Blueberry mead

[Zante]

So this is the procedure I've planned for this batch:

1Kg of honey
1/2 a tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of wine yeast

Mix enough cool water with the honey in a fermenting bucket to take it to a SG of 1105, mix the yeast nutrient and the yeast and aerate well the must. Stir well once a day.

800g frozen blueberries
1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of pectolase

Once primary fermentation is over (should take about a week) rack the must in a 1 gallon demijohn. Keep some of the must in a bottle in the fridge.
Defrost 800g of blueberries I bought a while ago from a farmer's market, blend them and add them to the must with the extra yeast nutrient and the pectolase to help clearing the wine later on. Top up with water and let it ferment for about another week.
After said week filter out the larger solids (skin, seeds, bits of pulp, etc) with a cheesecloth and continue fermenting topping up with the must that was kept aside in the fridge for this very purpose.

At this point I will leave it to ferment to dryness, only racking when there is a substantial layer of lees, and once fermentation is over, wait for it to clear and bottle it to age a bit.

As I write this I have just finished the first step, i.e. mixing the water, honey, yeast nutrient and yeast and left it to start fermentation. I have used 1kg of raw linden honey. My previous efforts at making mead were with cheapo crappo Sainsbury's most generic honey, most probably pasteurised. The results are not bad, even without ageing, but that means that they are drinkable, but unremarkable. It will be interesting to taste the difference (aha).

The idea of adding the blueberries after the primary (more violent) fermentation is to keep a more fruity flavour. Will it work? Dunno, that's why I'm trying
One worry I do have when I will add the blended blueberries will be that the skins and pulp might float and foam and make a mess with the demijohn's narrow neck. I am considering the possibility of not filling the demijohn, but leaving enough space for this not to be a problem. In theory this would be bad because there is a risk of oxidisation, which is bad, but the fermentation should be still vigorous enough to have a nice layer of CO2 as a buffer.

I would normally consider adding tannins and some acid blend to a mead, but the blueberries should have enough by themselves to not need additions, and even if they don't have enough it's something I can add later on to taste.

 

[For want of a better word]

You forgot the teabags and Marmite!

A must for any mead. tho yours is a Methlegrinn!

Nos da

 

[Zante]

Well... Since I'm using fruit a melomel rather than a metheglin.

The tea bags are supposed to provide tannins, but those should be added with the blueberries, if they're not enough I can always top up with strong tea or add a quarter teaspoon of tannins powder.

As for marmite... that's a first for me.
Are you reaching for my leg trying to give it a good pull?

 

[For want of a better word]

Well... Since I'm using fruit a melomel rather than a metheglin.

The tea bags are supposed to provide tannins, but those should be added with the blueberries, if they're not enough I can always top up with strong tea or add a quarter teaspoon of tannins powder.

As for marmite... that's a first for me.
Are you reaching for my leg trying to give it a good pull?

Not at all... food for the yeast... better than a dead rat in the ciser!

Nos da

 

[Zante]

Hmmm ... Makes sense actually. I added yeast nutrient, marmite must be the traditional version. I'll have to try a batch with tea bags and marmite and see the difference.

 

[Zante]

The honey must now has a strong minty smell, don't ask me why. It is now ready for secondary fermentation.
I have defrosted the blueberries, pureed them and poured the puree in a demijohn with a bit of water to wash down the puree. I have then mixed a crushed campden tablet to kill anything that wasn't killed by the freezer and sterilise the lot. Tomorrow morning I will mix the honey must and start the secondary fermentation.

 

[Zante]

Fruit puree added, and I have 1 litre of mead must for top ups. I don't know if it'll be enough, but the initial SG was quite high, so if that isn't enough I should be able to use water without weakening the wine too much.
Interestingly the SG of the must changed by the slightest fraction after adding the puree, so I'll call it unchanged. That'll make calculating the alcohol content easier.

 

[Zante]

I am pleased to say that the pulp in the demijohn is rising a bit, but not enough to be a problem. I just swirl it back in twice a day to keep fermenting. In about a week's time I'll be straining the pulp out and passing it through a juicer to get as much liquid as possible out.

 

[Zante]

Racked the mead off the pulp into a clean demijohn and added the third and last dose of yeast nutrient and the pectolase. Now it's a question of waiting for it to ferment out.
I used the whole of the must I had in the fridge for two reasons: I spilt quite a bit on the floor while trying to filter the pulp out, and took a good swig of the must to "test it" (well... might as well). It is not too good yet, but it promises well for when it's finished.
Visually, it has taken from the blueberries a nice intense red colour, I'm curious to see what it'll look like once it's cleared properly.

 

[Cussword]

How is it going?
What was your starting sg?

 

[Zante]

I left it last Saturday that it had almost finished fermenting. I am now almost at the end of a holiday, so I'll be able to tell you how it's doing. I expect it might have started clearing a bit now.

As for the starting sg, I will have to look it up on my notes.

 

[Cussword]

Sorry, you said it in your op 1105.
If you take to maximum dryness it should be a little potent.

 

[Finman]

.
Are your blueberries American bush blueberry or European forest billberry?

.

 

[Hivemaker.]

.
Are your blueberries American bush blueberry or European forest billberry?

....or Worts.

 

[Zante]

Yes it will be quite strong, but I've found something quite strange: I have made basic mead (just honey) and I thought I'd taken it to dryness, I certainly thought it tasted dry!

Instead when I opened a bottle after a few months it was quite sweet. I suppose the sweetness was covered by the harshness of the "raw" wine, and it mellowed out while ageing.
It was quite strong even though it wasn't fermented to dryness though.

Finman
Probably European bilberries, not sure, they were selling them on the market simply as "blueberries"

It has now been bottled, and I couldn't help myself from giving it a taste.
You can still taste the lime honey and the blueberries and it's already decent. I'm curious to taste it when it has aged a bit.

In the meantime I have cherries in the freezer. I wonder if sunflower honey will go well with them.

 

[Zante]

I've opened a bottle last week and it's not bad at all. The lime honey does give it some distinctiveness and the blueberries, while can't be quite tasted anymore, linger in the background. I will have to hide a couple of bottles and let it age properly.

Does anyone know if beeswax is any good as a sealant for wine bottles?