Homemade Blueberry Mead Recipe - Celebration Generation (2024)

FAQs

How many blueberries to add to mead? ›

Follow your "traditional" mead recipe and protocols and Add 3 pounds blueberries - Freeze them for at least 24 hours prior - Helps break down the skin and release the juice. You can thaw them prior to adding if you want but not necessary.

Remove the fruit bag between 7–14 days or when you notice that it is beginning to blanch (turn white). After 2–3 weeks most of the fermentation will be over. At this point, transfer to a secondary to separate the mead from the sediment.

The fermenting process depends on various factors, like temperature, the amount of honey, the type of yeast, and the presence of additives and nutrients. Depending on how active the yeast is, it will take around 2 to 6 weeks.

Melomel is a term for the combination of mead (a fermented solution of honey and water) with fruit. Within the broad category there are various other names for meads combined with specific fruits.

All the literature I've read say 1-2 weeks at most, since you can't really get much more out of the fruit. That being said, I've left blueberries soaking in plastic buckets for months on end with no ill effects.

Pour the fruit puree into the fermentation jar. Rack the mead from the carboy to the fermentation jar, taking care to leave as much lees as possible at the bottom of the carboy. Place the lid on the jar and refrigerate for 1 to 2 weeks.

Preservatives will impede or prevent fermentation. Likewise with bottled juices or frozen fruit juice, look out for Potassium Sorbate, a preservative that will prevent fermentation. If using juice, use pure juice. Added sugar in commercial juices can add strange flavors.

Traditional meads usually require six months to 2 years for the flavors to mellow and smooth and any off flavors to diminish. Melomels or fruit meads can take six months to 5 years for the flavors to fully integrate and the tannins and acids to mellow. Metheglin or spiced meads are quicker, six months to a year.

Why did it fall out of favor? There were some new tax laws, as well as an increased availability of West Indian sugar in the 17th century that made honey harder and less necessary to obtain. But it was also the rise of other alcohols—namely beer and wine—that really did it in.

Historically, in a lot of the ancient mead making, they would start drinking it at this stage. Tej, for example, they'd just open ferment it, and over time it becomes less sweet and more alcoholic. If it's left in that open fermentation eventually it starts to become sour.

Should you stir mead while fermenting? ›

It is important to stir the 'must' during the primary fermentation. The yeast requires a good supply of oxygen during this 'aerobic' fermentation, meaning with air. It also helps keep the fruit in solution if you are fermenting on the fruit, grapes, or whatever kind of fruit. You don't want a solid cap forming on top.

The 71B-1122 is a red wine yeast, great for cysers and other melomels especially ones using dark fruit like blackberries and cherries. Since it can metabolize maltic acid it produces a rounder, smoother, more aromatic mead that tends to mature more quickly than meads with the other yeasts.

A good starting point with most fruits is about 3 pounds of fruit per gallon of mead, though I have been known to use 5 or even 6 pounds of fruit.

Place blueberries (fresh or frozen) into a mason jar or pitcher. You should add enough to fill 20 - 40% of the container. Fill the container with clean, filtered water. Place the container in the refrigerator and let it sit for at least 4 hours.

I've added fruit to mead in primary, secondary & tertiary, all with good results. You'll lose a certain amount of fruit flavour in primary, but you get a fermented fruit flavour that way.