Ideas about a dry black/blueberry

So this is my second batch after my first jaom that i started a week after. Made a few mistakes, but its turning out pretty good so far. The only thing is, its very very dry. which isnt necessarily a bad thing because its delicious. I would have to say that it tastes strikingly similar to a good cabernet! It was racked after two weeks onto some more fruit and fermented quite a bit for a solid week and a half and now its starting to dwindle. here's the recipe.

3 packets of Lalvin 71B-1122 (mistake, but not severe)

9 lbs of honey (wildflower)

2 pints blueberries

2 pints blackberries

6 bags of blackberry tea

water to 3 gal


after i racked it i put it onto 3 lbs of new blackberries as well as 3 lbs of new blueberries and now the color is some of the darkest purple the human eye can fathom!

Since its so dry and i was kind of hoping for a bit sweeter, i was wondering if i could rack this 3 gallons into a 5 gallon carboy with another gallon of water mixed with 3 more lbs honey? would that dilute the flavor too much? should i get more berries? should i use the existing berries? they've been on there 2 weeks so far. or should i just leave it alone? like i said. its just a tad bit dry.

pic related: what it looked like before the new berries darkened the heck out of it!

you may want to wait and see exactly how it turns out then back sweeten it.

I would not reccomend diluting with water, but than again I have never done it.
You could dilute more honey in some water and add that, depending on how much your yeast will ferment out, it could end up on the sweeter side.

As for the extra berries thats up to you, do you want more of that flavor?
Tartness from the blue, savoryness from the black(im going to have to try this one out that sounds awesome btw)

I have some vanilla blueberry mead going, didnt use a WHOLE lot of berries so I'm waiting to see how it tastes when I rack, then add more if I want more of that tart flavor.

Yeah, it tastes delicious, but dry. I saved a gallon and racked it onto oak, then I racked this on top of 3 more lbs of honey and the 4 lbs of berries With some more water. I added the water simply to fill the 5 gallon carboy further and end up with more mead in the long run. I don't know where I got the idea for this recipe, but it sounded good in my head. With my first batch ever only a week into the primary, I started this one. I forgot to mention that I added a vanilla bean, as well. When it's done, if it's good enough, i'll put the recipe on here. But I will say this, I tasted it a week into the secondary and it was absolutely delicious, if you're a dry wine fan like i . I have high hopes for this one.

Doomsday said:

I have some vanilla blueberry mead going, didnt use a WHOLE lot of berries so I'm waiting to see how it tastes when I rack, then add more if I want more of that tart flavor.

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From what i've seen so far, i got way more color and flavor out of the fruits in the secondary than the primary (at least as far as these berries are concerned). I guess that during the primary with the yeast in it's feeding frenzy eats up most of what the fruit has to offer leaving you with whatever is leftover. Tastes great, but you will get a much sweeter and fruitier mead if you add to the secondary as well. If that's what you're looking for, i'd definitely say to put a good amount in when you rack, as well as another vanilla bean. Be sure to leave some head space, though. These berries swell up!

My wife and I are dry wine fans so if this turns out to be awesome you better post the recipe!

Oh, i definitely will. I'm glad that i saved some and am aging it by itself. i wanted a few good bottles of it the way it was. I may even do a 5 gallon batch just dry next time depending on how much i like the more fruity version.

Had another taste yesterday and it tastes about the same. i'm considering bottling very soon. One thing, though. Seeing as how i added upwards of 10lbs of fruit to this, it doesn't taste fruity at ALL. I cant taste black or blueberry so i'm considering adding some juice before bottling. Your thoughts? Also, its has been racked 3 times and this is the third vanilla bean i have put into it. I cannot get it to have even the slightest hint of vanilla.

How are you adding the vanilla beans?

Are cutting them open and scraping them and adding it all in?

Fathand said:

How are you adding the vanilla beans?

Are cutting them open and scraping them and adding it all in?

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yep!

i will say this, the gallon that i'm aging with oak chips has a hint of vanilla taste to it. not sure if its the vanilla coming out or just what oak naturally does. i guess that's what it does to whiskey

Put the stuff i oaked in the bottle today. I'm quite proud of myself!

And the rest of it in bottles!

Nice! Right before you bottled did you note the berry flavors beginning to come through more?

I did one just like this way earlier (2/7/2012) but the yeast I used was the Red Star cote des blancs. I tasted it after about a month and it was pretty dry, hot with alcohol and a tart berry flavor. Your yeast can go to about 14% alcohol. I was going to suggest that you try what I am going to do with mine from advice I've received here; stabilize, back sweeten, clear, bottle. Your bottles and labels look awesome by the way. I can't believe you're able to drink it already. From what I've read it's going to need at least a year or two to be good.

I used to be a mead drinker ... till i took an arrow to the knee

haha, great comments. no, to be honest, it is was a tad dry, as i've mentioned, it was more like a cabernet, so i took some of it and killed it with sorbate and corked them, and the ones that will be sparkling, i added some blueberry juice to backsweeten and they already look like they're carbonating nicely. i'll try one after 2 weeks, then play the waiting game. its definitely drinkable now, so i'm just imagining what it'll be like in 6 months or a year!

It has been my experience that fruit flavors are more detectable in a semi sweet to sweet wine. Take a small sample and sweeten see if you notice a difference.

The ones that I want to be sweet have been sweetened

A side note to this recipe. I've immediately made a second batch after bottling because i was so happy with how this turned out. My second batch is now one week into the primary and i just took a gravity reading. After i tasted it, i poured a small glass right out of primary which i am now enjoying. This recipe has been so delicious i'm drinking straight from the primary, folks.

That's great...are you going to post the final recipe now?

i made one little tweak to this second batch, so i'll see which one turned out better and post it. are you looking to start it real soon?

Not within the next week, anyway LOL. Trying to source some ingredients right now. Just whenever you feel comfortable posting it is fine.

I'll pm you soon and maybe we can collaborate something for the books