Help with a simple Blueberry mead recipe

[arthertonjohn]

I've gone thru the forum reading and want advise on first 1 gal batch ...
I have 2 lbs frozen blueberrys
3 lbs clover honey
no pectic enzyme or nutrients

i'm thinking use some store bought grape juice for nutrients + strong tea for tannin

i want a quick ferment for first time, i have ordered DAP and EC-1118 yeast.

I want a HG quick mead ... asking for advise:rockin:

I understand the need for nutes and will get some raisins for now but
I have no LBS close enough to go on bicycle lol .

how bad is it going to affect clarity with no pectic enzyme?

i'm on a very tight budget so simple/cheap is the word!

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

If this is your first batch and your just starting. Don't worry about haze.
It will not affect the taste, or the enjoyment of drinking your own brew.

Then if you know your hooked and want to do it a lot more, there a lot of homebrew stores you can order things from, and if you order 2 buckets for fermenting, a bottling bucket, along with all the parts and additions it will be worth it after a few batches. But make sure you have the patience and desire to do this hobby first. Then your curse us while thanking us.

 

[summersolstice]

Try adding a handful of raisins to the grape juice but, at any rate, high gravity and quick don't generally go well together. You'll need some residual sweetness to offset the alcohol burn.

 

[arthertonjohn]

Thanks guys i have brewed stout beers in the past ... so the blueberrys are going to leave some haze from the pectin right? is there anything i can get at local grocery store that will take care of the pectin, again i am on a tight budget.

With 2 lbs berrys and 3 lbs honey it will be a sweet mead right? i'm gonna use lavlin ec1118

 

[arthertonjohn]

rofl alcohol burn ... try everclear haha

 

[summersolstice]

No, it will not be sweet unless you back sweeten.

 

[arthertonjohn]

should i increase the honey? 2 lbs berrys + 3 lbs honey is a lot i thought ... maybe 4lbs honey?

 

[arthertonjohn]

i have a 5 gallon water jug with spigot on bottom, i'm kinda leaning toward doing a 5 gallon batch and rack off to 1 gallon clear plastic juice jugs when the time comes. is 2lbs berrys enoug for 5 gallon ? that would be what about 18 lbs honey?

 

[wayneb]

With only two lbs of berries in a 5 gallon batch, you'll get some very light red color, but almost no blueberry flavor, even if you waited to add them until you got to secondary fermentation. Blueberries a fairly delicate flavored and when I do a blueberry melomel I tend to really dump in the fruit -- I personally do not think that 4 lbs per gallon is enough!

As far as pectic haze goes, if the berries are kept cold (and have been kept cold from picking time until the time that you use them), the haze will be slight and will tend to clear as pectins bind to the tannins provided by the fruit skins. However if the berries were ever heated, say in the process of pasteurization, then all bets are off unless you can add some pectic enzyme.

Still, if this is your first melomel, don't stress over it too much. A little "purple haze" can be a good thing!

 

[MikeRLynch]

Still, if this is your first melomel, don't stress over it too much. A little "purple haze" can be a good thing!

God I've been making blueberry mead for over three years and this name never occured to me...

 

[arthertonjohn]

Ok so i'm gonna go for it i'll just do 3 gallons in large water jug, i've read that the berries tend to swell . I've got a good starter going right now (cinnamon/ginger mead) that needs to be racked off soon, will just repitch from it so should not have to worry about slow start.

So 3 gallons 2lbs berries and say 10lbs honey? that sound about right?

 

[LightningInABottle]

I don't think you should reuse your yeast cake. I have read that it will cause off flavors. More experienced people can chime in here, but for $1.25 for a new yeast packet might save you some time you would spend aging to hopefully get rid of off flavors and money you spent on honey/blueberries. But I'm a relative noob and have a LHBS I can stop at on the way home from work.

 

[arthertonjohn]

i've got some lavlin ec-1118 on order but its not here yet lol i want to get this going ... i'll wait for it i want this batch to be perfect I have nutrient on order too as well as a mini-siphon thingy lol

 

[wayneb]

I recommend waiting for it, or perhaps even using a different yeast strain. EC-1118 tends to ferment fast, blowing off a lot of CO2, and taking with it lots of the aromatics from your honey and your fruit. It also has a humongous ethanol tolerance, which means that odds are your must will ferment completely bone dry. For a first timer's berry melomel I would recommend using a strain called 71B instead, or even K1V-1116, over 1118.

I also recommend against re-pitching onto the lees of a finished batch. While this works well enough for many ales (anything finishing at less than 7% ABV), the mutations and defects introduced into the surviving yeast cells in a 10% or higher wine/mead must will often produce results that don't taste too good.

 

[arthertonjohn]

I chose ec-1118 because of its temperature tolerances, here in utah lol its snowing right now. In a month it will be in the 90's here and over 100 soon. K1V-1116 was second choice but Northern Brewer does not stock it, i couldn't find it on their website.

 

[MedsenFey]

I can assure you that you don't want to do high temperature fermentation with EC-1118 in meads as it will produce a fusel-ridden, phenolic mess that will take years to age out (if it ever does). You can get K1V at a lot of places online - Midwest supply has it.

 

[arthertonjohn]

Ok will the k1v-1116 take the higher temps well? i am a cheap bastard and dont use a/c unless its over 100 lol. i have read somewhere on the net that yeasts do best at 90F which seems odd, the strain i'm using now prefers the cooler temps hehe its like 36F here right now and cinnamon/ginger is going just fine.

 

[arthertonjohn]

i'm listening to you all, i will get the k1v-1116 before i start, but i dont think temp will be an issue for a month or so? that it will be in primary will rack off to five 1 gallon jugs when time comes. Back to the nutrients question ... will DAP be sufficient, starting with a bit of grape juice and tannins from tea?

 

[MedsenFey]

I don't know where you read that bit about 90 degrees, but I think that information is way off base. I'm not sure if there is a yeast that will produce a good mead at 90 F. K1V can do a good job in the mid 80s for sure. If you are going to ferment in such high temps, consider cooling methods such as a basin of water with a t-shirt draped over the fermenter (maybe with a fan blowing on it). The evaporative cooling can drop the temps by more than 10 F.

 

[arthertonjohn]

Damn good idea ... keep fermenter in bathtub ... i like it

 

[wayneb]

Dude, Northern Brewer does carry the K1V. Have a look at this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/winem...-yeast/lalvin-montpellier-yeast-k1-v1116.html

They've now split their catalog into Beer and Wine subsections (a la More Beer/More Wine), so you have to look on both sides. Given that your temperature can swing while the mead is still fermenting (we have similar problems on the Colorado Front Range), you'll do much better with K1V than you will with EC-1118 if the temperature spikes early in the ferment.

 

[arthertonjohn]

kookoo i'm gonna order 5 packs lol and some more 3pc airlocks ... f**k*n 7.99 shipping per order tho

 

[arthertonjohn]

I'll use the ec1118 for the grapealicious quick mead lol

 

[arthertonjohn]

.rofl ima drinkin barley pop 2nite. Have u done a pear melomet yet? might be good i love pears. would ec1118 be ok in pear?

 

[arthertonjohn]

11 airlocks on the way as well as k!V-1116 and DAP. I all in now When I lived up in Stayton, OR I was brewing the equivalent of Terminator Stout beer.
I know the drill its just keep waiting LOL.

 

[arthertonjohn]

For bottling i am going to use flip-top 750ml that i get from Sunflower organic market they had sparling soda in them ... should be alright and they are claer I used to use Grolsh and Kulmbacher fliptops but they are long lost.

 

[arthertonjohn]

cinnamon/ginger still going strong i cant wait to taste it when i rack to sec ...just waiting for supplies ... got a mini auto siphon on the way

 

[arthertonjohn]

q! how do the yeast producers avoid mutation? ... seems to me it is inevitable and can be a good thing/bad thing

btw I'm gonna label it "Purple Haze" thanx Jimi

 

[arthertonjohn]

I believe that every organism evolves to meet its living condition so ... will a yeast adapt to its environment? i think yes. i will still wait for the K1V-1116 but i am going to keep a sample of my cinn/ginger yeast in case it turns out really f**kin good

 

[arthertonjohn]

neway i shooting for a 3 gallon batch 2 lbs berry and 10 lbs honey is that gonna be enough? K1V is also a very agressive yeast and will probably eat it all ... how much honey for a sweet mead?