Double Blueberry Melomel

In this recipe I use store bought blueberries and blueberry blossom honey.

I mixed
15 lbs of blueberry blossom honey
60 oz of store bought blueberrys
5 tsp Nutrients
2 tsp Energizer
5 campden tabs

I first froze the berries for a few days then thawed and smashed with paddel in bucket. Then I filled bucket with tap water to 5 gallon mark.

Let it sit overnight then pitched yeasties. I used EC-1118
SG=1.130

I read about adding nutrients and energizer through out the fermenting process, so I got a wine thief and took a sample. The gravity was at 1.044! I added 1 1/2 tsp of nutrients and 5/8 tsp of energizer. It seems I missed the 1/3 mark, but I'm still learning and don't have all the equipment yet.

I was planning on racking it off over 1 lb of honey and 5lb of frozen blueberries a series of 3 times, but I tasted the mixing spoon after I was done and quite pleased about the level of blueberry taste. Also I read that by racking it off I am getting rid of yeasties that could be hard at work on the additional honey I plan on adding.

So I am now thinking of adding the last 3lbs of honey and waiting for it to ferment out, then racking onto 5lbs of frozen wild blueberries.

I also saw some blueberry concentrate at the grocery store and was thinking about using this. I need to double check the label for preservatives.

Any suggestions on whether I should add the rest of my honey now or stick with the original plan. Also any thoughts on frozen blueberrys vs concentrate would be helpful.

This is my first 5 batch mead and it already seems to be turning out better than my JAOM. My JAOM smells like bread/beer/oranges so I didn't taste it. My blueberry tasting made me want to sample a shot sized glass. :rockin:

I've decided to do a 4 part racking series and add 1 lb of honey and 1 13 oz bottle of Wild Blueberry Juice concnetrate for the first 3 rackings. The juice is non-pasturized with no preservatives. Should I use a campden tab or pectic enzymes on the juice a day before racking? Or will I be ok just racking my mead on top of the honey/concentrate mixture in a carboy. My mead is slowing down to about 1 bubble every 45 seconds vs. 1 bubble every 2 seconds at the height of the fermenting process. The smell I get from the airlock is sort of like blueberry drag racer fuel.

I use pectic enzyme every time I use actual fruit, and often when I use just the juice from the fruit. I always add it when I add the fruit/juice. I always rack onto the fruit/juice/pectic enzyme instead of adding enzyme before racking, this is easier & can save you from some problems, like foaming up when you add a dry powder to an active fermentation; or even miscalculation in volume/expansion of the fruit. Regards, GF.

Thanks for the advice. I think I am going to add pectic enzyme to the concentrate bottle, put the lid back on, shake it and then add it to the carboy I am going to rack into before I rack. Then add the honey and rack.

Hey Lightning, If you are still posting..I'd love to hear where this brew is at now...how's the taste, what's the S.G. now, etc etc?

I'd like to know what kind of blueberry concentrate you found. I have a batch that I put blueberries in primary and also racked onto more berries in secondary. It looks beautiful and tastes OK, but it could used a little more "berry"-ness.

I racked this after 3 weeks and a SG of 1.001

It looked like this http://yfrog.com/5aholloween047j
It was very hot but had some blueberry taste. I was hoping for more sweetness and blueberry taste so I racked it off onto a pound of honey and a 13 oz bottle of wild blueberry concentrate. It is in a glass carboy now and there is no airlock activity and more headspace than I wanted.

http://img190.imageshack.us/i/bbcarboy001.jpg/Is that too much headspace? I'm thinking of getting a 4 gallon carboy...

The plan is to give it a couple of weeks then take a gravity reading. When I do that I will sample it to decide if I want to add more honey and/or another bottle of concentrate. Right now it is very dark and when I put a headlamp on the other side of it I can only see the two LED bulbs.

Even with it tasting a bit like blueberry drag racing fuel it does have more taste than the raspberry redstone I drank this weekend so I am encouraged.

No, that amount of headspace in a carboy will be just fine..no worries. Keep us posted on this as you do anything with it, taste, test S.G. or otherwise...I am following this one, because I have a bunch of fresh wild blueberries I picked this fall and about 3 gallons of fresh blueberry juice that I want to do something with..but I don't want to ruin it. SO am looking for a good, tastey blueberry recipe that SWMBO will like.

IMHO, I believe that you may have too much headspace in that particular carboy, especially if you're planning on bulk aging your mead. I would recommend going out and picking up a 3 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon jug as well. You really don't want that much exposure to oxygen with that mead.

he didn't say he was bulk aging, he said he racked onto more honey and and blueberry concentrate, he may not have any noticable airlock activity, but you can bet that brew will be putting off gas yet. So again, I'd leave the headroom, UNTIL you decide to either bulk age, or bottle.

Dan

Just to clarify I am not bulk aging yet. Just giving my mead some time to digest the honey/concentrate after the last racking. I plan on taking gravity reading in 2 weeks or so and doing a tasting then. I will decide then if I am going to rack off onto more honey and/or concentrate.


I will run by the store at lunch to look up the maker of the concentrate for jcobbs.

jcobbs said:

I'd like to know what kind of blueberry concentrate you found. I have a batch that I put blueberries in primary and also racked onto more berries in secondary. It looks beautiful and tastes OK, but it could used a little more "berry"-ness.

Click to expand...

This is what I used http://www.cherryridgejuice.com/Cherry/index.aspx
On the right hand side of the page is the pricing for the Wild Blueberry Juice Concentrate. I bought a second bottle today for my next racking. The side label says "One table spoon is equal to the juice of one cup of fresh blueberries." So one bottle is equal to the juice of 26 cups of blueberries! Sounds great, but I will know more in about a week and a half when I taste test it.

I'm thinking of adding 2 more pounds of honey and a bottle of concentrate next racking and topping off with water to remove the head space. I don't care if it has to go a little longer or ends up being a little weaker vs. ruining a batch by oxidizing it.

So I did a gravity reading today and it was at 1.024. It was only slightly sweeter than I wanted so I decided to rack it off and not mess around with it. I obtained a 3 gallon carboy and a gallon jug to minimize head space.

The only problem is that it now has a haze. I put a 2 LED headlamp on the other side of the 5 gallon carboy and could only see the light bulbs. In my sample glass it was really hazy, but I was drinking off the lees my second glass. I am pretty sure it was the concentrate that did it. It does taste good though. I ate my dinner with a 12 oz glass of it. I will give it 60 days to clear up before hitting it with sparkloid. My basement should drop into the 50's by the time january rolls around becuase it usually gets freaking cold around here.

The airlocks have both pushed up so I hope it continues to ferment a bit. It seemed stuck after last rack. I even gave the carboy a couple of swirls to kick up the lees.

I can taste the blueberry blossom honey so I am glad I used it instead of clover. I think you could get away with using another honey for the initial ferment, but adding the 1 lb at the end for sweetning you shouldn't subsitute.

:fro:

I ended fermentation yesterday at 1.014. SWMBO approved! At 1.016 she like the fore and middle taste but the after taste had a sherry thing going on (too sweet.)

I oaked the 3 gallon carboy with Med Toast French Oak cubes and left the 1 gallon alone. The sample was so good I was tempted to drink more, but I controlled my urges by opening up a liter of Graf

Very cool, enjoy the updates and keep them coming.