Blueberry Melomel

[paubin]

Started a blueberry melomel today
1 gal
4 lbs frozen wild blueberries
3lbs orange blossom honey
2 teaspoon acid blend (adjust if berries are more or less acidic)
1/8 teaspoon tannin
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet
1/2 teaspoon pectin enzyme
Wild blueberry juice to a lil over 1 gal

My starting sg was a lil high but should be ok, 1.12

I'll be pitching 71B-1122 as soon as the campden and pectin do their thing.

Pete

 

[Waldo]

How long will this need to age before consumption Pete

 

[paubin]

2-3 hrs minimum I'd say bud. At it's sg it will be higher abv so definitely longer aging required. If it ferments well I'll feed it more honey a lil at a time till she can't take no more. It should be very fruity given that I kind of experimenting here with pure juice plus berries, so I feel it can take a higher abv without tasting to hot.

Pete

 

[paubin]

Gave the pectin enzyme a little extra time due to having to get to work early. Pitched the yeast at about 4 this after noon and I've already seen the start of activity. Should be perking along by morning

Pete

 

[dragonmaster42]

I'd say aging it "2-3 hrs" is definitely a minimum.

Tony

 

[Wade E]

Sounding darn good there Pete. I bottled my Blue Mel about 2 months ago after a year of bulk aging and hopefully it came out as good as the last few times as it always went over great but what would you expect as its one of Waldo's recipes that I just modified to my taste a little bit.

 

[paubin]

Was your recipe close to mine. I remember Waldo's thread on blueberry a while back but used my recipe and substituted the blueberry juice for water. I'm hoping to be ble to feed this one a little more honey and have it finish off dry. It is bubbling away nicely now and will probably continue for about a week that way. Once the sg drops I'll pull the fruit and give it a day for the lees to settle then rack to glass. I should know within 6 months how it will come out and if it is nice I'll make a bigger batch.

Pete

 

[Wade E]

For a 6 gallon batch I used 15 lbs of honey (Orange Blossom) and 15 lbs of Blueberries and 2 quarts of Wyman's wild blueberry juice.

 

[paubin]

Wade, yours is similar. Just less juice and blueberries in total. What yeast did you use and did you add all honey at once or did you feed during fermentation. Mine will hopefully retain a lot of blueberry so that no f pack will be needed. I like the yeast I'm using as the fermentation isn't very fast or hard. It is great for fruity flavors.

Pete

 

[paubin]

Fermentation is slowing down and I will take an sg tomorrow and probably rack to glass.

Pete