TomTwanks

Recipes 

Hey guys, new to HBT so thanks for supplying me with unlimited knowledge from your experiences! Anyways I really want to brew up a batch of melomel. I ordered 12 lbs of orange blossom honey for this. I plan on taking my honey, 5 lbs of fresh or frozen blueberry, some yeast nutrient, and water and warming it up to around 160 to let the ingredients meld together, then pour it in the primary with 2 packs of lalvin ec1118. My questions would be does this look like a solid recipe? Any additional flavors that might work well with these ingredients? I was thinking of adding a can of frozen juice to this just not sure what yet. And lastly, what would be my estimated abv? id like to aim for around 14-15 for this 5 gallon batch. Any info is appreciated and thanks in advance!
Cheers, Tom

nessus

Recipes 

I'm not sure about how high your abv will get but 1118 can easily reach 20%, do you this to be a sweet melomel or a dry one? If you are using real fruit use the pectin enzyme, freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw method to help get the sugars out and prevent a pectin haze later on.

Any time you heat the honey, you'll lose a little bit of the nuances that were in the honey (subtle flavors) but I don't think you'll miss anything since you're doing a melomel.

Remember to properly rehydrate your yeast for the best results!

Arpolis

Recipes 

Assuming you have a final volume of about 5gallons your gravity should be in the 1.09 range. This will give you an ABV of around 12% if taken dry. That should be perfect for a first time melomel.

Just a few things I would suggest on the recipe:

First chuck the ec-1118 yeast and go with Lalvin k1v-1116 or red star Cote Des Blanc. Those yeast will leave a much better aroma and frutier taste. Ec-1118 yeast is great for really high gravity brews or when you have stuck fermentations but IMO not the best to start a simple melomel like this.

Second put only half your fruit in the primary. Save half of it in the freezer and a couple months later when you rack to secondary add the fruit there. That will help to have a fruitier taste still.

Third add in a dose of pectic enzyme in the primary with the blueberries. It will help with juice extraction and also help from having any pectic haze in your finished product.

Finally think about adding in 3-5 tsp of lemon juice. The older blueberries get they seem to become less acidic and the added citric acid will make the brew taste more like "fresh" blueberries.

Now that I have told you to change everything lol just have fun with this. It really is hard to mess up a mead. Worst case scenario is that instead of drinking this 9 months from now you wait a year befor it is drinkable. Time fixes all with meads.

__________________
A painting says a thousand words. But a painting while on good mead just looks funny!

TomTwanks

Recipes 

Thanks guys - def will add pectic enzyme and the lemon juice. Blueberry and lemon was my origjnall idea but just was worried about it being to acidic, so I won't add too much. As far as the yeast goes, I think I may stay with it figuring I already bought 2 packs and might add additional honey anyways. Thanks a lot! If you have any other suggestions just let me know - really helpful!