arthertonjohn

Recipes 

I've gone thru the forum reading and want advise on first 1 gal batch ...
I have 2 lbs frozen blueberrys
3 lbs clover honey
no pectic enzyme or nutrients

i'm thinking use some store bought grape juice for nutrients + strong tea for tannin

i want a quick ferment for first time, i have ordered DAP and EC-1118 yeast.

I want a HG quick mead ... asking for advise

I understand the need for nutes and will get some raisins for now but
I have no LBS close enough to go on bicycle lol .

how bad is it going to affect clarity with no pectic enzyme?

i'm on a very tight budget so simple/cheap is the word!

Kauai_Kahuna

Recipes 

If this is your first batch and your just starting. Don't worry about haze.
It will not affect the taste, or the enjoyment of drinking your own brew.

Then if you know your hooked and want to do it a lot more, there a lot of homebrew stores you can order things from, and if you order 2 buckets for fermenting, a bottling bucket, along with all the parts and additions it will be worth it after a few batches. But make sure you have the patience and desire to do this hobby first. Then your curse us while thanking us.

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summersolstice

Recipes 

Try adding a handful of raisins to the grape juice but, at any rate, high gravity and quick don't generally go well together. You'll need some residual sweetness to offset the alcohol burn.

arthertonjohn

Recipes 

Thanks guys i have brewed stout beers in the past ... so the blueberrys are going to leave some haze from the pectin right? is there anything i can get at local grocery store that will take care of the pectin, again i am on a tight budget.

With 2 lbs berrys and 3 lbs honey it will be a sweet mead right? i'm gonna use lavlin ec1118

arthertonjohn

Recipes 

rofl alcohol burn ... try everclear haha

summersolstice

Recipes 

No, it will not be sweet unless you back sweeten.

arthertonjohn

Recipes 

should i increase the honey? 2 lbs berrys + 3 lbs honey is a lot i thought ... maybe 4lbs honey?

arthertonjohn

Recipes 

i have a 5 gallon water jug with spigot on bottom, i'm kinda leaning toward doing a 5 gallon batch and rack off to 1 gallon clear plastic juice jugs when the time comes. is 2lbs berrys enoug for 5 gallon ? that would be what about 18 lbs honey?

wayneb

Recipes 

With only two lbs of berries in a 5 gallon batch, you'll get some very light red color, but almost no blueberry flavor, even if you waited to add them until you got to secondary fermentation. Blueberries a fairly delicate flavored and when I do a blueberry melomel I tend to really dump in the fruit -- I personally do not think that 4 lbs per gallon is enough!

As far as pectic haze goes, if the berries are kept cold (and have been kept cold from picking time until the time that you use them), the haze will be slight and will tend to clear as pectins bind to the tannins provided by the fruit skins. However if the berries were ever heated, say in the process of pasteurization, then all bets are off unless you can add some pectic enzyme.

Still, if this is your first melomel, don't stress over it too much. A little "purple haze" can be a good thing!

MikeRLynch

Recipes 

God I've been making blueberry mead for over three years and this name never occured to me...

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