"Blackberry Mead" - First Home Brew

[Sollozzo]

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to home brewing. My friend and I just went to our local brewing store yeserday to get materials (Sunset Hydroponics and Home Brewing, in Syracuse, NY).

We're looking for feedback and constructive criticism. We realize there is a learning process involved in brewing, and would eventually like to branch off into beer and malt beverages.

"Blackberry Mead"
-15 lbs. clover honey
-4 gallons distilled water
-approx. 48 oz. fresh blackberries
-32 oz. Bolthouse Farms Blue Goodness (smoothie juice)
-1 Accelerator Pack of Wyeast "Sweet Mead" Yeast

Process:
-Heat water with honey to ~160-170 deg. F until honey is dissolved into water.
-Use juicer to juice blackberries
-Add blackberry juice and Blue Goodness juice to must
-Heat at consistent temperature (~160-170) for 15 mins while constantly stirring.
-Bring must to room temperature
-Add must to fermentation jug
-Add WYeast to jug, which was brought to room temperature and swelled for several hours
-Install airlock and fill with Vodka

The initial hydrometer readings of the must were:
Potential Alcohol: 13%
Specific Gravity: 1.100

These readings were taken at a temperature of 72 deg. F however, and I read that readings are most accurate at 60 deg. F.

Anyways, here's the picture of our fermentation jug. LOTS of CO2 coming out of the airlock. Some must actually shot up into the airlock. Hope this is okay. I'm going to add more Vodka tonight.

 

[fatbloke]

Ok, so materials-wise not too bad though I'd suspect that you won't end up with a great deal of fruit flavour as primary fermentation is pretty hard on flavour and aroma for that matter. Not a problem as you actually get a better, more fruity flavour from putting the fruit in "secondary"(which is a bit of a misnomer) so you can add more later. If you got that yeast to start fermenting ok then brilliant - wyeast sweet mead is known to be finicky as hell and a complete PITA. I've tried it 3 times and its failed to start all 3 times.......why I dont know. Plus these so called "mead" yeasts ? How the hell do the makers know what yeasts were originally used if there's no historic examples for testing and nothing written down ? So I conclude its all just marketing bollocks. There's plenty of info about yeasts anyway and generally it seems mead people use dry yeasts and beer people like liquid ones (dry is generally much cheaper.......)

Finally no mention of yeast nutrient/energiser etc. The fruit will provide some but I should have thought/suggested that you use some. Fermaidk or similar type (looks like a tan/beige coloured powder) would be ideal and just add it as per suggested proportions - just don't forget to either siphon out a little bit of the must or just water to mix it up and give it a good but gentle stir before adding otherwise you're asking for a mead eruption.

For your method ? Well there's no need to use heat at all. It can cause loss of volatile aromatics and flavouring elements, and of course can bring out any pectins in the fruit (ah yes, forgot to mention pectolase/pectic enzymes in your materials). Honey will generally mix/stir/shake into the water fine anyway and it's often best to start batches in an appropriately sized bucket as its easier to deal with.....

Your fruit addition is rather on the light side for 5 gallons and for fruit generally, its usually best to use whole fresh fruit, then just freeze it and thaw it out to break the cells and let the juice out (which gets out with time anyway). So yes you can just use fruit from the freezer section of the food hall......

The reason for not blitzing or otherwise processing the fruit is that cracking the seed/pips etc can impart a bitterness, which you might not notice in the fresh juice but you would/can when its been fermented. Plus it can be a complete pain to remove the sludge part whereas whole fruit can usually be removed with siphoning/racking.

Oh, as for the accuracy of your readings ? It should be marked on the hydrometer scale what temp its calibrated at, often 60F, often higher. Gravity figures are best to work with as there's plenty of scales/tabels that convert real time drops in gravity into % ABV. Potential alcohol numbers are a waste of time/effort........you've used wyeast sweet mead yeast, which is alcohol tolerant to 11% ABV so 13% potential is unhelpful.

And don't be misled by yeast names, not all similar sounding yeast is equal....

If you've got it fermenting, brilliant....

For good reading matter, the "NewBee" guide at gotmead (linked in the left side yellow dialogue/links box on their forums front page) is excellent. Its a bit of a read but worth it as theres a lot of stuff that can get missed or cause issues etc.......

 

[Sollozzo]

Ok, so materials-wise not too bad though I'd suspect that you won't end up with a great deal of fruit flavour as primary fermentation is pretty hard on flavour and aroma for that matter. Not a problem as you actually get a better, more fruity flavour from putting the fruit in "secondary"(which is a bit of a misnomer) so you can add more later. If you got that yeast to start fermenting ok then brilliant - wyeast sweet mead is known to be finicky as hell and a complete PITA. I've tried it 3 times and its failed to start all 3 times.......why I dont know. Plus these so called "mead" yeasts ? How the hell do the makers know what yeasts were originally used if there's no historic examples for testing and nothing written down ? So I conclude its all just marketing bollocks. There's plenty of info about yeasts anyway and generally it seems mead people use dry yeasts and beer people like liquid ones (dry is generally much cheaper.......)

Finally no mention of yeast nutrient/energiser etc. The fruit will provide some but I should have thought/suggested that you use some. Fermaidk or similar type (looks like a tan/beige coloured powder) would be ideal and just add it as per suggested proportions - just don't forget to either siphon out a little bit of the must or just water to mix it up and give it a good but gentle stir before adding otherwise you're asking for a mead eruption.

For your method ? Well there's no need to use heat at all. It can cause loss of volatile aromatics and flavouring elements, and of course can bring out any pectins in the fruit (ah yes, forgot to mention pectolase/pectic enzymes in your materials). Honey will generally mix/stir/shake into the water fine anyway and it's often best to start batches in an appropriately sized bucket as its easier to deal with.....

Your fruit addition is rather on the light side for 5 gallons and for fruit generally, its usually best to use whole fresh fruit, then just freeze it and thaw it out to break the cells and let the juice out (which gets out with time anyway). So yes you can just use fruit from the freezer section of the food hall......

The reason for not blitzing or otherwise processing the fruit is that cracking the seed/pips etc can impart a bitterness, which you might not notice in the fresh juice but you would/can when its been fermented. Plus it can be a complete pain to remove the sludge part whereas whole fruit can usually be removed with siphoning/racking.

Oh, as for the accuracy of your readings ? It should be marked on the hydrometer scale what temp its calibrated at, often 60F, often higher. Gravity figures are best to work with as there's plenty of scales/tabels that convert real time drops in gravity into % ABV. Potential alcohol numbers are a waste of time/effort........you've used wyeast sweet mead yeast, which is alcohol tolerant to 11% ABV so 13% potential is unhelpful.

And don't be misled by yeast names, not all similar sounding yeast is equal....

If you've got it fermenting, brilliant....

For good reading matter, the "NewBee" guide at gotmead (linked in the left side yellow dialogue/links box on their forums front page) is excellent. Its a bit of a read but worth it as theres a lot of stuff that can get missed or cause issues etc.......

Thanks much for all the information.

I guess my biggest concern at this time is what to do next. It's definitely fermenting, and I'm degasing twice a day.

When is it wise to transfer to a secondary, and what does that process involve? Am I trying to filter out all the pulp/sediment and then add whole fruit and just allow it to continue in a second carboy?

Also, as far as yeast energizers....as I said I'm new to this so I'm not sure when it's appropriate to use one. I'm assuming during secondary?

Thanks again.