Blueberry Acerglyn ....or Melomel

[Redeemer]

So I decided to try a little something made from recovered and expanded Wyeast 1388 used in my last batch of cyser (Apple / pear) that was so amazing, I shared and drank 3 gallons in 2 weeks.

I have studied and applied much of Bray's BOMM, with the various alterations and variations, along with reading many of the recipes he has posted at denardbrewing.com

I love the yeast, and love the simplicity of the method along with the fast results so, here is the brew I am beginning tonight. Subject to corrections as as I finish my process:

May 3, 2019

5 Gallon glass carboy

Puree 10 lbs of frozen blueberries (netting nearly 2 gallons of puree) and 1.5 lbs Maple syrup. Poured into carboy.

Add to carboy along with 3 teaspoons pectinase.

Add to carboy 1.5 teaspoons potassium bicarbonate.

Add to carboy 13 pounds wildflower honey (shake the hell out of that bad blue mamba) and water incrementally up to 1 gallon. One cool thing about carboys that I like is you don't actually have to pick them up and shake to stir. If you get the motion just right you can create an intense whirlpool with a fairly gentle shake.

Pitch (4 day) 2 liter starter made from Wyeast 1388 and per Bray instructions (replacing honey with maple syrup). I'm not sure if my started method voids the warranty but I have no stir plates or good sized flasks, so I used an empty gallon spring water container for the Go-Ferm, water, yeast and syrup, and shook it like hell every hour or so, then removed the top. It smells great and looks nice and sludge-like haha.

Top up with spring water as needed to just under 5 gallons. Repeat the shaking whirlpool motion whenever I happen to walk past the carboy.

I took readings last night and SG is 1.125. I'm estimating the ABV to come in somewhere around 16% which I know that yeast can handle. Once it finishes, I'm going to try priming with maple syrup, and if it turns out the yeast have given up, I will call it back sweetening. I suspect I will be satisfied either way.

 

[Redeemer]

Well, I had to go out of town on short notice so was unable to babysit (degas) this batch for about 36 hours. I didn't put an airlock on it and was hoping for the best but the blueberries (though pureed) formed a fruit cap which trapped CO2 and eventually the bubble popped. It wasn't a huge mess I came home to but still had a bit of cleaning to do. The upside is it had been munching away on the sugars, with the SG coming in at 1.090 so I added .5 teaspoons DAP and 1.5 teaspoons fermaid k. It foamed up nicely but didn't erupt. I'm happy with how it is progressing and love the color. The taste is still quite sweet obviously but I like the direction it is taking.

This is the first time I have ever re-used yeast and the savings on a 5 gallon batch in terms of how much Wyeast 1388 I'd need if I just bought and pitched are significant. I'm having a lot of fun with this and find myself with something new to taste every week.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I'm just wondering why you added potassium bicarb; were the blueberries that acidic?

 

[Redeemer]

I'm just wondering why you added potassium bicarb; were the blueberries that acidic?

The PH wasn't measured, but I am treating the ferment like a mead and I did want a PH buffer for yeast health. The potassium in blueberries is pretty modest and I want my yeast to have all the help they can get, in order to reduce off flavors that would need to be aged out. The goal is to mimic as closely as possible the BOMM method.