by GuitarLord5000 » Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:54 am
Hey Triple Oh!
I've made mead before, but never a blueberry melomel. For all my melomels, I put fresh fruit in the secondary, which produces a very nice fruit flavor. However, if you would prefer to use fruit juice, here's what I would do, for what it's worth.
Apple Juice has a specific gravity somewhere between 1.05 to 1.055. Im going to figure that Blueberry juice is in the same category though I cant really be sure.
Get 4 gallons Blueberry Juice, or enough concentrate to make that amount. You will dilute this amount with 1 gallon water (assuming a 5 gallon batch). For a 1.05 fruit juice, this should bring your specific gravity down to around 1.04.
Obtain 10 lbs. of Honey. You can call around and see what the local apiaries have right now. You'll probably only be able to get clover honey, but if you can get wildflower honey, thats what I'd use.
Mix your cut back Blueberry Juice with your Honey. Your starting gravity should be in the neighborhood of 1.10 to 1.15.
Add a bit of yeast nutrient.
If you have aeration equipment:
Add wort to your fermenter, pitch your yeast, and aerate the bejeezus out of it, for about 4 hours or so.
If you do NOT have aeration equipment:
Add wort to an open top bucket. Pitch your yeast. Stir vigorously for 15 minutes with a large sanitized spoon, then cover the bucket with a sanitized lid. Do this once an hour until signs of vigorous fermentation begin. Transfer your wort to your fermenter.
Again, this is just one way of going about it. If you use the frozen fruit, which is what I would probably do, just allow it to thaw and crush it up a bit, then add it to your fermenter after you rack your mead to secondary. These two approaches will produce drastically different tasting meads.
OK. Enough novel writing.
Cheers
Dave