Blueberry mead question

[bonescole]

Just a quick question about blueberry mead. I made a simple recipe of 24 oz blue berries 2.5# honey with Lavlin 1118 yeast and energizer a few months back and on the 8th of June racked the fermented product onto another 24 ounces of frozen blueberries. I just took an FG to start seeing if it is getting ready to bottle and it is at .994ish, my apartment is WAY hot right now, but brewcalcs is giving me the adjustment. My question is when can I have a good indication that this goodness is ready for bottling aside from taking readings to make sure they are consistently the same. Is clarity a factor? My ancient orange, which came out pretty good, was exceptionally clear where as this is harder to tell because it is deep purple/red like a Merlot. If I hold it to the light it has a murky look to it, but is that from the blueberries? Should I rack off of them into a clean secondary? Should I let it sit undisturbed until it clears? Any help is appreciated and for the record this stuff tastes really good and was crazy easy to make.

 

[BillyGHusk]

I think most people will say you should rack off the fruit, after a couple of weeks.

Clarity I think is more personal preference. IF you want a nice clear/clean looking mead, rack and rack until it is clear then bottle. If on the other hand clarity is not as important to you then bottle earlier, it will clear some in the bottle.

Though I have gathered that bulk again makes for a more consistent bottled product.

Just regurgitating what I have read......

Tim

 

[biochemedic]

This is just me, but I would wait a week or two more and rack it again to get it off the fruit...

In terms of your gravity, I'd be astonished if you had any additional fermentation with that current gravity

In terms of the clarity...then you have a choice...you can let it sit longer to see if your perception of it clearing improves, or you could try a fining agent...there really aren't too many downsides to fining.
I actually like a product called liquor quick super kleer -- it has 2 stages of additives (both a positively charged and negatively charged fining agent), and it works really, really well. The only theoretical downside is that one of the agents is chictosan, which is derived from shellfish, and supposedly can activate allergic reactions in sensitive people.

Out of curiosity, what is your volume? I assumed a one gal batch since you only had 2.5 pounds of honey, which would make this about a 10% mead...and a very decent amount of blueberries for that volume! It doesn't surprise me that it seems to be forming up nicely flavor wise with a slightly lower ABV...

 

[bonescole]

This is just me, but I would wait a week or two more and rack it again to get it off the fruit...

In terms of your gravity, I'd be astonished if you had any additional fermentation with that current gravity

In terms of the clarity...then you have a choice...you can let it sit longer to see if your perception of it clearing improves, or you could try a fining agent...there really aren't too many downsides to fining.
I actually like a product called liquor quick super kleer -- it has 2 stages of additives (both a positively charged and negatively charged fining agent), and it works really, really well. The only theoretical downside is that one of the agents is chictosan, which is derived from shellfish, and supposedly can activate allergic reactions in sensitive people.

Out of curiosity, what is your volume? I assumed a one gal batch since you only had 2.5 pounds of honey, which would make this about a 10% mead...and a very decent amount of blueberries for that volume! It doesn't surprise me that it seems to be forming up nicely flavor wise with a slightly lower ABV...

Thanks guys! I read a lot of the same stuff, aside from the fining agent idea, which I think I will try. I will rack it off the blueberries next week and let it sit a bit longer. I have three one gallon batches going now and may combine them all for bulk ageing in a 3 gallon better bottle. My SG. was around 1.020 so with the blueberries and juice I am guessing around 11%, or so at the most. I think I will stay away from the shellfish fining agent and go with some of the ones I have read about just in case someone gets a reaction from it. The funny thing about this stuff is that it is so easy to make and it tastes incredibly good. If anyone has hesitations on making mead and they think the Joe's Ancient is the best way to start take my advice and go get two bags of Frozen blue berries 3 lbs of honey some Champagne yeast, or wine yeast and make this instead. I am not knocking Joe's, but the taste is pretty unique, good, but different.

 

[MedsenFey]

Berry meads are usually some of the fastest to clear, and typically don't need fining agents, but you do need to rack off the fruit and let it sit to clear. Then you should be able to bottle without problems.

 

[MikeRLynch]

I would rack off the fruit, as others have said, but then stick your 1 gallon jug(s) in the fridge. The cold will cause a lot more of the particulate matter in there to drop out. Do this for a week or two, and I bet you'll see a vast improvement.

 

[bonescole]

I would rack off the fruit, as others have said, but then stick your 1 gallon jug(s) in the fridge. The cold will cause a lot more of the particulate matter in there to drop out. Do this for a week or two, and I bet you'll see a vast improvement.

Follow up:
I bottled three gallons last night, well not exactly, I had a disastrous bottling time and ended up with far less. In a move of pure vengeance against my bottling bucket I dumped the rest of the mead in a glass and drank it. I clearly won that round. So after throwing my bottling bucket off the roof of my apartment I ended up with far less than expected, but it is still very tasty. I just put all the bottles in the fridge and plan on leaving them there and then starting more mead. Can anyone comment on this though, preferably not the temper tantrum, but the refrigerating the mead? Should I store these in a cellar to condition, or is the fridge fine?

 

[MedsenFey]

Storing things in a fridge is okay; it may slow down the aging process to a standstill, but it won't hurt the mead. If something needs age, (and most meads do), keeping it at cellar temps is probably better.

I am curious about what your bottling bucket did to you to earn such wrath?

Medsen

 

[klcramer]

Did you use some kind of juice along with the blueberries or was this simply Blueberries, water, and yeast?

 

[MikeRLynch]

The fridge will certainly slow your aging, but it will also clear your mead. This means that each of these bottles will have a layer of sediment (how much depends on how cloudy the mead was when you bottled it). Just be cautious when you pour. It won't be a compacted sediment like in beer, but a finer, more easily disturbed layer. Store these upright, and decant before serving.

I bottled my blueberry mead a few weeks ago, and I have to store it in my parents cellar. Not just for aging purposes, but because I already drank half the batch

 

[bonescole]

Did you use some kind of juice along with the blueberries or was this simply Blueberries, water, and yeast?

I used trader joes frozen blueberries the cheap ones with no preservatives. The mead came out absolutely fantastic.
As for my bucket...well it was poor planning on my part that caused the wrath. That and the blueberries that got stuck in the spiggot made for the worse Bottling experience ever. Word of advice use a grain bag when you siphon on the end and prepare for an issue when you siphon. It may not happen but prepare for it anyway. There was a ton of sediment that screwed with my racking and bottling. Overall though this will always be in my closet. It's easier than joes and far better.

Just a heads up I took this out of the fridge, it was not in there long at all, and stored this in the cellar upright. My method for bottling was horrendous, so I don't know if it will age well, or just get moldy, but I will let it sit there until xmas, if I can, and then pop a bottle. I have a bunch left over sitting in the fridge, in Tupperware, yep bottling was that bad, so I am drinking that and wow!! It is really really good. I completely understand how you drank most of yours already.