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I want to add 40oz of dried blueberries to my base mead.

How should i go about adding the fruit. Should I boil water then chill, add water, blueberries and a few campden tbs to my clean carboy and then 24 hours later i can rack my base mead onto the berries.

Or should i rack directly onto the berries and campden?

Open to any good suggestions.....

Thanks
 
Personally, I would steep the died berries in a covered container with just enough hot water to cover them for about 24 hours. I would then add the reconstituted berries (with any leftover water) to your base mead.

I do not believe you'll need to use any Campden unless the berries were stored in an uncovered container.
 
Holding the blueberries at 150f or so for ten minutes should pasturize them enough to use. Racking the mead on to them will certainly rehydrate them enough. Best of all, you can eat the mead-rehydrated berries after! Yum!

Great idea, I think I'll mix up a few gallons of base mead and try different dried fruits.
 
I racked directly onto 40oz of dried blueberries.
OG 1.091
SG at racking 1.045 (before berries)

It dropped .046 over 27 days. After racking i considered that maybe i should have continued the primary another few weeks. There was a thick layer of lees. And airlock activity was nearly none.

It's been on the berries 3 days now, and there is no real activity. There are a few bubbles moving through the bulk liquid but not much through the air lock. It is hydrating the blueberries and gases are leaving the berries i think.

I'm afraid i didn't aerate enough.

What should i do to jump start? Aerate and re-pitch a starter? Is it too late to aerate?
 
It is too late to aerate, that could cause cardboard like flavors. If you want, make a starter of yeast, probably dry yeast, and get it to high krauzen (aerate the starter instead of the mead). I mean like crazy foamy madness. When it gets to that point, toss the whole thing in the mead, foam and all. With the yeast being tottaly active like that, the chance the alcohol level and lack of sugars won't be such a shock. Toss some yeast nutrient in with it and good luck!
 
I racked directly onto 40oz of dried blueberries.
OG 1.091, SG at racking 1.045 (before berries)...It's been on the berries 3 days now, and there is no real activity.
I would agree that there is a problem with a mead that only drops 46 points in 27 days.

Before applying a "shotgun" correction approach, it may be helpful to first know your base mead recipe, the steps you took to assemble it, and anything else you did to get to the point where you racked it onto the dried berries.

BTW, are you certain the berries were not sufilted? Some dried fruits are... ;)
 
my vote is to rack directly onto the dried blueberries if they came right out of the package.

This is what I did!
And be prepared for renewed fermentation. It can and will take a while. Maybe a nice stir (not more o2) There is a LOT of sugar and nutrients in Dry Blueberries. You could pitch another packet of yeast if nothing is really happening. What yeast did you use, you are going to be very highg abv after the berry addition. Maybe some EC-1118 or Premiere Cuvee?

If mine is any indication, you are in for something great here!
 
I would agree that there is a problem with a mead that only drops 46 points in 27 days.

Before applying a "shotgun" correction approach, it may be helpful to first know your base mead recipe, the steps you took to assemble it, and anything else you did to get to the point where you racked it onto the dried berries.

BTW, are you certain the berries were not sufilted? Some dried fruits are... ;)

15# Clover honey
Spring water up to 5gals
1 pack nutrient/energizer
EC-1118 rehydrated and pitched

Boiled nutrient/energizer to dissolve.
I shook jugs of water to aerate.
Blended all ingredients in carboy, mixed throughly.
Fermentation kicked off in 18 hours and was fairly steady for 2 weeks.
Then slowed, and started to settle out a lot.

At 27 days
Racked onto 40oz (2 bags) of dried blueberries.

They were these:
farawayfoods_2028_1509837

I don't believe they were sulfated or preserved but i don't have the package anymore....
I get 1 bubble every 10 minutes occasionally. It is a deep dark purple and looks amazing but very little activity.

I have an active starter of EC-1118 i was going to slowly blend a few ounces of must with the starter and try to keep it rolling.
 
Bump...

It's still inactive after 5 days on berries.... Think I should have let it finish primary to completion before messing with berries.
 
Those berries are exactly what I used.
and your recipe is...with the exception of yeast....exactly what I did.
Pitch some more of that 1118 yeast and some nutrient / Energizer and see what happens.
 
15# Clover honey, Spring water up to 5gals, 1 pack nutrient/energizer, EC-1118 rehydrated and pitched, Boiled nutrient/energizer to dissolve., I shook jugs of water to aerate. Blended all ingredients in carboy, mixed throughly. Fermentation kicked off in 18 hours and was fairly steady for 2 weeks. Then slowed, and started to settle out a lot.
While the recipe is straightforward, there is a big discrepancy between your stated OG and what the recipe should produce. You reported an OG of 1.091, it should have been more like 1.106.

Next, EC-1118 should have easily gone through 100+ points in 7-10 days. The fact that you reported only 46 points in 27 days is indicative of some problem. BTW, what was the ambient area temperature during the 27 day fermentation period?

Either your hydrometer readings are "off" for some reason (equipment or human error), or your must pH is extremely low (acidic). Based on the simple nature of the recipe (assuming no gross measurement errors), and the yeast being used, I suspect your actual SG is much lower than you believe it to be.

BTW, there is no need to boil your nutrients & energizer. Simply add them dry, or pre-mix into a small amount of water. Although I haven't looked into the possible ramifications of boiling them, I would not be surprised if the boiling process somehow affected their nutrient potential.
 
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