Success!

[beemandan]

I think I've finally made a mead I like!
Just put it into bottles today....hasn't even aged....and it is still goooood!

[Solomon Parker]

What's your recipe? That stuff looks pretty dark.

[beemandan]

What's your recipe? That stuff looks pretty dark.

Honey, water, yeast...high enough OG to produce 14% alcohol...ferment to completion, rack onto a mesh bag with 1lb+ pureed blueberries/gallon of mead (actually was about 7lbs or blueberries and 5 gallons of mead) and about 75ppm sulfite, after 4 weeks rack off of blueberries...allow to settle for 6 weeks...bottle.

In the past I've skipped the sulfite. The blueberry juice would ferment and the resulting flavor didn't agree with my palate. This batch retains much of the blueberry flavor and some sweetness. I wouldn't call it sweet but it isn't dry either.

It is still pretty raw but is not unpleasant.

[Solomon Parker]

What yeast?

[beemandan]

What yeast?

Lalvin 71b-1122
Oh yeah...I forgot...yeast nutrient at the initial fermentation.

[Solomon Parker]

How much honey? You know what I mean, I know you mix it based on alcohol, I have a hydrometer, but just an estimate.

[beemandan]

How much honey?

Now you're taxing my brain. I have notes....OG 1.094 and 1.096. Since this mead was started as part of two different mead making workshops...and I used a 3 gallon carboy for each...then when the fermentations were completed I put them together into a single larger fermenting bucket w/blueberries + sulfite. The way I generally do it, though, is by mixing to an OG that suits. If I had to guess...for a 6 gallon fermenter, I would probably use 4 gallons of water and 4 quarts of honey...then test and adjust as needed.

[beemandan]

To carry my entire obsession with blueberries further...yesterday I bottled 146 bottles of blueberry - honey vinegar. I told a friend....yeah I have a couple, believe it or not.....that I'd gone bananas over blueberries

[Solomon Parker]

I can work with that. After my present batch of cider, I'm going to need something else to do. Actually, I'm making far more than I'm drinking so that ought to be remedied as well.

[beemandan]

Actually, I'm making far more than I'm drinking so that ought to be remedied as well.

One of life's challenges.
Having said that, I've never made a mead I liked....so I've always given it away...took it to parties where it becomes a novelty. Any number of folks always like it....I just never have. But this batch.....I'm thinkin' I'm going to be a little more stingy with it.

[Ben Brewcat]

Ja. I kegged meads until about 15 years ago, and I'm still turning away people who try to crash our parties based on the stories generated .