Blueberry Mead

[sirsloop]

Ingredients
1oz Saaz Hops (yes!)
12oz Blueberries
2lbs Wildflower Honey
1/2 gallon Langers 100% blueberry juice
1/5th Fruit Mead (Melomel) Pack
1/4 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
1/2tsp Yeast Energizer
1pkg Lavlin D47 Yeast

Boil .5oz Saaz for 10 minutes in 1.5L of water. While that is boiling take the blueberries and try to mash them up a little bit while they are in the bag. Add 12oz frozen blueberries and another .5oz Saaz and boil for another 10 minutes. Cool to under 170°F, add 2lbs wildflower honey. Add Must to the fermenter and cool. The nutrient and energizer are supposed to be in the mead pack already, but I figured a little extra cannot hurt. I added a half dose of each energizer and nutrient for good measure. This is the first time making this mead... I'll update this recipe in a number of months when its finished and bottled. Top off the ferementer with the 1/2 gallon of Langers 100% blueberry juice and the rest with water. Wait!

 

[explosivebeer]

So how did this one turn out? It sounds delicious. I'm hoping to do my first mead this weekend and may have to try this recipe, with or without confirmation.

 

[sirsloop]

All of the mead is still aging. I don't think i'm gonna touch em until at least fall...

 

[Liquisky]

Fall's here. I'd like to know how this turned out. I like the idea of using hops in mead, but haven't heard of anyone making one, tasting, and reporting.
Thanks

 

[CBBaron]

I'm trying the imagine the hops flavor mixed with a blueberry melomel and I'm not really getting a pleasant picture. I am also curious about the results as well.

As for your recipe, it is usually a bad idea to boil fruit. That will set the pectins causing a hazy mead in addition the flavors will change. If you feel you must sterilize the fruit then pasteurize the fruit with a few minutes at about 160F or lower. This will still kill the bugs but do much less damage to the fruit. I usually don't heat my fruit at all when making mead or wine. If I am concerned about wild yeasts or bacteria I will add campden tablets to the must 24 hours before pitching the yeast.

Craig