Blueberry Mead

[madscientist451]

I'd use the 2 gallon bucket to start, aim for 5-6 quarts of initial volume, then when you rack to the gallon jug, you can fill it all the way to the top. Using a bucket also makes it easier to degas the mead and add the fruit.
Fermented fruit doesn't taste anything like the original, So I like to make a high ABV mead, let it ferment to dyness, and then add the fruit, with the assumption that the yeast will crap out and only some of the fruit will ferment. Note that fruit is mostly water, so adding the blueberries will lower the ABV and the yeast will get going again unless you intervene with chemicals. So you need to really push a lower ABV yeast with the initial mead for this to work.

 

[Dan_K]

Hello everyone. A little help if you would please.

My wife is begging me to make a blueberry or strawberry mead but I am a newbie at this (this will be my second attempt) . Have a gallon JAOM fermenting as of this moment.
So if I was to make a 1 gallon batch of this what would be the numbers I would need ingredient wise?
Just divide by everything by 5?

I have a couple 1 gallon glass carboys and a 2 gallon bucket. I would like get get my feet wet a little before jumping in head first and trying a 5 gallon batch.

Here's what I would do. Take 3lbs of honey and your favorite yeast. Add nutrients and ferment this for about 2 weeks. Fermentation should be pretty much done. After 2 weeks, add 3lbs of frozen (lightly thawed) blueberries. Wild blueberries are even better if you can find them. Put them in a nylon grain sack (from the homebrew store). After 2, 4, 6 days punch down the blueberries. On day 8, remove the bag, squeezing to get all the good stuff out (I wear sanitized gloves). You might let it ferment a little longer or just transfer to the 1 gallon carboy. You can hit it with sorbate/sulfite to stabilize, and then add a bit more honey if you like. I would shoot for 1.020 to 1.030 FG, depending on how sweet you want it.

Good luck. I have made 2 blueberry meads, I think both are good in their own way but #1 was higher ABV and drier, #2 was sweeter and more juice-like.

 

[Drhunter50]

5 lbs Frozen Blueberries
16 lbs Honey
5 tsp Yeast Nutrients
2 tsp Yeast Energizer
3/4 tsp Pectic Enzyme
5 Campden tablets
3 packets of Lalvin D47 Yeast

Mix 13 lbs of honey with about 1 gallon of water. Shake until your arms are tired. I use about a half a gallon of hot water from the tap per half gallon of honey. Pour into fermentor and add one gallon of room temp water. Add nutrients, energizer, pectic enzyme and crushed campden tables. Allow blueberries to completely thaw and mash them with your hands to just crush or split the berries. Add the blueberries to the must and cover for 24 hours.

Make a yeast starter with a cup of water and a cup of the must, around 84 degrees. Add the yeast and make sure it is working. Pitch the yeast after 30 minutes and stir to suspend.

Be careful how much water you add at this point as the blueberries will rise to the top start to swell. Not over 3/4 full in the fermentor. Cover with a towel or something that can breath. You need the O2 now. Stir every day for 10-14 days. Rack off into secondary and top off to proper level. Put the Air-lock on the secondary and rack about every 30 days for 4 months. Add 1 lb of honey for the next 3 rackings for a sweeter mead. It should not be in the dry range but it is much better in the semi-sweet range, the yeast should take this to about 14.5% ABV before it is overwhelemed.

You should have it clear and fermentation finished by around 4 months. Age as needed and I recommend bulk aging this one.

I love blueberry mead my favorite of all I’ve brewed. The color like you said deep purple. Brewed beers of all kinds. I’m not that experienced but the meads I’ve made have been wonderful. I don’t get too wound up on specific gravity. I make them do a double fermentation and after 2-3 months bottle about 3-4 gallons and put a gallon or so in a gallon jug and enjoy. It’s awesome to see it grow and change. Raspberry equally as good.

 

[MiBeerMan]

I just tried a blueberry mead with black currant concentrate. It looked very nice and tasted very good

 

[bismarkarek]

Started this mead a little bit over a week ago. I had adapted it slightly, using mixed berries rather than just straight blueberries because the mixed berries were on sale while the bluebs werent. It started out an ugly brown but by the end of the second day had turned a lovely blood red. My starting gravity had been 1.101. It is smelling better and better every day i stir it, but I am mildly concerned about opening it up to stir every day for 2 weeks, isnt oxygen bad for alcoholic fermentation after the initial oxygenation?

 

[SKBugs]

Oxygen won’t affect it unless it exposed to it for a long time. Your brew will still be giving off CO2 which should force any O2 away from the mead. Stir away.

 

[bismarkarek]

so i transferred to secondary a little bit early, topped it up with water and added a pound of honey to kick start things, wake up this morning airlock is still, no bubbling, should i add some energizer to kickstart fermentation again? i checked the gravity after i transferred and its now at 1.018

 

[bismarkarek]

figured out why it wasnt bubbling, big mouth bubblers pressure fit lid wasnt seated properly had to tape it down to keep a proper seal