Blueberry+Hibiscus melomel

[TandemTails]

I call this one 'Sangre de Mora Azul' (blueberry blood). The color and flavor is very similar to a sweet red wine, even though this ferments down to 1.000 with proper SNA/aerating/degassing. I've entered it into several mead competitions in the BJCP M3A (Fruit and Spice mead) category and it's scored consistently well (36, 36 and 40 averages in the last 3 comps).

Ingredients:
PRIMARY
* Water to 5.5 gallons
* ~15 lbs honey (to get to 1.110)
* 11 oz hibiscus flowers (dried)
* Juice of 10 lemons
* Zest of 5 lemons
* 5 cups frozen blueberries
* 16.3g (4.2tsp) DAP (based on 1.110 OG, 60%)
* 7.9g (3.2tsp) Fermaid-O (based on 1.110 OG, 22%)
* 10.3g (2.8tsp) Fermaid-K (based on 1.110 OG, 18%)
* 3tsp Pectic enzyme
* 6.25g (7.2 x ¼ tsp) Go-Ferm
* Lalvin D47 Yeast

TOPPING OFF SECONDARY
* 2x 32oz Pure blueberry juice
* Hibiscus tea (1 oz in 3 ¼ cups of water)
* Zest and juice of 2 limes

Fermentation Periods:
* Primary - 3 weeks
* Secondary - 12 weeks
* Tertiary - 4+ months


Steps
* Heat 18 cups of water and add lemon zest and hibiscus flowers.
* Remove from heat
* Add lemon juice
* Steep for 60 minutes
* Make yeast starter with Go-Ferm
* Add honey to carboy (add hot water to honey container to get all of it out)
* Add frozen blueberries to carboy
* Add hibiscus flower tea to carboy (put sanitized strainer over funnel to collect flowers)
* Top off with water to the 5.5 gallon mark (sparge the water over the strained hibiscus flowers to get every bit of flavor)
* Aerate like crazy to incorporate everything
* Take OG
* Add some must to yeast starter, let sit for 15 min
* Make sure solution is room temperature or lower (D47 likes temps in 59-68 degree range)
* Add pectic enzyme
* Add 1/4 yeast nutrient mixture
* Pitch the yeast
* Attach airlock

At Secondary:
* Make tea mixture with ingredients above
* Strain mixture to remove blueberries and hibiscus flowers
* Mix blueberry juice and hibiscus tea
* Add new blueberry juice/tea mixture to mead in new carboy to top off and eliminate headspace

Additional Steps
Yeast Nutrient Additions
* Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture (2.5tsp) after 24 hours
* Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture (2.5tsp) after 48 hours
* Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture (2.5tsp) after ⅓ sugar break
Aerating - Shake the carboy vigorously 3x a day for first ⅓ of fermentation
Degassing - Gently swirl 2x a day after ⅓ sugar break in primary

Stats:
OG: 1.110
FG: 1.000
pH: 2.65
Ferm temp: ~60'F for primary

A lot of friends mention this would be great over ice or mixed like a sangria on a warm summer day. I hope you enjoy!

Hibiscus flowers and lemon zest:

Making hibiscus/lemon zest tea:

Straining/sparging hibiscus flowers:

Post combining:

Final product before bottling:

Bottling time!

 

[Beek]

Sounds awesome! My wife loves hibiscus tea. I'll have to try this! Thanks for the recipe.

 

[leommarisio]

I call this one 'Sangre de Mora Azul' (blueberry blood).

I dont want to be an a$s, but "blueberry" is "arándano" in spanish. Saludos desde Chile

 

[Newsman]

I thought, from reading here, that you were supposed to add pectic enzyme well before (12-24 hours?) adding yeast?

 

[TandemTails]

I thought, from reading here, that you were supposed to add pectic enzyme well before (12-24 hours?) adding yeast?

I've always added it when I pitch my yeast and have never had any issues. There's usually a little bit of a lag phase between pitching the yeast and the yeast coming to full fermentation so i figure that's when the pectic enzyme can get its work done.

 

[Newsman]

I've always added it when I pitch my yeast and have never had any issues. There's usually a little bit of a lag phase between pitching the yeast and the yeast coming to full fermentation so i figure that's when the pectic enzyme can get its work done.

*shrug* What do I know? I'm no expert. I only know what I've read here.

 

[M4rotku]

Is fermentation supposed to restart after transferring to secondary and adding the blueberry juice? My airlock isn't bubbling at all. I am thinking about repitching the yeast.

 

[TandemTails]

Is fermentation supposed to restart after transferring to secondary and adding the blueberry juice? My airlock isn't bubbling at all. I am thinking about repitching the yeast.

Fermentation obviously does take place due to the added sugars but I don't remember seeing signs of a vigorous fermentation taking place at secondary. You might want to check gravity now and then in a few days to see if it's dropped at all. If you're below 1.005 I'd say you're in good shape. One batch of mine had an FG of around 1.003 while another finished at 1.000.