Zante
Field Bee
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2016
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Near Florence, Italy
- Hive Type
- Dadant
- Number of Hives
- 2
So this is the procedure I've planned for this batch:
1Kg of honey
1/2 a tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of wine yeast
Mix enough cool water with the honey in a fermenting bucket to take it to a SG of 1105, mix the yeast nutrient and the yeast and aerate well the must. Stir well once a day.
800g frozen blueberries
1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of pectolase
Once primary fermentation is over (should take about a week) rack the must in a 1 gallon demijohn. Keep some of the must in a bottle in the fridge.
Defrost 800g of blueberries I bought a while ago from a farmer's market, blend them and add them to the must with the extra yeast nutrient and the pectolase to help clearing the wine later on. Top up with water and let it ferment for about another week.
After said week filter out the larger solids (skin, seeds, bits of pulp, etc) with a cheesecloth and continue fermenting topping up with the must that was kept aside in the fridge for this very purpose.
At this point I will leave it to ferment to dryness, only racking when there is a substantial layer of lees, and once fermentation is over, wait for it to clear and bottle it to age a bit.
As I write this I have just finished the first step, i.e. mixing the water, honey, yeast nutrient and yeast and left it to start fermentation. I have used 1kg of raw linden honey. My previous efforts at making mead were with cheapo crappo Sainsbury's most generic honey, most probably pasteurised. The results are not bad, even without ageing, but that means that they are drinkable, but unremarkable. It will be interesting to taste the difference (aha).
The idea of adding the blueberries after the primary (more violent) fermentation is to keep a more fruity flavour. Will it work? Dunno, that's why I'm trying
One worry I do have when I will add the blended blueberries will be that the skins and pulp might float and foam and make a mess with the demijohn's narrow neck. I am considering the possibility of not filling the demijohn, but leaving enough space for this not to be a problem. In theory this would be bad because there is a risk of oxidisation, which is bad, but the fermentation should be still vigorous enough to have a nice layer of CO2 as a buffer.
I would normally consider adding tannins and some acid blend to a mead, but the blueberries should have enough by themselves to not need additions, and even if they don't have enough it's something I can add later on to taste.
1Kg of honey
1/2 a tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of wine yeast
Mix enough cool water with the honey in a fermenting bucket to take it to a SG of 1105, mix the yeast nutrient and the yeast and aerate well the must. Stir well once a day.
800g frozen blueberries
1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp of pectolase
Once primary fermentation is over (should take about a week) rack the must in a 1 gallon demijohn. Keep some of the must in a bottle in the fridge.
Defrost 800g of blueberries I bought a while ago from a farmer's market, blend them and add them to the must with the extra yeast nutrient and the pectolase to help clearing the wine later on. Top up with water and let it ferment for about another week.
After said week filter out the larger solids (skin, seeds, bits of pulp, etc) with a cheesecloth and continue fermenting topping up with the must that was kept aside in the fridge for this very purpose.
At this point I will leave it to ferment to dryness, only racking when there is a substantial layer of lees, and once fermentation is over, wait for it to clear and bottle it to age a bit.
As I write this I have just finished the first step, i.e. mixing the water, honey, yeast nutrient and yeast and left it to start fermentation. I have used 1kg of raw linden honey. My previous efforts at making mead were with cheapo crappo Sainsbury's most generic honey, most probably pasteurised. The results are not bad, even without ageing, but that means that they are drinkable, but unremarkable. It will be interesting to taste the difference (aha).
The idea of adding the blueberries after the primary (more violent) fermentation is to keep a more fruity flavour. Will it work? Dunno, that's why I'm trying
One worry I do have when I will add the blended blueberries will be that the skins and pulp might float and foam and make a mess with the demijohn's narrow neck. I am considering the possibility of not filling the demijohn, but leaving enough space for this not to be a problem. In theory this would be bad because there is a risk of oxidisation, which is bad, but the fermentation should be still vigorous enough to have a nice layer of CO2 as a buffer.
I would normally consider adding tannins and some acid blend to a mead, but the blueberries should have enough by themselves to not need additions, and even if they don't have enough it's something I can add later on to taste.
