New guys first BOMM

[Seamonkey84]

Newbie here, I’ve made 3 gallons of various wines/mead done years ago, and taking a more serious go at it again.
Ive joined after reading about the BOMM method, and couldn’t wait to try and make something that doesn’t need to be aged for a year or more. Also interested in the hands on approach vs the set it and forget it method I’ve been doing. Currently I’m finishing the primary on a gallon of Cyser and a gallon of juicy juice fruit punch. I’m a few days into a 2gallon blueberry/grape wine.
As soon as my Fermaid O arrived today, I started thawing fruit for a 3 gallon Berry Death BOMM https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/berry-bomm/ as instructed, the berries and juice are in the bucket with the peptic enzyme, but I also added enough water to submerge the fruit in
Following the recipe to the letter... I forgot I was doing a half batch and made the full sized 2L starter . Well I guess I’ll be able to save some and farm the yeast for a bit.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Well I have all the stuff mixed in the bucket to 3 gallons (with fruit) except the liter of yeast starter. My problem is, I’ve mixed in 9.5-10lbs of honey already, and my gravity reads 1.136. According to the recipe I should be closer to 1.150. I know it’ll still finish with residual sugar, but where did I go wrong? I’m pretty sure that I have all the honey mixed in, I warmed it and mixed well with hot water before adding to the bucket. I’m going to let it sit for a little bit then check again before pitching the yeast, I’d hate to find out the honey wasn’t fully dissolved and I way over shot the gravity and shock the yeast

 

[loveofrose]

There is sugar in the fruit that the yeast will slowly extract. You did nothing wrong. All is well!

This is a common thing with fruit mead. Even if it did finish drier than you want, it’s never too late to add more honey...but you cannot take it back!

 

[Seamonkey84]

Full day after pitching yeast and everything is foaming away. After adding a liter of yeast starter, the gravity dropped to 1.124. I’m going be making nutrient additions at 1.084 and 1.044.
Since I made a 2L starter in the beginning, I have plans to use the remainder for another brew or two, but also to seed another starter and just keep cultivating it.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Gravity dropped to 1.080 tonight, so I added the Fermaid O after degassing. This is smelling wonderful! Completely different from the grape and blueberry wine that I started a few days before this. That batch is going with Lalvin 71B, and The two are like two comply different animals! I also started a strawberry wine this morning with the Wyeast 1388, I posted about it in the wine forum.

 

[Redeemer]

Welcome and hats off for the project. Its so exciting to try new methods and get amazing results, which I think you will. Do please keep us posted.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Since this started with a lower Sg than I was aiming for, I’m planing on adding some more honey during the final nutrient addition. That way I’m not step feeding the yeast at the end. I didn’t use summer berry honey like the recipe, so I got three pounds of raspberry honey to top it up with. Since I’m trying to boost three gallons another 20-30pts, I’m going to start with two pounds and see where that brings me.

 

[MiBeerMan]

Where did you get your black currant if you don't mind. This recipe looks very interesting

 

[Seamonkey84]

I’m using RW Knudsen’s “Just Blackcurrent” (they also have a nice blueberry juice). I got it at a locals Shaw’s supermarket, our Whole Foods has one called Current affairs. This batch smells AMAZING! I’m very tempted to start sampling before it’s done lol, but I’ll wait till I need to check for fruit flavor.

 

[MiBeerMan]

I'm 100% sure it was Knudsen but where I live I can't find it anywhere. I'm thinking I will have to wait and order the fresh stuff online

 

[Seamonkey84]

Wow, kind of a project night and things piled up on the same day. My first batch fermented dry, and it was time to add nutrients to two others. I knew I had missed the target OG on all three batches, so I had to add more to each so they wouldn’t fermented dry. So I just finished racking plus step fed/back sweetened my blueberry-grape wine, added more sugar and Fermaid-O to my strawberry wine, and dissolved 3lbs of honey plus Fermaid-O into the berry BOMM.
I know this is a thread about my Berry BOMM, but I have to mention this blueberry-grape. This racking was extremely close, and I had planned it as a 2 gallon, but turned into exactly three

This was using Lalvin 71B, it has been cloudy from the start, while the two other batches I have going with Wyeast 1388 are almost clear in comparison, and they are a few days behind. My concern is I now need more of these carboys since this is my only 3gal.

 

[Miraculix]

You are aware that the bomm is supposed to ferment dry? If you want it sweet it is usually stabilised and then backsweetened. You can of course also step feed it sugar till the yeast gives up but be prepared for a long journey.

Edit: I just saw that the berry bomm is an exception and supposed to finish sweet. Sorry for the misinformation!

 

[Seamonkey84]

You are aware that the bomm is supposed to ferment dry? If you want it sweet it is usually stabilised and then backsweetened. You can of course also step feed it sugar till the yeast gives up but be prepared for a long journey.

Edit: I just saw that the berry bomm is an exception and supposed to finish sweet. Sorry for the misinformation!

No problem I’ve read through the entire BOMM thread, and yes I know that it’s usually fermented to dry. but Bray also added that he got sick of step feeding. Here’s the screenshot I saved as a reference

 

[Miraculix]

No problem I’ve read through the entire BOMM thread, and yes I know that it’s usually fermented to dry. but Bray also added that he got sick of step feeding. Here’s the screenshot I saved as a reference View attachment 627702

very handy, thanks!

I did the same recently with tosna protocol and mangrove Jack California lager yeast in a traditional mead. It is in secondary right now on some Oak cubes, but first tests were promising

 

[Seamonkey84]

Well this batch has slowed down drastically but is still dropping points. It’s currently at 1.038, so nearing its completion after chewing through 116 or so points already. I just pulled the fruit bag as it’s been in for just over 10 days now. It’s tasting pretty good, but I’m not a wine drinker so the fruitiness seems a little watered down to me. Then again, I’m most likely mentally comparing it to juice. I might just add a small batch of fruit tomorrow, as a secondary in the primary.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Last night I checked and it hadn’t dropped another point from the night before, so I added three more pounds of mixed berries. So now it’s a Death Berry-Bomb BOMM.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Last night I removed the second batch of fruit, and its been sitting at 1.030 for the past 4 days. I took a sample out and degassed it a bit, holy crap this is good! As soon as this leaves the bucket, I’m going to have to start another batch so I’ll have enough to hang on to and give away.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Last night I racked everything (lees and all) out of the bucket and into a 3gal and 1gal carboy. From what I’ve read about the BOMM and wyeast 1388, I should keep the lees/yeast in there till it clears on its own, as the yeast cleans up after itself. I ended up with 3.75 gallons, so I topped off the rest of the one gallon carboy with another quart of black currant juice. I might keep it separate or blend it back in after I rack everything again.

 

[NeverDie]

Last night I racked everything (lees and all) out of the bucket and into a 3gal and 1gal carboy. From what I’ve read about the BOMM and wyeast 1388, I should keep the lees/yeast in there till it clears on its own, as the yeast cleans up after itself. I ended up with 3.75 gallons, so I topped off the rest of the one gallon carboy with another quart of black currant juice. I might keep it separate or blend it back in after I rack everything again.

If you transfered the lees, then what was the point of the racking? Was your goal purely to remove headspace?

 

[Seamonkey84]

If you transfered the lees, then what was the point of the racking? Was your goal purely to remove headspace?

Yes, I’ve been degassing right up till it stabilized, so I didn’t feel comfortable with the surface area exposed in the bucket without a blanket of co2. In hindsight I should of racked it the day I removed the fruit bag, since it was still generating some bubbles. The sample it took still tasted like it needed to be degassed, so hopefully I’m safe till it’s done.
Small bit in a shot glass

 

[Seamonkey84]

Everything is clearing up beautifully, I pulled a sample of each carboy yesterday. They definitely still need some degassing before bottling, but are absolutely delicious. I tried the one from the main batch first. It a dark rosè or a light red wine in color, smelled strongly of sweet berries. The taste was extremely fruit forward and deliciously sweet, fairly balanced with the astringency of the berries. The one gallon, which was 3/4 filled then topped off with more black currant juice, was about the same color as red wine. It was deeper in aroma and flavor, but didn’t cover up the flavor of the other fruits or sweetness of the honey (didn’t take a gravity reading of this one yet). I think I’m liking this modified batch a bit more. I’ll have to wait a little bit for some empty carboys so I can rack, cold crash and bottle.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Well I decided I wanted to bottle the one gallon for this evening, so after a day and a half of cold crashing (prob wasn’t long enough) I racked and made two “clear” bottles, then the rest went into a qt bottle to continue cold crashing.
I’m calling this Black Death Berry BOMM

 

[Seamonkey84]

Wow this stuff is good. A little on the acidic side with so much black currant in it, but I think some tannin would give it the little bit of mouth feel that would round it out. Even then, One bottle didn’t last long between three of us.

 

[Blacksmith1]

They never do. The wife and I killed a 1.5L last night with no problem.

 

[Seamonkey84]

I can see that happening. But my friends “don’t drink wine”, and neither did I until about a two or three weeks ago when I bought my first bottle of wine. Until now it’s been mostly whisky and some beer.

 

[Miraculix]

I also never drank wine... Until I had a really good tinto de torro (parents of tempranillo) from Spain. Chile also makes exceptional wine for decent prices, look out for a good carmenere.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Thanks for the suggestion,I’ve been liking the California Cabernet so far, the one Argentina cab I had was a bit to earthy for my taste.

 

[Miraculix]

The takeaway for me regarding wine was that there is a sweet spot for prices. It is not possible to produce a good wine for cheap money, simply really not possible. But after a certain limit, the quality gains per more money spent get less and less. In Germany, your can get decent stuff between 10 and 20 euros, in Britain it usually starts at about 12 pounds per bottle, not talking about white but red wine. Don't know about us prices, but it usually doesn't make sense to buy cheap stuff.

 

[Blacksmith1]

U.S. you can get cheap "drinkable" table wines for about $10 per 3L. If you want decent wines it is closer to $9 for a 1.5L very few of the $20+ .750L I have tried appeal to me. Seems like they just charge more because they can, not because it's better.
Concha y toro makes a couple good carmeneres but you have to hunt around to find them here. We also like a smooth Malbec, some of the one's we have tried are to sharp, with a heavy aftertaste.

 

[Seamonkey84]

I’ve had a few 750ml bottles, “two buck chuck” is just under $4 now lol. A few $4, a few $7-9, and one at $14. 90+ cellar chooses some nice wine for their lineup. But I don’t prefer the “old world” style. Too earthy/leathery with a couple I tried. We have a few local wineries here in Maine I need to try, and a local meadery (Maine honey maker) in my town, which I tried years ago when I first dabbled in wine/mead.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Well come to find out, though I followed the recipe as worded, my “altered” batch with more black currant juice is closer to what the creators had in mind. I just picked up a 96oz can of vintners harvest black currant concentrate to do my next batch. I might split the batch and use the black mead as a base so I can use the name I came up with for something

 

[Seamonkey84]

So from what I’ve reading and what I’m seeing compared to a bottle of Knudsen’s, vintners harvest black currant is not actually a concentrate! at least when comparing the gravity/Brix of the juice. So I guess what I made is to recipe, and the carboys I added more currant juice to actually is different. Also means I have to find more Knudsen, but the their website says it’s currently unavailable and the store that had them stopped carrying it.
Oh, meanwhile I’ve bottled a gallon of the berry death, and added two qts of black currant juice to another gallon and a half. The berry death is delicious, but just a bit sweeter than I’d like. I know what I want to do for my next batch based on this experience.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Before I forget and drink the last of this batch, here’s a bit of the finished Berry Death BOMM.

 

[Seamonkey84]

I have to add, no I didn’t drink through the whole batch already lol. At final racking, I ended up with 2.5gal out of the 3 gal carboy. I bottled one gallon and about finished with that.
At the time of racking, I had two quarts of black currant juice that was about to pass their best by date. I blended that with 1.5 gal of berry death that I didn’t bottle, and those are about to be cleared up soon as well.

 

[amber-ale]

If I took the recipe and method for "berry death" BOMM and removed the fruit bag a bit early (say day 5 or at 1.050 to 1.040), allowed the mead to finish fermenting, then racked over 1-2lb more crushed blueberries for another week would I get a mead with the same complexity and balance as the original, but with a blueberry aroma? Step feeding if needed to get to1.030.

Is there a better way to create a multilayered blueberry mead?

 

[Seamonkey84]

That may work, but pulling the fruit early may just reduce the tannins vs the flavor. maybe up the blueberries more in the original mix, replace the strawberries with more blueberry. Then also add it to secondary.