Early bottling - blueberry & wisteria melomel

[kimajy]

I've just made a batch of blueberry and wisteria blossom melomel, started June 18th and racked (2nd time) July 7th. Lalvin 71B yeast, start SG 1.085 end SG 0/992. It's crystal clear and not showing signs of activity now. Got a bit caught out by volume loss to racking - our demijohns in UK are 5L and I think I made a bit over a US gallon originally so there's a lot of headroom and I've run out of glass marbles to fill the space ! It does smell lovely, reminiscent of a Provencal vin gris but with a lot more colour and refreshingly light.

Am I basically safe to bottle this now for ageing rather than leaving it in the demijohn as there'll be less risk of spoilage from excess headroom ? It's about 20 years since I did any fermentations and it was all very non-scientific back then,, I haven't made any meads before, only wine.

Also as per end SG it's bone dry and I reckon the yeast is capable of more, but I don't really want it too strong, it's meant to be a light refreshing summery drink with a hint of sweetness to balance the acidity. Any experiences with using xylitol to back-sweeten ? I'm not keen on Stevia and have next to no experience of artificial sweeteners. This'll likely be used mainly for gifts in half bottles as I don't drink much these days. Anything I need to keep in mind about sensitivities if back-sweetening ?

Thanks

 

[CKuhns]

Yes - OK to bottle and bulk age if as you mentioned 0.992

Yes - I use Xylitol to sweeten to about 1.002 to 1.004 for me that tastes just off dry - I guess kind of like semi sweet. Go easy on the Xylitol some folks report an off flavor if too much is used. I don't seem to notice but have never brought one back form 0.992.

 

[kimajy]

Yes - I use Xylitol to sweeten to about 1.002 to 1.004 for me that tastes just off dry - I guess kind of like semi sweet. Go easy on the Xylitol some folks report an off flavor if too much is used. I don't seem to notice but have never brought one back form 0.992.

Thanks - that's very interesting. Does the Xylitol addition affect hydrometer readings like sugar would, or do you just have to do it on a taste test until you like it sort of thing ?

 

[Maylar]

Thanks - that's very interesting. Does the Xylitol addition affect hydrometer readings like sugar would, or do you just have to do it on a taste test until you like it sort of thing ?

Pretty much behaves like sugar. You can see it with a hydrometer.

 

[T Murph]

Kimajy I first kill off or at least neutralize remaining yeast prior to back sweetening. I use potassium metabisulphite, potassium sorbate and a Camden tablet to kill off the yeast. Go by the directions on the packets for quantities per your volume of meads. I then back sweeten with orange blossom honey. I get great results from this practice. Additionally I prefer my meads and melomels to be carbonated. After primary fermentation, usually a month, I transfer to a secondary fermenter on processed fruit in the case of a melomels, until fermentation slows to about 3 or 4 bubbles per minute. I then transfer to a corny keg to allow it to self carbonate while aging. At 3 months old is when I kill off the yeast and adjust sweetness. Then after 6 months from start date it is great tasting and goes into cold crashing for a week before adjusting the carbonation. At one year they are great and get better going forward.

 

[kimajy]

Kimajy I first kill off or at least neutralize remaining yeast prior to back sweetening. I use potassium metabisulphite, potassium sorbate and a Camden tablet to kill off the yeast. Go by the directions on the packets for quantities per your volume of meads. I then back sweeten with orange blossom honey. I get great results from this practice. Additionally I prefer my meads and melomels to be carbonated. After primary fermentation, usually a month, I transfer to a secondary fermenter on processed fruit in the case of a melomels, until fermentation slows to about 3 or 4 bubbles per minute. I then transfer to a corny keg to allow it to self carbonate while aging. At 3 months old is when I kill off the yeast and adjust sweetness. Then after 6 months from start date it is great tasting and goes into cold crashing for a week before adjusting the carbonation. At one year they are great and get better going forward.

Thanks - loads to think about there for future batches and I'd much rather back-sweeten with a natural honey than a processed artificial sweetener substitute. But then the price of that is the addition of chems so guess you're swapping one processed component for another !!

In this case I personally don't want to go for the carbonated finish as I prefer a still finish and lower alcohol levels with a floral component to the mead. Guess I can easily stabilize and kill the yeast prior to back-sweetening or at the same time as using the products you mention but will those additions really be 100% effective in preventing restart of a fermentation during ageing ?

I'm naturally reluctant to add chemicals but getting to the point of thinking the potential ongoing monitoring needs / risk of restarting fermentation if avoiding them starts to outweigh that aversion somewhat !

Actually (as a completely different thing to mead/melomel) I regularly pour pure raw honey over foraged berries and even stored at pretty high room temperatures these mixes ferment on slowly for months and months on wild yeasts and never oxidize or go off because the honey is such an effective preservative. This falls apart when the honey component drops to levels we use in a mead. Do you back-sweeten with the orange blossom honey before adding the chemicals which then kill the wild yeasts in both the back-sweetening honey as well as any residue in your original melomel ? Or do you just let that later honey addition create residual carbonation to give a sparkling finish ? Apologies if I've misinderstood these later steps - not familiar with using corny kegs or how they regulate carbonation - have to admit I've never made beer !

 

[Raptor99]

What flavors are contributed by the wisteria blossoms? My new house has a large wisteria bush, so I might need to try that.

 

[kimajy]

What flavors are contributed by the wisteria blossoms? My new house has a large wisteria bush, so I might need to try that.

It tastes how the blossom smells and contributes a summery floral note to the nose. A bit like honeysuckle does, though that also gives honey notes to a wine - I've got one of those on the go right now too ! All florals can be elusive in a fermentation or in presence of high alcohol content (unless they are very very strong such as lilac). Wisteria holds up exceptionally well in a syrup and sparkling cordial. way less so in a jelly after a lot of heat is applied. I'm experimenting with it this year for the first time in fermentations so it's all trial and error but you definitely want a gentler yeast and a steady ferment or you'll lose a lot of what the flowers contribute through the airlock. Also just enough heat to blitz wild yeast but not so much as to cook, so no boiling. I used 71B and it seems to have worked pretty well. Some acid blend, tannin and nutrient too.

For this melomel I was dancing round non-stop rain spoilage trying to get the flowers in good shape so harvest issues dictated the approach. I'd like to have heated petals in some water to about 50C and added (cooled) to a blueberry fermentation a week or so in then strained out before transfer to secondary but had to use them right away for peak freshness before the local season ended.

Leave yourself time - they are a b******* to prepare but such a nice smell and taste. I personally remove all the stamens and any sort of green part to avoid any vegetative flavours getting through and for safety reasons (leaves etc are toxic). But tried to get as many pollen-bearing anthers and petals into the mix as I could (this is where all the flavour is). For this 1 gallon I used 1.8L (a little over 1.5 quarts) of processed petals, lightly pressed down and that in itself is a fair amount of work from stripped flowers. There's only 300g of fresh blueberries in this (muddled with the honey water and heated to 85C for 15 minutes before skimming off foam and pouring into primary). It seems to have been enough to give a glorious colour and a fruity background to the florals without dominating too much. We'll see what happens after ageing !

 

[T Murph]

Thanks - loads to think about there for future batches and I'd much rather back-sweeten with a natural honey than a processed artificial sweetener substitute. But then the price of that is the addition of chems so guess you're swapping one processed component for another !!

In this case I personally don't want to go for the carbonated finish as I prefer a still finish and lower alcohol levels with a floral component to the mead. Guess I can easily stabilize and kill the yeast prior to back-sweetening or at the same time as using the products you mention but will those additions really be 100% effective in preventing restart of a fermentation during ageing ?

I'm naturally reluctant to add chemicals but getting to the point of thinking the potential ongoing monitoring needs / risk of restarting fermentation if avoiding them starts to outweigh that aversion somewhat !

Actually (as a completely different thing to mead/melomel) I regularly pour pure raw honey over foraged berries and even stored at pretty high room temperatures these mixes ferment on slowly for months and months on wild yeasts and never oxidize or go off because the honey is such an effective preservative. This falls apart when the honey component drops to levels we use in a mead. Do you back-sweeten with the orange blossom honey before adding the chemicals which then kill the wild yeasts in both the back-sweetening honey as well as any residue in your original melomel ? Or do you just let that later honey addition create residual carbonation to give a sparkling finish ? Apologies if I've misinderstood these later steps - not familiar with using corny kegs or how they regulate carbonation - have to admit I've never made beer !

You need to add the potassium and Camden tabs no less than 24 hours prior to back sweetening. I usually give it a couple of days to work, that way I'm sure they have done their job. I also dispense from corny kegs. Once my meads go into the keg they stay there till consumed. Of course it's no problem to fill a wine bottle or growler to carry with you, but always remember to (respect the mead).

 

[kimajy]

You need to add the potassium and Camden tabs no less than 24 hours prior to back sweetening. I usually give it a couple of days to work, that way I'm sure they have done their job. I also dispense from corny kegs. Once my meads go into the keg they stay there till consumed. Of course it's no problem to fill a wine bottle or growler to carry with you, but always remember to (respect the mead).

Ah - OK. Is the orange blossom honey you back-sweeten with processed ? The honey I usually buy in Europe is all raw honey and it contains natural yeasts so has a decent chance of fermenting from its own content in the presence of water (i.e. the water content of the mead). If the Camden's been added 24+ hours prior it won't inhibit this so I'm guessing I need to heat the back-sweetening honey enough to kill any yeasts present in it before adding it to the mead ?

 

[T Murph]

Ah - OK. Is the orange blossom honey you back-sweeten with processed ? The honey I usually buy in Europe is all raw honey and it contains natural yeasts so has a decent chance of fermenting from its own content in the presence of water (i.e. the water content of the mead). If the Camden's been added 24 hours prior it won't inhibit this so I'm guessing I need to heat the back-sweetening honey enough to kill any yeasts present in it before adding it ?

Yes, it is best to basically pasteurize the honey. And yes my orange blossom honey is raw from local Orange Groves.

 

[kimajy]

So, in the end I bulk-aged 15 months or so, stabilized with sorbate and a camden tablet, back-sweetened with about 150ml of natural French thick clear blueberry syrup in a UK gallon, and bottled it in 375ml bottles. One clear for the visuals and the rest green. It's still got quite a kick, loads of body and character and a lovely aroma, like an off-dry 'heavier' rosé. No oxidation or nasty yeasty residues despite not topping up and being left all that time with a lot more headroom than anyone would give an OK to ! Tastes very vinous at the moment until you breathe out and realize it's not .. This'll age well for 1-2 more years at least I reckon.

Turned out much better than I thought it would.

 

[T Murph]

@kimajy that's a beautiful melomel you have there. Time is your friend.