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Source: Alan Derr
Mead Lover's Digest #122, 1 May, 1993
Ingredients:
- 10 lb clover honey (basic, grocery store variety)
- 2-12 oz bags of frozen Maine wild blueberries
- 1/4 cup jasmine tea (dry)
- 3 tsp pectic enzyme
- 3 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 pkg Red Star Champagne yeast
- The honey, blueberries, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient were added to about 2 gal of water and raised and held at 170 F for 25 minutes. I squished the blueberries and strained them about halfway through the heating process. This mixture was then poured into a carboy with water to make a bit less than 5 gallons. I then boiled about 2 cups of water, steeped the tea for several minutes and strained it into the carboy. When cool, I pitched the dry yeast (I know, I should know better than to use dry yeast...).
- OK. Time passes. Fermentation happens. It stops. I taste the result. The jasmine was a bit too heavy, but I figure it will probably mellow with age. The blueberry smell, flavor, and color was kind of underwhelming. The main problem was, the resulting mead was thin-bodied and dry as a bone. Now I want a fairly dry mead, but this was way too much so.
- So next, I heated:
- 2 lb clover honey
- 12 oz frozen wild blueberries
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- Fermentation started again (slowly) and has continued for the past couple of months. It is now crystal clear, has a beautiful purple color, nice blueberry and jasmine aromas, and a very nice mouthfeel (not to mention a fairly high alcohol content!).
- 1st OG: 1.067
- 1st FG: 0.990 (before 2nd addition of honey)
- 2nd OG: 1.004 (after 2nd addition of honey)
- 2nd FG: 0.996