# Blueberry Melomel



## Wade E (Apr 30, 2009)

*6 Gallon recipe*
15 lbs – Honey (Blueberry Spun is best but any kind will work)
15 lbs – Previously Frozen and Thawed Blueberries
2 Quarts – Wyman’s Wild Blueberry Juice
6 tsp – Yeast Nutrient
3 tsp – Yeast Energizer
6 tsp – Acid Blend
4 1/2 Gallons – Water
1/8 tsp – K-Meta
1/4 tsp – Liquid Pectic Enzyme
2 Sachets – Red Star Pasteur Red Yeast
Pour 1 gallon of warm water in 7.9 gallon primary bucket or bigger. Add K-Meta, Yeast Nutrient, Yeast Energizer, and Acid Blend and stir well. Put all fruit in fermenting bag and squeeze over primary to extract most of juices and then put bag in primary. Dissolve all honey in with 3 gallons of boiling water and pour over fruit in primary bucket. Add Wyman’s Blueberry juice now and then add remainder of water and check SG, it should be around 1.100 give or take a little, if less then add a little more dissolved sugar in small amount of water as sugars from fruit can vary a little. Let sit for 12 hours with lid loose or with a cloth covering bucket with elastic band or string tied around so as that not to sag in must. After those 12 hours add your Pectic Enzyme and wait another 12 hours while also adjusting your must temp to around 75 degrees. After those twelve hours, pitch your yeast either by sprinkling yeast, dehydrating yeast per instructions on back of yeast Sachet, or by making a yeast starter a few hours prior to the 12 hour mark. At this point either leave primary lid off with the cloth again, place lid on loose or snap the lid shut with airlock. Punch down cap twice daily to get all fruit under the liquid level. When SG reaches 1.015, rack to 6 gallon carboy and let finish fermenting with bung and airlock attached. When wine is done fermenting, (check a few days in a row to make sure SG does not change and SG should be around .998 or less) you can stabilize by adding another ¼ tsp of k-meta and 3 tsps of Potassium Sorbate and degas your wine thoroughly. You can now sweeten your wine if you like by using simple syrup which consists of 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of boiling water or by using a juice or frozen concentrate. I typically take 2 quarts of an alike juice and simmer on stove at medium heat with lid off until its 1/3 its original size and let it cool to room temp and then add slowly to taste. Be careful not to over sweeten. At this point you can use a fining agent or let it clear naturally. Once clear, rack into clean vessel and bulk age more adding another ¼ tsp of k-meta at 3 month intervals or add ¼ tsp k-meta and bottle age for at least 3 months and enjoy. Longer aging will give you a better wine so save a few bottles till at least 1 year mark so you can truly see what this wine can aspire to.


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## lovethepirk (Sep 9, 2009)

This is going to be my second batch of wine. I heard blueberry wine is excellent. Also I will be using a starter to ensure good fermentation.

Question:

Are you against crushing the blueberries? When you squeeze them are you doing this basically?

Also if I was going to make a f-pac would you suggest getting blueberry juice or is there an alternative juice that would work?


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## St Allie (Sep 9, 2009)

Do a really good yeast starter and plenty of nutrient and energiser.

Blueberry is notoriously a difficult fermenter due to it containing a natural yeast inhibitor.

I mashed my berries with a potato masher, save some of your frozen berries or buy some blueberry juice and reduce it down with sugar for your f pac, if you want a more pronounced blueberry flavour. If you wanted to add blackberry juice, that goes well with blueberries.. it's to your own taste really.


good luck!


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## lovethepirk (Sep 9, 2009)

My first batch of wine was a kit and now I want to try with fruit...Would you suggest doing 5-6 gallons of one fruit or several different fruit wines at around 1 gallon each? I know this is personally preference, but wondering what people think?


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## St Allie (Sep 9, 2009)

I started out with 1 x 1 gallon jug.. and just kept collecting gallon jugs for a while. Tried lots of different gallon fruit wine recipes to see what I liked best, and kept notes on them... Large batches of wine depend on cheap fruit really.. do you have fruit going to waste in your garden?

Now have 3 x big carboys for the 6 gallon ( US) fruit recipes and winekits.. I still find the 3 gallon and smaller carboys easier to lift and manage. ( I have to get my sons to shift the big ones for me.)

Allie


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## Wade E (Sep 9, 2009)

The blueberry juice works very good. Smash the berries.


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## lovethepirk (Sep 11, 2009)

I am reading that a good acid level in this blueberry wine is from .5% to .6%. You all agree?


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## Wade E (Sep 12, 2009)

Yep, that usually puts the ph in balance for fruit wines.


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## Mud (Feb 11, 2010)

Hey Wade,
How does the honey flavor come through on this? Seems like the blueberry is going to mask a lot of the honey flavor. Trying to figure out what to do with this gallon of orange blossom that keeps staring at me.


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## Wade E (Feb 11, 2010)

I would say that it hides behind the Blueberr on this but gives it great body, if you are looking for an even dispearsement or more honey then blueberry then yoll surely have to make your own recipe or modify this one.


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## Mud (Feb 11, 2010)

Thanks, man. I'll tinker with it.


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## mphymel (Feb 21, 2012)

Wade,
I am as newbie as one can be. 
I have bees, therefore surplus honey. 
I also have a bunch of blueberries in the freezer. 


I have a bucket with lid and airlock, and Safbrew T-58 yeast. 

I am not quite sure of what Yeast Nutrient, Yeast Energizer, Acid Blend, K-Meta or Liquid Pectic Enzymes are.

Is recipe this something that I should try, having no wine making experience?


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## brewski09 (Apr 5, 2012)

St Allie said:


> Do a really good yeast starter and plenty of nutrient and energiser.
> 
> Blueberry is notoriously a difficult fermenter due to it containing a natural yeast inhibitor.



I did a Blueberry Mead in July where I steeped the fresh blueberries (picked the day before) in 170F water for 15 minutes, keeping the temp steady. Is this generally not recommended? Also, no energizer or nutrient, just cinnamon stick and lemon juice/peel. It was only my second mead and my first personal recipe. It seems to have turned out nice (1.004) and is aging well right now. Just wondering if I got lucky. Thx.


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## Wade E (Apr 5, 2012)

Myphymel, sorry I missed your post! As for steeping the bleberries, not sure what that achieved unless it wax to sweeten and flavor it afterwards as pectic enzyme will do all the work of breaking down your fruit. Not adding any nutrient or energizer was risky with blueberries if you adk me. Blueberries and Cranberries naturally contain benzoate which is a yeast inhibitor.


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## brewski09 (Apr 5, 2012)

I was thinking it would kill bacteria on the berry and maybe some wild yeast too. Probably misguided, but I wanted to clean them is all.


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## Wade E (Apr 5, 2012)

Not sure if 170* would do that. Never did get an answer on exactly what temp water needs to be to do that. That is a good process though as Ifd rather do that then play with sulfites on a very hard to ferment batch. I use boiling water and just pour it over to do this when using fresh fruit, boiling water is a no guesser!


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## GreginND (Apr 5, 2012)

Oh, I do love blueberry. I made a blueberry melomel in 2000. I have one small 12 oz bottle remaining. I finished off the rest almost 10 years ago. I'm waiting for the right time to taste some of my old meads.


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## mphymel (Apr 6, 2012)

No problem Wade, it happens. I ended up making the Caramel Apple Mead and so far I think it is coming along. About to rack it the last time next week.

I still have a gallon of honey and blueberries, and now my bucket is clear, so I could possibly start another run. I sure did learn a lot in the process, and found a brew supply shop close to home, a big help.


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## J-Gee (Apr 7, 2012)

I've always had a lot of success with blueberry wine and melomel.Recipients seem to rave about it,as well.Just a few things that seem to work for me.Most everything I've tried is from the fine folks on this forum.I never warm the water more than 90*F. or so.Slice bananas with peels,plump up some raisins in fairly warm water,chop up some dates,and throw them all in the mesh bag. I like the Red Star RC 212 ,but prefer Red Star Pasteur Red.I like a drier wine,but usually end my [email protected] the melomels.Freeze your berries well.I've never washed or sanitized my berries.Have fun!


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## J-Gee (Apr 7, 2012)

I also like to use some pomegranate juice with blueberry.This summer,I'm looking forward to using some elderberries with it.


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## GreginND (Apr 8, 2012)

Blueberry Pom sounds really good. One of the best dry fruit wines I have ever made was a 50:50 blueberry elderberry wine. A little oak you round it out and it was the closest thing to a dry red wine I think I could achieve. .


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## brewski09 (Apr 8, 2012)

any advice on using cinnamon with it? I have had melomels with great cinnamon flavors, but don't know how to replicate it. Maybe it's the wrong kind or amount? Wrong sweetness? Method? Thinking like a pie here for the taste... Thx for any advice


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## J-Gee (Apr 8, 2012)

Well...I went back to notes from a batch in 09.I used 1 oz. or so of medium quality ground cinnamon in a coffee filter thrown in the mesh bag. I do know that it has a nice cinnamon overtone.Yeast was Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212. I'd forgotten,but I'd used a 12oz. can of Olde Orchard Pomegranate and a can of 12 oz. Welch Apple,Grape,Raspberry.I only used 16 lbs. of berries on the 5 gal. batch.The wine is great.I've set aside several bottles.


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## J-Gee (Apr 8, 2012)

I should mention,that this is a wine,rather than melomel.


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## brewski09 (Apr 8, 2012)

J-Gee,

Since you are in SE Ohio, do you have access to Brothers Drake Meads? They are in Columbus and I'm trying to replicate something similar to their Apple Pie Mead, but with a blueberry pie recipe I have. Definitely a dessert mead, but delicious.

Thx for the tip on the cinnamon. I'll try that when I can get some fresh blueberries this summer.


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## J-Gee (Apr 8, 2012)

Sure,I know it.I know a guy that took a couple courses under their instruction.I've had a couple of there products and liked them.I believe "Summer Solstice" was one that I'd tried to get,but it was in short supply at the time.I'll try to pick up a bottle of the apple pie this week


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## brewski09 (Apr 8, 2012)

I think summer solstice is always in short supply. I have a bottle of the apple pie in my beer/wine fridge now


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## MDPLS (Nov 13, 2012)

Hi All,

I was wondering when you are ready to rack what do you add to the carboy to top up for the volume of the fruit after removing the berries? 

Thanks


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