Fruit and honey go together as well as, well fruit and honey. Melomels are their name and deliciousness is their game! This week we’ll be sharing a Blueberry Apple Melomel Recipe with a red wine tannic component and lingering blueberry and apple flavours.
Honey, while high in fermentable sugars, is low in minerals and nutrients. Couple that with its mild antiseptic properties and you get a tougher solution for the yeast to ferment in. All that means is that additional nutrients are needed during fermentation to make sure the yeast is happy and healthy; we recommend using Fermaid O and Go Ferm.
There are many yeast strains available for mead, these can be liquid or dry yeasts. Liquid yeasts will require a starter and nutrients, and dry yeast will require rehydration and nutrients before pitching. We recommend using Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast.
For calculations, we use the Mead Made Right TOSNA calculator.
Makes: 19 L
Approximate ABV: 11%
Please note that when using honey, the number of SG points added by an amount of honey will vary from honey to honey and season to season.
EQUIPMENT:
- Fermenter 25-30 l (6-8 gal)
- Hydrometer
- 250ml container
- Large container for water bath
- Thermometer
- Sanitiser
- Aluminium foil
- Stainless steel or plastic mash paddle
- Medium, fine mesh grain bag for fruit
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 kg Liquid Honey
- 1 x Mangrove Jack's Apple Cider Pouch
- 1 kg Frozen Blueberries
- 20 L Non-chlorinated water
- 50 g Wine or Mead nutrient
- 12 g Mangrove Jack's M05 Mead Yeast
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Clean and sanitise all equipment.
2. If your yeast has been in the fridge or freezer, allow the yeast to warm to room temperature.
3. In a sanitised container, prepare a small amount (10ml per gram of yeast) of sterile non-chlorinated water. Place the sterile container with water in a water bath of either boiled or cold water to get your yeast water to 30-40 °C (86-104 °F).
4. Add 1/4 of the recommended amount of nutrient, stir until dissolved.
5. Sprinkle the dry yeast over the top of the water, trying to avoid any large dry clumps then let sit for 15 minutes loosely covered with aluminium foil (to avoid foreign matter, and wild yeast falling into the mixture), then stir gently.
6. Gently stir again to form a cream, then let sit covered for another five minutes.
7. When the temperature of the cream is within 8 °C of your Must, pitch the cream into the fermenter (ideally as soon as possible).
a) Dilute honey and cider pouch into 10 L (3 gal) of warm <55 °C (131 °F) water in the fermenter.
b) Gently break up the thawed bag of blueberries so that most of the berries are broken. Empty the bag over the fermenter into the sanitised grain bag, tie up the end and add to the fermenter.
c) Fill your fermenter with water to 19 L (5 gal) volume
d) Pitch the yeast and ferment in low 16 °C (62 °F)
d) Follow TOSNA nutrient addition schedule
i) Add 1/4 of the yeast nutrients at 24-hours after yeast pitch.
ii) At the 48 and 72 hour mark, add 1/4 of the yeast nutrients.
iii) Add the final nutrient addition (2 g) on the 7th day after yeast pitch or when fermentation has reached its 1/3 sugar break (SG = 1.046), whichever comes first.
8. Degas twice a day by stirring the Musk gently until 1/3 sugar break to release CO2
9. Once fermentation has ceased, rack to secondary fermenter.
10. Age until clear or add clarifying agent.
11. Keg or bottle mead.
