Really doing the most! Love this. I have watched the OG video at least 10 times. Good inspiration for my next fruit bomb. Thanks for all this effort BC!!
I’ve got a hydromel going now, inspired by you and a few others! I’ve already made your lemon drop hydromel and it was amazing, so now the blueberry is on the go! Thanks for the inspiration!
This looks and sounds amazing. I just ordered a Malbec wine kit to make a pyment with Avocado blossom. If it turns out like yours sounds I'd be happy. Definitely want to give your recipe a try.
Oh man… my mouth is watering at the very thought of this mead! My blueberry mead is going to be halfway between your first and this iteration. Not a no-water mead, but more blueberries than your first one and a generous helping of blueberry syrup I had hanging around. Fermented on the fruit for two weeks. Now I’m waiting for it to clear some before racking it off the lees and adding oak. Racked off the oak it’ll go into bulk ageing and finally bottling. Not planning on even touching it before it.s a year old, except for a few sneak tastes at the racking, oaking and bottling stages. I’m SO looking forward to the end product! I didn’t use buckwheat honey. I’ve earmarked my stash for traditional chouchen… maybe I should have used some. Oh well… next time. That’s the fun part of home brewing: always new variations to try! LOL!
@@DointheMost - I have some medium toast French oak, was considering ordering sole American oak as an alternative. As my mead will be milder I’m wondering what would pair best with the milder berry flavour. The skins of my berries might already have imparted some tannins as well. Which one would you go for? I’ve got vanilla beans so I could add a bean in secondary but that might be overkill. I want the end result to be berry forward but dry-ish, definitely not sweet (sweet & semi-sweet are only for some very specific brews IMHO). Not bone dry though. I’v got some toasted cherry wood chips but don’t think they’re right for this brew.
@@eddavanleemputten9232 I really like how the American oak played in this. You might want cubes instead of chips if you’re going for a softer oak profile. I wanted a little of that woody tannin, so the chips worked well for that. If you do use French oak, a little bit of vanilla bean in secondary might be a good complement.
@@DointheMost - Thank you for that feedback! Good idea on the cubes for the softer profile! I’ll have a small taster in a little while to see if I need more tannins through chips or if cubes are the way to go. He place I order from delivers within 24 hours so that shouldn’t be a problem (and there’s ALWAYS extra things on my brewing wishlist that store has, LOL!) I’ll add the vanilla in secondary. THANK YOU! Even more excited now. Yay!
Interesting video. I’m used to 1gal demijohns, and am looking to scale up to 3gal, 5gal and maybe 10gal if I can. I noticed use using massive amounts of ingredients, certainly much more than I might use in a 1gal. Are the volumes of ingredients for high gal quantities 1gal recipe multiplied by the number of gal of the larger fermenter (eg 3, 5, or 10gal)? Do you have a video that covers this issue?
Really nice project! I will try this this summer when I will pick blueberries. I will stick to 5L batch though. I have never had luck with RedStar yeasts. I always rehydrate in go ferm, at the suggested temperature, add a bit of must, wait 5 min and so on. The fermentation starts within hours but after a day becomes sluggish despite nutrition, gives sulfur and stalls at 7-8% ABV. I think I will try with 71B, which never disappointed me. Have you experimented with different type of oaks? I have used medium toasted american oak chips for a bochet. With 0.5g/L for 4 days, it was right were I wanted it. I could not get those vanilla flavours out because the woodiness was so prominent. I am trying oak cubes with a chestnut mead at the moment, apparently it releases much slowly the woodiness, giving time for the vanilla to get out.
Before jumping to 71B, I would recommend checking out RC212 or BM4x4, which are both highly recommended for styles like this over 71B. I have French, American, and Hungarian oak all in my supplies. Each is very different!
Really informative video - thanks for making it! What went into your decision to use Wyeast's malolactic culture blend (4007) rather than their culture intended for red wines (4114)?
uhm have you tried using bourbon barrel Oak chips?? might be worth a try Midwest had other selections on there sight , but it's wood collected from retired Barrels. it's a thought
How much were the blueberries at Chef'store? I priced out pretty much the same recipe (just wildflower honey) and it came in just under $200 for the ingredients using blueberries from Costco.
I think the bill for the berries ended up being about $120 total, IIRC. We could've gotten the smaller bags of tinier berries from Sam's/Walmart for around $90, but we were looking at having to drive to multiple locations to buy enough and deal with all those people, so it seemed worth the extra scratch for an in-and-out trip.
@@DointheMost Yeah, don't do that. We went all the way to Walmart for cheaper frozen raspberries and could only find 5 little bags at two different locations (we needed 12-16) so we gave up on them for that. That's still a decent price for the blueberries. Getting frozen blueberries from Costco is about $140 after tax, for 44lbs. Chef'store is slightly closer to our house than Costco, anyway.
@@Nova_Needle I've done this with both Sam's Club blueberries and Walmart, and they both seemed fine. Between the first and second batches, Sam's changed how they packaged the blueberries and bumped up their prices by a ton! (Hence Walmart the second time) We got lucky at Walmart, but we did completely clear them out of bulk frozen blueberries 😅
I noticed you used go ferm did you just use room temperature water from the water bottle? Does it work successfully? I've used go ferm before but sometimes following the directions of warming up water is a pain and makes me not want to use it.
Has inspired me to want to try this recipe this summer. Being fairly new to mead making ( 1 year ) I haven’t used a malolactic culture before. How do you know when the malolactic fermentation is done? Also I love raspberry’s. Any thoughts on doing a similar recipe using raspberry’s?
On an industrial scale you can check malic acid levels to know when they've been depleted. On a homebrewing scale, it's not so simple. I tend to notice a "stinging" sensation when I taste an MLF that is still active, almost like the mead/wine is burning my tongue. But a general rule of thumb could be, at about 3 months it should be done. By 4-5 months it should /definitely/ be done. I think for raspberries you'd want to stick with light and fruity honeys (blueberry blossom, raspberry blossom, orange blossom, etc) and macerate for a shorter period of time. Raspberries tend to break down faster than blueberries. Happy brewing!
Looks awesome! Im not sure if you already mentioned it in the video but approximately how many pounds of blueberries did it take to get 1 gallon of juice?
If doing a smaller batch, do you think it would be reasonable to heat the blueberries and let them break down, in batches? I only say this because I know how tasty blueberries heated (with some sugar) are... surely that would be great to use to create our must? I understand it would be a completely different recipe.
I know this is a bit of an older video of yours, so totally understand if you dont reply.... But i noticed that in your videos you leave quite a fair bit of sanitizer bubbles in your bottles when you are transferring to a new container. Have you noticed this change your taste profile at all? I am fairly new to mead making, but I try and clear out as much sanitizer as possible so I dont ruin taste. But if I dont have to do that it would be much easier haha
Would it be stupid to food mill the berries after the pectin process? Especially if you don't have a juice press, I know it would create a lot of sediment Super curious! Thanks!
Now this is what I want out of a melomel! I know those big jammy fruit bombs are crowd pleasers, but I'll take a more rich and nuanced red wine like profile any day of the week.
I try and think of them as totally different things, even though they definitely fall within the same categorization. But you’re right, they live in different orbits, and while both have their merits, I can drink more of a lighter mead in one sitting!
Can confirm: this recipe is amazing! Since I had some "insider information" about the recipe before this video came out (lol, join the discord), I've done two batches with variations. Even at 7 months, the first batch was the best thing I've ever made. I accidentally over-sweetened, so it ended up being a jammy, oakey, bright blueberry wine. But that sweetness means literally everyone has loved it. The second batch was/is an attempt at a more red wine-like profile, fermented on the pomace as BC mentioned. It was a PITA to press the skins+yeast goop after primary fermentation, but it was worth it. We forgot the malic acid addition, but it's still very good. In fact, it's almost TOO similar to a red wine: I miss a bit of the "berry-ness"! @BC: Any recommendations for adding more berry-ness back to the mead? Is it just more sweetness? We also feel it might not be acidic enough (we forgot the additions), so we were thinking about adding a touch of either lactic or malic acid; any recs either way?
I’d definitely experiment with some lactic acid, either in bench trials or in small additions. To get blueberry flavor back in there, acid and sweetness balance will help. But other than adding more fruit or using a flavor compound, the fate of your “berriness” is likely sealed.
@@DointheMost Perfect, thank you! The aroma is still blueberry, so I think it might be an issue of mental association, as you kinda said? We expect a certain tartness and sweetness when we think of berries!
I want to roll back a bit, is it too early to make Skeeter Pee? trying to decide on next week's "brew", and If Skeeter Pee is about a 3 month "Brew" it is a good candidate.
This guy likes molasses! ;) Huh... now I'm wondering if buckwheat or avocado blossom honey could successfully sub in for molasses in some confection recipes...
and i thought my half gallon batch of Manakua honey was expensive with 4 of those 30 dollar containers of manakua honey lol. turned out amazing tho sweet and earthy and rather tastey.
I think that would only be a problem if he was going to reuse the bucket for fermentation. I imagine he's likely going to recycle it after he's done with the honey inside.
This is way too complicated and hipstery for me. All you need is sugar and yeast baby not all those cultures and steps. But if you like the way it tastes then nothing else matters. Hopefully your extra care paid off.
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I've only made a blueberry mead once. It was the best mead i've made. I got to say, blueberries make better wine than grapes, they're so good.
I largely agree. Blueberries are definitely my favorite fruit to work with.
Really doing the most! Love this. I have watched the OG video at least 10 times. Good inspiration for my next fruit bomb. Thanks for all this effort BC!!
I wondered where all those views were coming from! Lmao. Happy brewing, man!
"I will not hold it against you, as you can do it right now" 🤣😂🤣 Great video, going to need to do an all juice mead now.
It is definitely something everyone should brew at least once or twice. Totally different flavor profile!
Wow! That was a lot of work! Good job 👏🏼 I’ll bet it tastes amazing. Definitely doin the most!
I always love a big blueberry mead!
@@DointheMost I added cinnamon to mine (on some RUclipsrs) suggestion. Bad move man! It’s not good anymore 🥴
@@GreenWitch1 Oh no! I’ve had a bottle of that cinnamon blueberry and I thought it was pretty good. Different strokes!
I’ve got a hydromel going now, inspired by you and a few others!
I’ve already made your lemon drop hydromel and it was amazing, so now the blueberry is on the go!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for tuning in! Always good to hear the content is helpful. 🍻
This looks and sounds amazing. I just ordered a Malbec wine kit to make a pyment with Avocado blossom. If it turns out like yours sounds I'd be happy. Definitely want to give your recipe a try.
I’d be happy to give you a bottle this summer!
@@DointheMost Where are you selling it?
@@MAGACOPP we don’t sell it. TLM is a friend who lives nearby.
Oh man… my mouth is watering at the very thought of this mead! My blueberry mead is going to be halfway between your first and this iteration. Not a no-water mead, but more blueberries than your first one and a generous helping of blueberry syrup I had hanging around. Fermented on the fruit for two weeks. Now I’m waiting for it to clear some before racking it off the lees and adding oak. Racked off the oak it’ll go into bulk ageing and finally bottling. Not planning on even touching it before it.s a year old, except for a few sneak tastes at the racking, oaking and bottling stages. I’m SO looking forward to the end product!
I didn’t use buckwheat honey. I’ve earmarked my stash for traditional chouchen… maybe I should have used some. Oh well… next time. That’s the fun part of home brewing: always new variations to try! LOL!
Your batch sounds lovely! What type of oak are you going to use?
@@DointheMost - I have some medium toast French oak, was considering ordering sole American oak as an alternative. As my mead will be milder I’m wondering what would pair best with the milder berry flavour. The skins of my berries might already have imparted some tannins as well. Which one would you go for? I’ve got vanilla beans so I could add a bean in secondary but that might be overkill. I want the end result to be berry forward but dry-ish, definitely not sweet (sweet & semi-sweet are only for some very specific brews IMHO). Not bone dry though. I’v got some toasted cherry wood chips but don’t think they’re right for this brew.
@@eddavanleemputten9232 I really like how the American oak played in this. You might want cubes instead of chips if you’re going for a softer oak profile. I wanted a little of that woody tannin, so the chips worked well for that. If you do use French oak, a little bit of vanilla bean in secondary might be a good complement.
@@DointheMost - Thank you for that feedback! Good idea on the cubes for the softer profile! I’ll have a small taster in a little while to see if I need more tannins through chips or if cubes are the way to go. He place I order from delivers within 24 hours so that shouldn’t be a problem (and there’s ALWAYS extra things on my brewing wishlist that store has, LOL!) I’ll add the vanilla in secondary. THANK YOU!
Even more excited now. Yay!
sounds simply deliscious I was wondering though how you cleaned the wood in that press after this?
I rinsed it off and stuck it out in the sun for a day. That’s it!
@@DointheMost I made some muskadine wine and used a wooden press. cleaned with pressure washer and dried in sun.
@@tennray Not a bad idea, I can definitely dig out our pressure washer next time ha ha. Just gotta find it buried in the garage!
Looks wonderful ! I’ve been meaning to make a fruited mead after the success of my cysers and regular meads and that blueberry looks incredible!
Blueberries are seriously my favorite fruit to work with!
@@DointheMost definitely! My most favourite beer to date is probably the Blueberry Sour I made, such a great fruit!
Love your videos! Will the malolactic ferm culture sour the plastic for future use? Thanks!
buckwheat,,,,,i have just onder 60 lbs,,, 5 gallons minus a coffemel.....could you do more with buckwheat??? love the science on this vid, thankyou
Buckwheat honey is great in braggots! (And on pancakes)
Looks amazing. I really have to try that
It was a really fun project! Great end result also.
Interesting video. I’m used to 1gal demijohns, and am looking to scale up to 3gal, 5gal and maybe 10gal if I can. I noticed use using massive amounts of ingredients, certainly much more than I might use in a 1gal. Are the volumes of ingredients for high gal quantities 1gal recipe multiplied by the number of gal of the larger fermenter (eg 3, 5, or 10gal)? Do you have a video that covers this issue?
Really nice project! I will try this this summer when I will pick blueberries. I will stick to 5L batch though.
I have never had luck with RedStar yeasts. I always rehydrate in go ferm, at the suggested temperature, add a bit of must, wait 5 min and so on. The fermentation starts within hours but after a day becomes sluggish despite nutrition, gives sulfur and stalls at 7-8% ABV.
I think I will try with 71B, which never disappointed me.
Have you experimented with different type of oaks? I have used medium toasted american oak chips for a bochet. With 0.5g/L for 4 days, it was right were I wanted it. I could not get those vanilla flavours out because the woodiness was so prominent. I am trying oak cubes with a chestnut mead at the moment, apparently it releases much slowly the woodiness, giving time for the vanilla to get out.
Before jumping to 71B, I would recommend checking out RC212 or BM4x4, which are both highly recommended for styles like this over 71B.
I have French, American, and Hungarian oak all in my supplies. Each is very different!
@@DointheMost thanks, I was not aware of those yeasts. Will try them out!
@@tim-tim-timmy6571 I was fortunately able to find BM4x4 at the local shop recently, now I just need a project to use it in!
Sorry for the noob question but what are the bubbles in the big carboys just before the racking? About 18:46 timestamp if that helps
That's the no rinse sanitizer.
Really informative video - thanks for making it! What went into your decision to use Wyeast's malolactic culture blend (4007) rather than their culture intended for red wines (4114)?
uhm have you tried using bourbon barrel Oak chips?? might be worth a try Midwest had other selections on there sight , but it's wood collected from retired Barrels. it's a thought
They smell great…but from
My exp. they don’t give that barrel oak flavor an actual Barrel aging does.
wonderful mead -well done. ---question -do you look at ph or sulphate ratios when brewing ?
I don’t check sulphate levels at all. Sometimes I look at pH, but not often.
Can you add pectic enzyme to the fermentation ? Or does it have to be on the fruit beforehand ?
How much were the blueberries at Chef'store? I priced out pretty much the same recipe (just wildflower honey) and it came in just under $200 for the ingredients using blueberries from Costco.
I think the bill for the berries ended up being about $120 total, IIRC. We could've gotten the smaller bags of tinier berries from Sam's/Walmart for around $90, but we were looking at having to drive to multiple locations to buy enough and deal with all those people, so it seemed worth the extra scratch for an in-and-out trip.
@@DointheMost Yeah, don't do that. We went all the way to Walmart for cheaper frozen raspberries and could only find 5 little bags at two different locations (we needed 12-16) so we gave up on them for that. That's still a decent price for the blueberries. Getting frozen blueberries from Costco is about $140 after tax, for 44lbs. Chef'store is slightly closer to our house than Costco, anyway.
@@Nova_Needle I've done this with both Sam's Club blueberries and Walmart, and they both seemed fine. Between the first and second batches, Sam's changed how they packaged the blueberries and bumped up their prices by a ton! (Hence Walmart the second time) We got lucky at Walmart, but we did completely clear them out of bulk frozen blueberries 😅
Curious if you have tried blending up the blueberries in a blender?
For the same reason you shouldnt blend Oranges and lemons:
The outer peeling.
I noticed you used go ferm did you just use room temperature water from the water bottle? Does it work successfully? I've used go ferm before but sometimes following the directions of warming up water is a pain and makes me not want to use it.
Has inspired me to want to try this recipe this summer. Being fairly new to mead making ( 1 year ) I haven’t used a malolactic culture before. How do you know when the malolactic fermentation is done?
Also I love raspberry’s. Any thoughts on doing a similar recipe using raspberry’s?
On an industrial scale you can check malic acid levels to know when they've been depleted. On a homebrewing scale, it's not so simple. I tend to notice a "stinging" sensation when I taste an MLF that is still active, almost like the mead/wine is burning my tongue. But a general rule of thumb could be, at about 3 months it should be done. By 4-5 months it should /definitely/ be done. I think for raspberries you'd want to stick with light and fruity honeys (blueberry blossom, raspberry blossom, orange blossom, etc) and macerate for a shorter period of time. Raspberries tend to break down faster than blueberries. Happy brewing!
Looks awesome! Im not sure if you already mentioned it in the video but approximately how many pounds of blueberries did it take to get 1 gallon of juice?
What size buckets were those? They looked like a good size for what you needed and for racking into carboys. Sorry if I missed that.
I think 6 or 6.5 gallon
If doing a smaller batch, do you think it would be reasonable to heat the blueberries and let them break down, in batches? I only say this because I know how tasty blueberries heated (with some sugar) are... surely that would be great to use to create our must? I understand it would be a completely different recipe.
This video I'm sure everyone enjoy watching, at least I hope they did. But I'm sure that the enjoyment was even tasting was far greater.
You got that right!
After all those honey additions, what do you think was the final ABV?
I know this is a bit of an older video of yours, so totally understand if you dont reply.... But i noticed that in your videos you leave quite a fair bit of sanitizer bubbles in your bottles when you are transferring to a new container. Have you noticed this change your taste profile at all? I am fairly new to mead making, but I try and clear out as much sanitizer as possible so I dont ruin taste. But if I dont have to do that it would be much easier haha
Would it be stupid to food mill the berries after the pectin process? Especially if you don't have a juice press, I know it would create a lot of sediment
Super curious! Thanks!
You mean blender it?
Now this is what I want out of a melomel! I know those big jammy fruit bombs are crowd pleasers, but I'll take a more rich and nuanced red wine like profile any day of the week.
I try and think of them as totally different things, even though they definitely fall within the same categorization. But you’re right, they live in different orbits, and while both have their merits, I can drink more of a lighter mead in one sitting!
So what exactly does adding acid do?
Balance the mouthfeel and taste of the mead.
It’s the same as putting a lemon slice in your Club soda/Sprite/Corona etc.
Can confirm: this recipe is amazing! Since I had some "insider information" about the recipe before this video came out (lol, join the discord), I've done two batches with variations.
Even at 7 months, the first batch was the best thing I've ever made. I accidentally over-sweetened, so it ended up being a jammy, oakey, bright blueberry wine. But that sweetness means literally everyone has loved it.
The second batch was/is an attempt at a more red wine-like profile, fermented on the pomace as BC mentioned. It was a PITA to press the skins+yeast goop after primary fermentation, but it was worth it. We forgot the malic acid addition, but it's still very good. In fact, it's almost TOO similar to a red wine: I miss a bit of the "berry-ness"!
@BC: Any recommendations for adding more berry-ness back to the mead? Is it just more sweetness? We also feel it might not be acidic enough (we forgot the additions), so we were thinking about adding a touch of either lactic or malic acid; any recs either way?
I’d definitely experiment with some lactic acid, either in bench trials or in small additions. To get blueberry flavor back in there, acid and sweetness balance will help. But other than adding more fruit or using a flavor compound, the fate of your “berriness” is likely sealed.
@@DointheMost Perfect, thank you! The aroma is still blueberry, so I think it might be an issue of mental association, as you kinda said? We expect a certain tartness and sweetness when we think of berries!
Where did you get the blueberry blossom honey from?
New Jersey
I want to roll back a bit, is it too early to make Skeeter Pee? trying to decide on next week's "brew", and If Skeeter Pee is about a 3 month "Brew" it is a good candidate.
I bottle Skeeter Pee as soon as it is clear. So that’s a great timeline IMO.
What's the foam from?
It’s just leftover StarSan foam. No big deal, doesn’t impact the mead whatsoever.
Is that starSan in the bottom of that carboy?
The foam? Yes! I shake out as much as I can, but a little foam in the carboy doesn't hurt a thing.
Buckwheat honey is awesome.
For real, one of my favorites.
This guy likes molasses! ;)
Huh... now I'm wondering if buckwheat or avocado blossom honey could successfully sub in for molasses in some confection recipes...
and i thought my half gallon batch of Manakua honey was expensive with 4 of those 30 dollar containers of manakua honey lol. turned out amazing tho sweet and earthy and rather tastey.
Where do you get your buckets of honey?
This bucket came from Maine Bees. Ask for John, he’s great!
@@DointheMost thank you. Love your videos. Keep up the great work.
blueberry with buckwheat? breakfast mead!
What is the cost breakdown for this?! 45 lbs of blueberries has to be expensive!
I caught a sale at Giant.
They were $10/5lbs for a limited time.
It was like it was meant to be.
I grabbed all the bags they had.
can i ask why your wearing glasses with no lenses ?
Glare from the studio lights. I have two sets of glasses for this purpose. 🤓
She's scrapping the side of your bucket with a metal spoon, is that not something you want to avoid?
I think that would only be a problem if he was going to reuse the bucket for fermentation. I imagine he's likely going to recycle it after he's done with the honey inside.
Honey buckets make their way to our backyard farm for carrying rabbit and chicken poop around, so we don't worry about that too much!
@@DointheMost Buckets that come with lids are also great for anaerobic composting :)
@@DointheMost Thank your for the reply !
Love your videos, inspired me into brewing my own recipes !
This is way too complicated and hipstery for me. All you need is sugar and yeast baby not all those cultures and steps. But if you like the way it tastes then nothing else matters. Hopefully your extra care paid off.
You don’t put sugar in Mead unless you are looking for a twist.
Mixing honey types can lead to interesting results.
The infuriation comes when you realize you forgot to take notes.
I agree, I think there’s a lot of unexplored territory in mixing honey varietals, especially in traditionals!