 converts it into gravity points; each point carries the same 0.13125 percent ABV the gravity formulas use, which works out to roughly 19.9 g of sugar per liter for every percent of alcohol. Actual extraction varies with how the fruit is crushed and pressed, so treat the figures as planning numbers.
The fruit's extra sugar rides on top of the honey bill, so size the base must with the mead must calculator, then keep the ferment healthy with the yeast nutrient calculator - fruit-heavy melomels still need the full schedule.
Frequently asked questions
Should fruit go in primary or secondary?
Primary fruit fermenting under the cap gives deeper color and body but scrubs delicate aroma; secondary fruit keeps brighter, fresher character and is the classic route for berries. Many melomel makers split the difference - a base dose in primary and a smaller aromatic dose in secondary.
How much fruit is too much?
Above roughly 3 lb per gallon the must can pulp up so thick that the yeast struggle and racking becomes miserable; very juicy fruit also thins the body. If you want maximum fruit character, two staggered moderate additions beat one enormous one.
Do I need to pasteurize or freeze the fruit first?
Freezing first is the easy win: it bursts cell walls, so the juice and flavor release better, and it knocks back most wild microbes. A Campden dose at addition time covers the rest. Boiling fruit cooks off the very aromas a melomel is after, so avoid it.