Just bottled my blueberry/hibiscus melomel!

[TandemTails]

This was the 3rd mead I attempted and my goal was to use proper SNA and temperature control to get the best mead possible based on the ingredients I was working with.

It was the middle of a hot summer and I had the idea to make a refreshing mead so I started brainstorming. I finally decided on a blueberry/hibiscus melomel with a little added lemon juice in an effort to mimic a nice fruity herbal tea.

Recipe:

Batch size: 1 gallon
OG: 1.110
FG: 1.006

Ingredients:

PRIMARY

• 1 gallon water
• 3 lbs honey
• 2 oz hibiscus flowers (dried)
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• Wyeast beer nutrient blend (¼ tsp intervals)
• yeast energizer (¼ tsp intervals)
• ¾ tsp pectic enzyme
• 2 grams Lalvin D47 Yeast

SECONDARY

• Pure blueberry juice
• Hibiscus tea (½ oz in 2 cups of water)
• juice of 1 lime
• 15 frozen blueberries

PRIMARY STEPS

• Heat 6 cups of water and add lemon zest and hibiscus flowers.
• |-> Remove from heat
• |-> Add lemon juice
• |-> Steep for 60 minutes
• Add honey to carboy (add hot water to honey container to get all of it out)
• Add 1 cup frozen blueberries to carboy
• Add hibiscus flower tea to carboy (put sanitized strainer over funnel to collect flowers)
• Top off with water to the 1 gallon mark (sparge the water over the strained hibiscus flowers to get every bit of flavor)
• Shake like crazy to incorporate everything
• Take OG
• Make sure solution is room temperature or lower (D47 likes temps in 59-68 degree range)
• Add ¼ tsp yeast nutrient and ¼ tsp yeast energizer to carboy
• Pitch the yeast
• Attach airlock

SECONDARY STEPS

• Make tea mixture with ingredients above
• |-> Strain mixture to remove blueberries and hibiscus flowers
• Measure SG of mead
• Mix blueberry juice and hibiscus tea to match the SG of mead
• Add new blueberry juice/tea mixture to mead in new carboy to top off and eliminate headspace

STAGGERTED NUTRIENT ADDITION SCHEDULE

• Yeast Nutrient Additions (combine with some of the must to avoid bubble-ups)
• |-> Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture after 24 hours
• |-> Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture after 48 hours
• |-> Add ¼ of yeast nutrient/energizer mixture 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
• |-> Gently swirl a few times a week in secondary

MY FERMENTATION/RACKING SCHEDULE

• Primary Fermentation: Aug 4, 2015 - Aug 27, 2015 (23 days @ 64'F)
• Secondary Fermentation: Aug 27, 2015 - Nov 19, 2015 (84 days @ 64'F)
• Tertiary Fermentation / Aging: Nov 19, 2015 - Jan 21, 2016 (63 days @ 62-68'F)

LESSONS LEARNED

• Don't shake the carboy to degas as this will cause a mead explosion (which is why i had to add so much more juice/tea at secondary)
• Clean and sanitize and have more bottles ready than you think you'll need. I had a brain fart and only had 7 bottles ready when I needed 8-9
• Even though they're a pain in the butt, use a bottling wand. I lost probably a bottle's worth of mead when moving the siphon between the bottles

I'm drinking some of this now and it's amazing. The blueberry and hibiscus really go well together and create a really awesome color. At around 15% this is dangerously delicious. It's almost like drinking a really sweet red wine but the honey and blueberry/hibiscus flavor really lend their own take on it.

Images:

Adding water over strained flowers

All combined at primary, before pitching yeast

Topped up for secondary

Just before bottling

Drinking the hydrometer sample

All bottled up

 

[Elkobrewer]

Looks good

 

[JJack887]

Where did you get the hibiscus? Only source I have around me is Wegmans, but the flowers have preservatives.

 

[TandemTails]

Where did you get the hibiscus? Only source I have around me is Wegmans, but the flowers have preservatives.

There's a store here called Sprouts that sells the flowers in bulk with the spices.

When I do this again for a larger 5 gallon batch I'm probably going to order this 1 pound bag of amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012BSDNW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Vex3521]

I get my edible flowers from here, hasn't failed me yet!
http://shop.gourmetsweetbotanicals.com/Edible-Flowers_c3.htm

Melomel looks fantastic though!

 

[fossilcat]

I like the way you separate the aerate and degassing activities. I use a mixer with a drill 3x/day to aerate/degass to the 1/3 break, and then I cheat a little bit and mix 1 or 2 times/day with the drill much more gently until the 1/2 break. I like the swirling thing better: it wakes the yeast up off the bottom without having to remove the top and lose the CO2 cap.

 

[ctufano]

That sounds and looks REALLY good. Id ask if you would want to sell a bottle, but I doubt you would

 

[TandemTails]

That sounds and looks REALLY good. Id ask if you would want to sell a bottle, but I doubt you would

Haha, unfortunately it was only a gallon batch and I've already gone through a couple bottles and have a few saved for a homebrew meeting

 

[CKuhns]

I did virtually the same thing for a couple 5 gallon batches using Cote Des Blanc Yeast. Steeped the tea in a gallon of water. One with 8 pounds strawberries and one with 6 pounds Blackberries in secondary both stayed on the fruit for 8 days. OG was 1.110 and 1.112 and ended up with an OG at 1.004 and 1.008.

They turned out amazing after bulk aging 4 months and in Bottle for a few more. I would definitely recommend this recipe. And do 5 gallons or more it will not last!

 

[fossilcat]

This sounds real interesting. I've got an extra D47 sachet and some leftover hibiscus flowers I used for another recipe and they're looking for a home.

The secondary directions confuse me though. Why do you match the gravity of the mead with the blueberry juice/hibiscus tea mixture? Do you add blueberry juice to the tea to adjust the gravity or visa versa?

And this is more of a general question about secondary's. When you add fruit, juice, peppers etc to secondary, is it important to wait until fermentation activity is over (or close to it)? I know that any addition to the mead at any time may inspire the yeasties to kick up again, but is it good practice to shoot for the least amount of fermentation? I usually add as soon as I rack from primary - maybe I should wait until I don't see any more activity to achieve a better flavor??

Sorry, I don't intend to hijack the thread (let me know if I'm breaching protocol here), but I saw an opportunity......

 

[TandemTails]

This sounds real interesting. I've got an extra D47 sachet and some leftover hibiscus flowers I used for another recipe and they're looking for a home.

The secondary directions confuse me though. Why do you match the gravity of the mead with the blueberry juice/hibiscus tea mixture? Do you add blueberry juice to the tea to adjust the gravity or visa versa?

And this is more of a general question about secondary's. When you add fruit, juice, peppers etc to secondary, is it important to wait until fermentation activity is over (or close to it)? I know that any addition to the mead at any time may inspire the yeasties to kick up again, but is it good practice to shoot for the least amount of fermentation? I usually add as soon as I rack from primary - maybe I should wait until I don't see any more activity to achieve a better flavor??

Sorry, I don't intend to hijack the thread (let me know if I'm breaching protocol here), but I saw an opportunity......

The reason for the secondary addition was due to a mead explosion accident (MEA) when I was degassing at the start of primary. I had it in a glass carboy and got a little overzealous with my shaking and ended up losing a couple cups of mead via foam (think an elementary school science fair baking soda / vinegar volcano). In an effort to reduce headspace in secondary, I added the additional blueberry juice/tea mixture.

Looking back I probably should have matched the OG, not the SG at time of racking. That was just a noob mistake on my part. The purpose was to make sure the ABV would be the same (not mixing different SG's which is what I ended up doing).

As far as the secondary addition question, it seems like there's a lot of debate about this and it really depends on what kind of aroma/flavor/complexity you want in the end result.

I was listening to one of the BeerSmith podcasts with the guy from Moonlight Meadery and this was his analogy which I think was perfect -- he said adding fruit in primary vs secondary is like making meatloaf. By adding fruit in primary, it's like adding ketchup before baking. Adding fruit in secondary is like adding ketchup to the meatloaf on your plate.

Adding the ketchup during baking will give it a lot of complexities but adding it on the plate will give you the raw ketchup taste. It really just depends on what you want. Adding the fruit during primary will give a less aromatic but often more flavorful product but adding it in secondary will keep the aromas. I guess you could do both if you really wanted to.

 

[fossilcat]

Ok, I see what you did there, I gotcha. I usually use flat marbles to make up headroom space but the tea/juice addition might bring additional richness in taste to the mead. Hmmm.... turning a mistake into an opportunity.

I use buckets in primary. MUCH more room for the foamies.

I've made a few melomels, and have added fruit to primary, to secondary, and to both. The taste of the fruit in a mead added in the primary is more integrated, lends more of a wine taste, and can be cloying if not acid adjusted. It defines the taste of the mead. The taste of the fruit in a mead added in the secondary is more true to the taste of the fruit. It also manifests as a "layer" of taste allowing other flavors a more distinct layer themselves. Totally my opinion, of course, and based on limited experience to boot.

So what I was asking, I guess, is how much fermentation would cause more of an integrated taste and less of a layered taste? For example, if I rack at 1.010 and the yeast's attenuation has not yet been reached, will it ferment the fruit addition and take away from the "layered" taste I'm going for?

I don't know.... Maybe this is a non-issue. But next time I make a Cherry Berry mead I'm holding out a couple of gallons to find out.