# blueberry melomel recipe



## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

How many blueberries do you have for this project? How sweet a mead are you thinking? How many gallons of mead?


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## natureboy68 (Feb 28, 2009)

My question is, better to add berries to primary or secondary? Yeast choices?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Putting the fruit in the primary produces a different taste than you are used to being a blueberry because the sugar part is turned to alcohol. Adding to the secondary keeps more of the blueberry flavor. You need several pounds a gallon to get a strong flavor. Lavlin 71B-1122 is and excellent fruit yeast to 12-14 ABV. Just rack it off the lees pretty quickly or the yeast starts eating the dead yeast and produces bad tastes and smells. It finishes pretty fast. Should be good by Easter, might be drinkable for the Holidays. Lavlin D-47 would be good as long as you ferment at 68 degrees or lower down to 55 lets say. Will taste rank for a year then you will have an excellent taste I am told. I am just trying some KIV-1116. I k now it is slower taking off and have heard good things about it. EC-1118 is a great yeast that will ferment a brick and go to 18%ABV but it takes a long time, a couple years before the mead mellows out and is not just panty remover. That about taps out my limited experience. I have only been doing this for a little over a year and several batches. I wait til my basement is reliably under 70 degrees to brew. Four degrees hotter produced a really fast fermentation but a strong rough tasting product. That carboy may have to hold down the floor for a couple years. I just racked ons such onto ten pounds of frozen tart pie cherries. In two weeks it comes off and will bulk age at least six months. I am having fun and being retired, that is my job.


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## nortpete (Aug 10, 2010)

I am planning on using blueberry puree on this so I can buy what amount is needed and I will do a 3 gallon batch this time. I am also looking to make a semi sweet wine.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Ken Schramm in The Compleat Meadmaker recommends, for 5 gallons of mead that you add 5 - 7lbs of blueberries for a mild fruit flavor, 7 - 10 for medium and 11+ for strong.
I recently started a batch and added about 8lbs of pureed blueberries to the secondary.
I've done it before by adding the blueberries to the primary but didn't care for the result.


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