First result from our mead solera! For now, we're calling this batch Blueberry Melomel. Hopefully a better name will become apparent as it matures.

Ingredients in this batch

  • Approx. 9⁄10 gallon solera mead, mostly fermented.
  • 1 lb. Wyman's of Maine fresh frozen wild blueberries, added frozen in a hop bag, on 18 April 2018.
  • ½ oz. Hungarian oak cubes, rinsed in hot tap water, added on 7 May 2018.
  • 4 oz. cranberry honey from Bee Squared Apiaries, added on 14 June 2018.
  • 2½ oz. Wyman's of Maine frozen blueberries, added loose on 14 June.
  • 7 oz. Wyman's of Maine frozen blueberries, added loose on 16 July.
  • 8 oz. alfalfa honey from Beekeeper's Honey Boutique, Salida, Colorado
  • 1 stick (0.4 oz.) dried cinnamon from Imperial Spices, added 22 July 2018.
  • 1 vanilla bean, split down the middle, added on 5 December 2018.

Procedure

Sanitized. Pumped mead from the solera carboy into one-gallon carboy with racking cane, then added blueberries. Popped in and filled an airlock.

Secondary fermentation began: 18 April 2018.
Bottling date: 10 February 2019
Final gravity: 1.006.
Estimated ABV: Approx. 12%?

Yield: TBD; hopefully, about a gallon.

  • 2 x 22 oz. beer bottles
  • 4 x 12 oz. beer bottles
  • 1 x 500mL beer bottle

Total: About 109 fl. oz., or about 85% of a gallon.

Observations

  • 2018-04-18T23:26: The mead in the carboy has already turned a brilliant dark blue.
  • 2018-05-07T20:48: Added Hungarian oak cubes to the carboy.
  • 2018-06-14T18:33: Mead is drier than I'd like, and not sufficiently blueberry-flavored. Added some honey to backsweeten, plus some more blueberries.
  • 2018-06-18T14:22: Still no sign of new carbon dioxide discharge. Looks like vigorous fermentation is not going to kick back in here. Maybe the new honey is going to be sweetness rather than booze fuel.
  • 2018-07-16: Pulled the original one-pound bag of blueberries out. Added another seven ounces of loose blueberries to the carboy.
  • 2018-07-22T19:40: Added a cinnamon stick to the carboy.
  • 2018-12-05T19:25: Added a vanilla bean to the carboy.
  • 2019-02-10: Bottled, yielding 85% of a gallon of super-delicious semi-sweet very fruity complex mead.