Do you mead guys think I could get by with a recipe as simple as, say 12 lbs of honey, 4 lbs of blueberries and yeast? Can that make a good mead or do I need to get more complicated?
I've never made blueberry mead, but I saw this recipe on a different forum:
Recipe:
12oz pkg Frozen Blueberries (thawed to room temp)
3.5lbs clover honey
1 tsp Flieschman's yeast
water to 1 gallon
OPTIONAL: 1 vanilla bean, split/scraped (this was an afterthought, but sounds like it would be good
this is a take -off on the Joe's Ancient Orange mead, hence the flieschman's yeast. Apparently, this foams up a LOT from the blueberries so they recommend leaving lots of headspace until the most active fermentation subsides, then top up.
this recipe is as easy as it gets- I can't vouch for it though.
I think the simple recipe you're thinking of would work just fine, too. Maybe a nice neutral clover honey.
Lorena
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I have made the recipe above. In two months (give or take a week or two) you have a very drinkable mead. Not a great one but a decent one. However, I would cut the honey back some. It comes out very sweet. I would use no more than 3 lbs (and I like them sweet).
I also have made a more traditional mead with blueberries that I think will be great in another 6 months or so. I oaked it and it is still too pronounced.
Here was my recipe.
Blueberry Oaked Mead - (Semi-sweet) 5 gallons
13.5 lbs Clover honey (12 in initial must)
2 lbs blueberries in primary, 8 lbs in secondary
Water to 5 gallons
10g Lalvin 71B rehydrated in 12.5 g of GoFerm
4.5g FermaidK (2 additions)
4.5g DAP (2 additions)
I mixed 12 lbs of honey with enough warm water (120ish) until dissolved. I froze the blueberries, thawed and lighly crushed them. They were then added to the must along with nutrients. Water was added to 5 gallons. When cooled, I innoculated the must with the rehydrated yeast and oxygenated for 1 minute. I injected oxygen for the next 3 days and on the second day at the 1/3 sugar break I added my second dose of nutrients.
When I transferred it to secondary(1 month) I added 8 lbs of blueberries and an additional 1.5 lbs of honey. Fermentation took off again. When it finally slowed back down I wracked off the blueberries and added 2 oz of med. toast french oak cubes and a single vanilla bean (cut and scraped). I let it sit on the cubes for a month. This took about 4 months total. I now it have it bottled (needed the carboy) and it is aging. By next summer it should be great (I hope). My FG when bottled was 1.012.
Next time I might add a little more honey up front but I prefer sweet meads.
If you make the quick recipe then you can definitely get by without nutrient. It was intended to be simple. Otherwise I would add a little yeast nutrient. Will it work without it . . . yes. Would it ferment better with . . . yes. Even though the blueberries have nutrient value, I have found that I get less off flavors from the yeast (less strain on them) when I use nutrient in the must. But, it is up to you.
I have a batch very similar to the one Yooper describes in secondary right now. I am experimenting with some different twists on Joe's Ancient Orange recipe. This one has about 12oz of thawed frozen blueberries (homegrown), and a cup of ruby grapefruit juice in place of the orange slices. I also added the raisins as called for in Joe's recipe, as they are there primarily to provide nutrition for the yeast. I nabbed a sip today just to see how it was doing and it is coming along quite nicely. You might want to try the raisins instead of the commercial nutrient.
Dude, this was my first mead recipe given to me by a member of the SCA...verbatim:
1 gallon jug of apple juice (or water)
3lbs of honey
1 packet of bread yeast, not the 'quick rise' type
Mix it all together in the jug, and fit the cap loosely on top. Drink after 1 month.
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I made it, and it tasted like apple flavored Zippo fluid...but we drank it all!
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