Mattthemazer
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- Joined
- Jun 19, 2014
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Hi all,
So, I'm kinda new to home brewing. I'm starting with mead because it seems the least costly and easiest thing to start with (I'm sure there are many who'll disagree; but this is just what I've found).
I've already made a few batches of quick stuff that turned out great, and so I decided to write my own, more experimental recipe. I'm wondering if someone with more experience can tell me if there's anything I need to change before I go ahead and spend money on the ingredients (I'm sure it'll end up being expensive). I particularly am unsure how much blueberries I should use. I also know I'm probably doing a lot of unnecessary things, but from the reading I've done I think they're all acceptable things to do (correct me if I'm wrong). I also leave out the sanitizing because that's common sense and I don't want to type "clean and sanitize and rinse" a million times.
So, here it is:
"Triple-Blueberry Melomel"
Ingredients:
-1 kg (approx 700mls) blueberry blossom honey
-3 packets ale yeast (coopers probably, it's the only one I can find in my area)
-500mls? blueberries
-blueberry syrup (contains potassium sorbate, who knew!!)
-about 5L water, (the tap water where I'm from is really really good, so I'll just use that)
Procedure:
1. Blend blueberries with a little bit of water and 100mls honey
2. Add water till total mash is 1L, boil 15mins, stirring constantly
3. Remove from heat, add 250mls honey till dissolved fully
4. Cover, cool completely.
5. Strain mash
6. Put solids into half gallon/2L jug, add 50mls honey, add water till full, add 1 packet ale yeast, cover with lid, shake to aerate, replace lid with airlock.
7. Take liquid portion of mash, put in one gallon/4L jug, add remainder of honey, add 2 yeast packets, add water till full, aerate, airlock
8. Wait till fermentation stops completely
9. Rack off lees and blueberry skins into new clean larger jug, with airlock (combine both jugs into one basically, assuming that the lees/blueberry bits will take up a fair bit of space and so the liquid used will fit into one container. I'll have to play around with volumes; if someone can give advice that would be great!)
10. Wait 6 weeks
11. Re-rack off of whatever else settles out, add blueberry syrup, age for 6 months,
12. Bentonite if not fully clear
13. Bottle, age for 3 months
12. Enjoy!
Calculated O.G.=1.088
Calculated F.G (before syrup)=1.025
Predicted ABV=8.28%
Thoughts?
So, I'm kinda new to home brewing. I'm starting with mead because it seems the least costly and easiest thing to start with (I'm sure there are many who'll disagree; but this is just what I've found).
I've already made a few batches of quick stuff that turned out great, and so I decided to write my own, more experimental recipe. I'm wondering if someone with more experience can tell me if there's anything I need to change before I go ahead and spend money on the ingredients (I'm sure it'll end up being expensive). I particularly am unsure how much blueberries I should use. I also know I'm probably doing a lot of unnecessary things, but from the reading I've done I think they're all acceptable things to do (correct me if I'm wrong). I also leave out the sanitizing because that's common sense and I don't want to type "clean and sanitize and rinse" a million times.
So, here it is:
"Triple-Blueberry Melomel"
Ingredients:
-1 kg (approx 700mls) blueberry blossom honey
-3 packets ale yeast (coopers probably, it's the only one I can find in my area)
-500mls? blueberries
-blueberry syrup (contains potassium sorbate, who knew!!)
-about 5L water, (the tap water where I'm from is really really good, so I'll just use that)
Procedure:
1. Blend blueberries with a little bit of water and 100mls honey
2. Add water till total mash is 1L, boil 15mins, stirring constantly
3. Remove from heat, add 250mls honey till dissolved fully
4. Cover, cool completely.
5. Strain mash
6. Put solids into half gallon/2L jug, add 50mls honey, add water till full, add 1 packet ale yeast, cover with lid, shake to aerate, replace lid with airlock.
7. Take liquid portion of mash, put in one gallon/4L jug, add remainder of honey, add 2 yeast packets, add water till full, aerate, airlock
8. Wait till fermentation stops completely
9. Rack off lees and blueberry skins into new clean larger jug, with airlock (combine both jugs into one basically, assuming that the lees/blueberry bits will take up a fair bit of space and so the liquid used will fit into one container. I'll have to play around with volumes; if someone can give advice that would be great!)
10. Wait 6 weeks
11. Re-rack off of whatever else settles out, add blueberry syrup, age for 6 months,
12. Bentonite if not fully clear
13. Bottle, age for 3 months
12. Enjoy!
Calculated O.G.=1.088
Calculated F.G (before syrup)=1.025
Predicted ABV=8.28%
Thoughts?