# Making A Blueberry Mead (Melomel)



## Waldo

With a trip to the River Market In Little Rock early Saturday morning









Where they have a Farmers Market every Saturday, 














I acquired 12 lbs. of Honey and 6 lbs of Blueberries. When I got home, my first task was to get the blueberries cleaned.








This is the residue from cleaning thatyou do not want ending up in your wines or meads. Stems, leaves, unripened fruit and fruit that has already over ripened.








I now have my Blueberries cleaned and ready to get started








Following is my recipe I used for this batch of Mead.*


Waldo's Blueberry Mead ......5 Gallon
<DIR>
<DIR>


12 lbs. Honey


6 lbs. Blueberries


5 Campden Tablets


1/4tsp. Liquid Pectic Enzyme


5 teaspoon yeast nutrient


2 tsp. yeast energizer


2 tsp. acid blend


1tsp. Tannin


Red Star Pasteur Red Yeast





</DIR></DIR>


I Dissolved Campden Tablets, Yeast Nutrient, Energizer, Tannin and Acid Blend in 1 qt. warm water. Added to primary fermenter. Placed Blueberries in strainer bag, added to primary fermenter and mashed berries well, extracting as much juice as possible. Don't get excited, them hands were well sanitized !!








I Dissolved thehoney in warm water and added to primary fermenter, stirring well. Added water to make 5 gallon, checked and SGwas at1.100 . 








I then stirred the mustwell and let sit for 12 hours and added the Pectic Enzyme. Gave it another good stirring and drew a sample for :





*








I keep doing this, hoping that one day I will get a grasp on just what the hell I am doing and why I am doing it. How to make corrections to my must if needed. The whole time I am performing this test I am tasting a sample of my must and thingking that the acidity is a little weak and I may add more acid blend but will wait until someone who understands this process looks at my pictures and offers up some advice. I followed the instructions in the kit by adding enough must in the tester to bring it up to "0" then I began adding the solution in drops of 5 at a time. It changed from red to a brownish bronze then to a light green and with the last 5 drops I added it changed to a darker blue color. I place a drop on a piece of the litmus paper and it turned it a real light blue color. SO, PH, Acidity experts....Where am I and where doI need to be? 


I have a yeast starter going right and my plans are, unless advised otherwise is to add another 2 tsp. of acid blend this evening and pitch the yeast to it.








*Edited by: Waldo *


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## paubin

Waldo, I ain't no expert but it looks to me like you have a TA of .38%.
As far as the PH goes, I have no idea as my PH paper is blue to start
with. Normally, you want most fruit wines to be about .60%. A tsp of
acid blend will raise 1 gal .15%. so I would and 6-7 tsp of acid blend
to get in the neighborhood. Also did you drop fresh must on the litmus
or from the titration solution??? Like I said I'm no expert but I have
tested a couple of my own recipes just to be sure. From what I
understand from Masta, TA is the amount of acid and PH is the strength
of acid. Hope this helps and hope I'm not wrong on anything. Hopefully
Masta will chime in to verify me or correct me before tonight. Keep me
posted on your melomel's progress as blueberry is a future project that
I have planned.



Good Luck

Pete


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## paubin

By the way Waldo, my son said your blueberries looked great and he
thinks you look like Santa except you need a longer beard, LMAO.



Pete


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## Waldo

Thanks for the info and help Paul and tell your son that,


I AM SANTA


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## PolishWineP

Looking good with those blueberrries! I sure hope Santa finds his way to my house with a bottle of that mead!


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## paubin

Thanks Santa, my son got a big kick out of that pic!


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## pkcook

Ho Ho Ho, Blueberry Mead!


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## Waldo

Dang PWP..Santa can't seem to find your address. If he got it in a PM he might just be obliging






I added more acid blend to my must yesterday, one tsp at a time until it tasted about right to me. It ended up being 6 more tsp so Paul was pretty right on about how much more I needed to add. I pitched the starter to it when we got home from my Daughters yesterday evening and this morning I had a really strong fermentation going


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## masta

Looksawesome Waldo and I have to say you have come a long way on developing your wine/mead making skills! 


Congrats my friend!






Acid testing can be tough on dark musts since you are looking for the color change. I have found using another container such as a 50 ml beaker helps getting the solution stirred well while adding the indicator solution but of course you have to measure out the starting amount and ending volume with the supplied graduated cylinder. 


Great job Paul crunching the numbers with the acid amounts and as Waldo indicatedyour calculations were correct!


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## paubin

Hey, Something must be sinking into this rock I call my head! I'm glad everything worked out for ya Waldo. 



The young grasshoppa has moderately pleased da Masta. Perhaps he will avoid beatings for yet another day.



By the way, it's Pete</span>...LOL


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## Waldo

Thanks Masta I murmur as I am slowly extracting my foot from my mouth to apologize to Pete for calling him Paul.


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## masta

Sorry Pete...Waldo please boot me in the butt when you get your foot removed since I followed your lead!


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## paubin

Pete



No biggy dudes


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## Waldo

Don't know where the heck Paul came from, Probably just made it up hehehe Anyway, the fermentation on the Blueberry Mead is going very well, the aroma is just awesome and I have great hopes that this is going to be a good one


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## grapeman

Now that's a good fement going. It should be great. Waldo, I keep thinking Pete should be Paul too- screen name of paubin- to my fuzzy old eyes it looks like paulbin....yeah that's it!


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## paubin

That was my guess on the confusion with my name. The melomel is looking
great Waldo. The color is awesome! What yeast are you using, by the way?



Pete


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## paubin

Oh, never mind on the yeast question...I just saw that you already
posted that it is champagne...Talk about old tired eyes....LMAO



paubin...aka...paul...aka...pete


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## Waldo

One of the characteristics I liked about the Pasteur Red yeast Petewas its ability to pull out the flavors and aroma of the fruit being fermented. I am starting a 5 gallon batch of Blackberry and think I may try the same yeast with it.


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## paubin

HHHMMMMM, If Hippie was here he probably would have spotted this out
right away. You posted champagne yeast but your pic shows pasteur red.
So I take it that you did use red. I've used it before and like the
results, although it does foam a lot like Montrachet. I'll be racking
my apple cider( Will be sparkling if I can get it to continue with a
abv of 13%), rasberry and strawberry/rhubarb tonight. I will also be
bottling my blackberry in the next few days and I'll be sure to post
some pics! Maybe I'll restart a "What's in your carboy" string.



The blue is looking great!







Pete


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## pkcook

Waldo,


Lookin' good. I didn't realize Pasteur Red foamed like that! I can almost smell it from here



.


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## Waldo

Thanks All......Man it smells awesome. Will check SG and probably rack it to a carboy this evening or tomorrow.


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## earl

Guys


I need help with the numbers. Waldo had an acid of .38% and he wanted .60%. Adding acid adds .15% per teaspoon. If he added 6 teaspoons wouldn't that be adding .90% acid?? Wouldn't he only have to add 2 teaspoons to bring it up to .68%??


What am I missing?


earl


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## masta

Earl,


The 1 tsp of acid blend raising the acid .15% is per *1 gal* so 5 tsp would have raised it the acid only .15% for his *5 gal* batch.


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## earl

Well that makes sense.


Thanks


earl


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## Waldo

Thanks Masta...Another "notch" in my winemaking stick. 


Racked the Melomel to carboy this morning at an SG of 1.010 and from my taste test, the acidity is right on. Has taken on more of the Blueberry flavor too which I really liked.


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## pkcook

Waldo,


Forgive my ignorance of blueberries (never used them), but I would have expected a much darker color blue. The photo almost looks pink (lighter than my sour cherry wine). Is this the typical color of blueberry wines? Just curious. 


It does look good though



.


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## paubin

Lookin great Waldo



Pete


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## Waldo

That is pretty typical for Blueberries pkcook when used in conjuction with another media. If it was 100% Blueberries it would have retaind some more of the blueberry color. At least that has been my experience and I am an expert since I have made only 1 gallon of Blueberry wine






Thanks Pete........I guess it was inevitable. I have heard the stories and cringed that I would ever see that day but it came visiting at 11:10 AM this morning. My phone rang at work and it was my wife, informing me that my Blueberry Melomel had "Blown It's Top" and foaming madly out of teh carboy. "What should I do Babe?" she inquired. "DRINK IT" was my reply



Not what i really said but she was a champ about and already had the mess cleaned up by the time I made it to the house.*Edited by: Waldo *


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## grapeman

ROFLMAO












It's not funny that it blew it's top, but what a funny image- DRINK IT! as it's spewing all over. Blueberry sure can be vigorous, but when it's done boy is it good! Hope you didn't lose too much of that marvelous melomel.


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## Angell Wine

The picture does not do that color justice. It's actually a darker color. Looks good Waldo.


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## Waldo

I lost a little over a quart appleman but I think it will stll be ok. I have a couple of bottles of mead I made last year I can top up with when the time comes. 


You are correct Angell, it is a little darker than the picturs demonstrates and as it ferments further it will get even darker.


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## paubin

I am going to get some of those big tubs from Walmart. I haven't had an
erruption yet but sooner or later, ya know. I'll put my fermenter
inside the tub so any leakage will hopefully be contained.



Pete


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## pkcook

paubin,


I use the tubs when I transfer just in case I'm sloppy and spill, but I've never thought of keeping a carboy in one during fermentation. Might be a good idea for those musts that are prone to eruption, like blueberry!


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## Waldo

My Blueberry Melomel finished fermenting so I racked it again and topped it up with some of my mead from last year. My impression at tasting was


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## grapeman

Oh boy does that look tasty



. Is that a towel in the background? Pretty good match for the blueberry spill!


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## paubin

Lookin completely awesome Waldo



! I cant wait to start mine, but it will have to wait until after vacation. I've decided that my next two will be blueberry melomel and a concord. I need a lot more room so I can have at least 4 going at the same time. My stock of wines is down so low since I moved from TX. 


Pete


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## Wade E

That looks mighty tasty. I have never made a Mead, do you have to use
any specific kind of honey, in example - store bought or fresh?

&nbs p;&nbs p;&nbs p;&nbs p;&nbs p;
Wade


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## Waldo

You can use either wade but I prefer the fresh myself


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## pkcook

Waldo,


Where to you get your honey?


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## paubin

I know I'm not Waldo, but I posted a good source of honey a couple posts ago and they have a great varietyhttp://www.glorybeefoods.com



The prices are pretty darn good too



Pete


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## PolishWineP

In just about any agricultural area you should be able to find a local honey producer. Our "local" producer is a friend of a friend who lives a good hour from us, but it's well worth the effort.


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## masta

These sites might be of some help to locate a local supplier:


http://www.localhoneyforsale.com/search/default.asp


http://www.honeylocator.com/


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## paubin

So Waldo,

How is the blueberry doing? On my last melomel the clearing was pretty quick. I could almost bottle right know if I wanted. 



Pete


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## Waldo

It is clearing nicely Pete. I am probably going to bulk age this one for at least a year in the carboy.


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## paubin

I usually bulk for six months max as my carboys tell me they like fresh wine every once in a while. 



Just kidding, I'm not really that insane








That is one of the things I really like about meads( besides the taste that is), they clear so nicely.



Pete


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## Waldo

Racked the Blueberry again this past Saturday evening. It has a deep rich color and at tasting the flavor of the blueberries had developed a lot more than was detected at the last racking.



*Edited by: Waldo *


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## Bert

That is really looking good Waldo....I find I really like meads and can get excited about them...they are just that different, but fun to enjoy.


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## Waldo

Thanks Bert..I am fairly new to meads but learning to enjoy and appreciate them..A LOT !!


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## pkcook

Looks good Waldo!


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## kutya

waldo, do you wait a full year to drink your mead like I have read on the internet? I'm about to start a batch of Rasberry mead, and find that I hate to wait?? I hear they call it adult ADD???? By the way that batch looks really good.*Edited by: kutya *


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## Waldo

I will have to admit that I haven't been able to save any of my wines/meads for a year yet. Hopefully I can start hoarding some back now A case of each type I make...Maybe a half case......maybe a bottle or two...maybe one bottle!


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## pkcook

One bottle seems to be the right number



!


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## masta

I am just now at a point of having afair amount of wine in inventory that is a year old. I have found it takes quite a bit of inventory to accomplish this and maintain the same level of drinking!


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## paubin

That is why I like to bulk age as long as possible. I can keep my gready paws off the wines longer that way and the wines get a chance to mature.


Pete


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## kutya

So what you are all saying is that impatience is a common problem among home vinters????? lol


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## Waldo

Here is the label I designed for my Blueberry Mead 



*Edited by: Waldo *


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## dfwwino

Waldo, that is an awesome label. I am salivating looking at the honey and blueberries. It makes me want to open my fermenter and starting drinking my day old mead. Great job.


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## sangwitch

That's a great label. I would not feel guilty at all having a bit of that for breakfast with a label like that. It just looks so wholesome and nutritious!


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## paubin

Top knotch label as always Waldo!


Pete


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## masta

Awesome...You got skills!


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## Waldo

Thanks All....If I could just make wine now as good as the labels i'd have it made




*Edited by: Waldo *


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## Wade E

I think thats the best label I have ever seen. Great job Waldo.


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## PolishWineP

It sure can be hard to keep those wines for aging. I have gotten to the point that I put them in boxes under the food shelves in the pantry. Out of sight, almost out of mind. I can age a wine forever. I do it just to prove myself right. You may want to take up lying to those who show a lot of interest in what wines and how much. If they don't know you have it they can't cajole you into opening it!


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## Waldo

The only problem with my doing that pwp is that I can't remeber where I hid them




Now I have a dilema, my winemaking notebook, all of my notes, recipes, trials and tribulations over the past year has disappeared



. Gone.....I do not believe I ever stabilized the BlueberryMelomel so would it have any nagative effect if I did stabilize and it had already been done.


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## sangwitch

Waldo said:


> Now I have a dilema, my winemaking notebook, all of my notes, recipes, trials and tribulations over the past year has disappeared
> 
> 
> 
> . Gone.....







What? How did that happen? DId you have all your notes on a computer or written down? *Edited by: sangwitch *


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## NorthernWinos

Gee waldo, hope you find your recipe book, and when you do....Post them on......

http://mywinerecipes.medicalserver.org/winerecipes.cgi

Then we can share them and you'll have a great backup place to look....


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## grapeman

Are you sure the Revenuers didn't sneak in in the middle of the night and take it to check your records?



Oh! Wait a minute. That can't be, you would have surprised them in the middle of the night. You stay up most of the night!



Seriously, I hope you find it. It's indespensible.


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## Wade E

Hope you find it Waldo but all your recipes have to be changed now
anyway. Youll probably have to add in at the beginning to Steam juice
them all.


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## Waldo

sangwitch said:


> Waldo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now I have a dilema, my winemaking notebook, all of my notes, recipes, trials and tribulations over the past year has disappeared
> 
> 
> 
> . Gone.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What? How did that happen? DId you have all your notes on a computer or written down?
Click to expand...

They were all written down in a spiral notebook sang.......Wish I had loggged everything onto my computer. I keep it backed up regularly...Oh well !! Life goes on


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## Waldo

wadewade said:


> Hope you find it Waldo but all your recipes have to be changed now anyway. Youll probably have to add in at the beginning to Steam juice them all.


Probably right wade


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## OGrav

Hey Waldo, been a couple of months now, have you pulled a cork yet? This was one of the first posts that I read when I found this site and it hooked me. I did a straight blueberry wine, started May, bottled earlyAugust. I took a full bottle to a Thanksgiving dinner and everyone loved it,tasty and surprisingly smooth for how alcoholic it was. I added sugar to fermentationtwice. Ifyour melomelturns out half asgood as it looks, as I have every confidence, I will be looking this up next summer. I will be going back home NY for a graduation and hope the local Upick and dad's bushes are full of berries. Then you are going to teach me everything you know about label making. Any luck on that book? If you are anything like me, you probably obsess over lost stuff. Hope it turned up under a carboy full of wine.
LT


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## Waldo

Never did find my notebook OGray but as long as I don't lose my mind I will be ok hehehe..The MElomel is still bulk aging in the carboy and I will probably bottle it sometime around March/April. At last tasting it was smoothing out nicely. Will give yoy any help you need on the label making too. Just holler when your ready. I bottled a batch of Muscadine/Grape blend last night that is just awesome. Will be posting a thread on it soon but here is the label Imade for it. 



*Edited by: Waldo *


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## OGrav

Those few colored items really set it off.


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## Wade E

I opened up a bottle of the blueberry melomel from Waldo's recipe and
I'll just tell you this right now. Start a batch as soon as possible. I
wish I made more than one gallon of it!


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## paubin

Already bottled Wade??? Mine is still bulk aging. Although it's not Waldo's recipe it's still blueberry melomel


Pete


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## Wade E

Yes, I still have a problem with restaint. That will be the New year
resolution to actually let some wine bulh age more than 3 months. I
will be doing a lot of wine in the new year. Hopefully this way I'll be
able to actually not be waiting for wine to be ready (enough)!


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## NorthernWinos

We are down to a few bottles of some wines that have been in the bottles for 12-18 months [off the RESERVE RACK]...they are so good...Tho I have to say the wines that I have been adding oak to have some good flavors at bottling.

Been thinking that I want to TRY to put a case [12 bottles] of each batch I make now in a box and store it under the wineracks...Then maybe drink one bottle a month of the remaining bottles from that batch....going to be needing many more empty bottles..and going to have to make many more batches of wine...We are finally learning that aging does make a difference.

Maybe that would be a good New Years Resolution...try to age some of each batch...Can we all do it??? Can we help each other??? Maybe we need a Support Group????*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## Wade E

Or maybe we all need to make more wine than we do so that we can be ahead of the game. Thats gonna require more carboys.


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## docbee

Looks delicious. One question?? I saw that you used camphden tabs at the onset of the recipe, but do you use it (or K Meta) at any racking or just before bottling for the longer storage "potential"?? I have a blackberry melomel in the carboy now for over 2 months and am wondering if I should use K meta prior to bottling.*Edited by: docbee *


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## Waldo

Definately want to use it before bottling docbee


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## docbee

Thanks. Another question..what about degassing?
I am very new to this wine making stuff.


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## Wade E

Always degass all your wines. I use a drill mounted fizz x or mix stir.


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## Wade E

I will be starting a 6 gallon batch of this wonderful stuff as the
gallon I made the first time didnt make it very long. This time, the
recipe goes-

15 lbs. - Raw wild honey

9 lbs. - Wyman's frozen wild blueberries

3 lbs. - frozen fresh blueberries

1/4 tsp. - k-meta

6 tsp. yeast nutrient

2 1/2 tsp. - yeast energizer

acid blend to be determined( will post final tsp. when figured out)

1/4 tsp. - liquid pectic enzyme.

1 1/2 tsp. Tannin

Will shoot for a SG around 1.095 but may go a little higher, will see!


*Edited by: wade *


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## Waldo

Looks good wade.....I forgot that I had posted no pictures of my mead after bottling so I gathered what was left this morning for a photo shoot. 
It is mighty good right now but I am going to try and save these for at least a year.


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## Wade E

That looks like the stuff that went into my belly last year!


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## paubin

Looks great Waldo. My blueberry has been bulk ageing for about six months now. Hope it looks that nice in the bottle.


Pete


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## RkyMtnWine

Well... I scanned thru this waldo... think my brain is getting scrambled.. Looking forward to your reply on blending my current blueberry with a new mead. Have a great day


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## RkyMtnWine

Hi Waldo... sorry about bouncing around.. I think I originally got on the mead subject in my Blueberry thread. I asked you for a mead recipe that would work for blending with my blueberry. well shoot. I found your well documented experience with the recipe from George. I took notes on that and will get somehoney and see what else I need to order from George.. I have a running list right now. Geeze.. think I am going to break the bank. *Edited by: RkyMtnWine *


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## Wade E

I have made that twice, the second time I added more berries and it was to my liking more. Maybe because I wasnt using fresh berries that I needed more but they were both awesome.


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## RkyMtnWine

Hi Wade.. found this bottle from trip to your area last october. well close to your area. Should make a nice little sample bottle. Have it sitting next to my gallon jug 





*Edited by: RkyMtnWine *


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## Wade E

I love Ludlow Vermont, I used to ski there almost every week at Okemo, my favorite place. I havent skied there in quite sometime as Im afraid that my back will get hurt again. 2 years ago i bulged 2 disks and was out of commision for about 3 months and couldnt even move for about 1/2 that time. If that were to happen again i would most likely loose my house so skiing is out but that town is so quaint and would love to move there or somewhere like it.


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## RkyMtnWine

Was beautiful country... it took me by complete surprise... Of course we were fortunate to be there during peak colors. Been thinking on that blueberry/mead combo... leaning towards just doing the blueberry and mead maybe later... thinking I should look at doing one of the kit wines.


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## Wade E

Do what your heart and your wallet tells you Rock.


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## jobe05

I would start with a small batch ....... maybe a gallon of Mead.

I was all excited and made Joes Orange mead the first time..... 3 gallons....... wasn't good, made 3 more gallons........ didn't like it........

Made 3 gallons, blueberry, then 3 gallons blackberry, 3 gallons raspberry, 3 gallons of a fruit mixture............ but didn't like any of them.........

My wife and I talked about it and decided that I just didn't care for meads....... that was when my wife commented on all the money we had spent and I should have maybe just did a few 1 gallon batches..................

For some reason that never crossed my mind................. sigh.........


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## RkyMtnWine

Thanks for the info... was thinking one or two gallon batch. Will have to sleep on it and decide what I will do.


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## Wade E

Wow find that hard to believe buddy and might ave to send you a bottle of mine to be sure that you dont like it. Can you pm me with your address again, i have a few wines to send you to try.


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## jobe05

I have tried and made several types and in each one there is an underlying taste from the fermented honey that I didn't care for. Perhaps it's part of the aging process. I still have every bottle I made, which is now a couple of years old, so maybe it got better. I'll have to try it and see. Would love to try a bottle of someone else's thou.


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## Wade E

Raspberry will be on its way! Can you post your recipe for Raspberry Melomel so I can see what the difference is to mine. I used 
Raspberry</span> Melomel</span>
*Edited by: wade *


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## Wade E

Have you been converted yet or did you spit it out Jobe?


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## grapeman

RkyMtnWine said:


> Was beautiful country... it took me by complete surprise... Of course we were fortunate to be there during peak colors. Been thinking on that blueberry/mead combo... leaning towards just doing the blueberry and mead maybe later... thinking I should look at doing one of the kit wines.




Don't know how I overlooked this. I knew you drove through the area, but you really took the scenic route. You were just about half way between me and Wade when you were in Ludlow. I don't ski so I have never been to Okemo, but there are certainly no shortages of ski spots in the area. They are all opening up presently and expecting more snow the next week, so come on over to ski! We are borderline on the winter storm warning area between a couple inches and up to a foot.


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## K&GB

Waldo, I scanned through this and it doesn't llok like you back sweetened your melomel. Did you? Is a melomel normally sweet or dry?


Ken


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## vcasey

K&amp;GB said:


> Is a melomel normally sweet or dry?
> 
> Mels can be dry or sweet and you can sparkle them as well. Dryer meads may take a little longer to come around. They also age very well also.
> VPC


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## Waldo

I did not backsweeten this one , it finished an off dry and I left it like that. I have one bottle of it left......Open it for Thanksgiving or wait for Christmas?


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## K&GB

Thanksgiving!


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