# Finally home! Blackberry melomel update!



## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 23, 2013)

So for everyone who knows me I have spent the past 10 months in Afghanistan. I am happy to say that I am finally home!! I started my blackberry melomel and I'm extremely surprised on how fast it has actually fermented! I started it four days ago at 1.120 and today it is at 1.060. At first I was a little concerned about that number. I decided to taste and wow does it taste great.


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## Deezil (Jul 23, 2013)

Glad ya made it back safe 'n sound. 

What yeast strain did you use?


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## Arne (Jul 24, 2013)

Welcome back. Glad you are home safely. Make sure you keep on coming back to see us. Arne.


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## the_rayway (Jul 24, 2013)

Welcome home! So happy to hear you made it back safe. 

Recipe please?


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## Julie (Jul 24, 2013)

Welcome home!!!!


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 24, 2013)

Thanks everyone. Well I ran into a dilemma with using wyeast 4184, and the only other yeast I had was Montrachet... There isn't a brew shoppe next to me so that's what I used.


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## seth8530 (Jul 24, 2013)

Congrats, keep us posted!


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## FABulousWines (Jul 24, 2013)

so glad to hear you home and safe. Thanks again for your service. Enjoy your wine making and do keep us posted on your progress!


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## saramc (Jul 26, 2013)

Welcome back! So did you use 4184 then end up pitching Montrachet?


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jul 26, 2013)

I got to be mean to you, to bad you didnt start this before you left, it would be clear by now and almost ready to bottle, you could have dreampt about how good it was going to be when it was hot outside working! Thanks and welcome home. WVMJ


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 27, 2013)

Sara, yes after I waited several days for it to kick off I used the Montrachet. I didn't want to as it is a generic yeast but I had no choice


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 27, 2013)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> I got to be mean to you, to bad you didnt start this before you left, it would be clear by now and almost ready to bottle, you could have dreampt about how good it was going to be when it was hot outside working! Thanks and welcome home. WVMJ



That's really mean haha. However I did start an apple wine before I left and that turned out nice.


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 27, 2013)

Here is a picture of my blackberry melomel.


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## seth8530 (Jul 27, 2013)

Looking pretty awesume eh


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 27, 2013)

It smells great, it's roughly 13% alcohol which I wasn't planning on but the Montrachet put it there.


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 28, 2013)

Well it cleared.... That Is a huge amount of sediment!


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 28, 2013)

the_rayway said:


> Welcome home! So happy to hear you made it back safe.
> 
> Recipe please?



The recipe is on the mead page


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## fatbloke (Jul 28, 2013)

Wouldn't mind betting that if you rack off the sediment, it'll drop another, smaller amount.......


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 29, 2013)

I'm sure it will also. How long should I let it sit on the gross lees? I thought about racking it here soon.


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## fatbloke (Jul 29, 2013)

The only yeast I can think of where its recommended to get the batch off the gross lees relatively quickly, is 71B narbonne strain.

The guesstimate is 2 months after the end of the ferment. Not that I know if there's actually any science behind that period other than anecdotal evidence that no-one has reported autolysis off flavours in that timespan, and that unlike other yeasts that either do nothing or improve/slightly modify the taste, 71B is the one that I have read as causing autolysis problems so........

Now I'm quite lazy with a lot of my batches, but even I like to get then racked/stabilised/back sweetened etc, so theyre ready for bottling or bulk aging (mostly bulk aging as bottling is such a chore !).


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## CoastalEmpireWine (Jul 29, 2013)

So what would you recommend? How long do you usually leave them in for? I plan on putting a few pounds of blackberries back into it after fermentation ends. Also plan on adding honey to bring the sweetness up.


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