Beer Forum

I'm going to do a blueberry melomel, this will be my first mead

1gal (11.75lb) clover honey
2.5gal water
1.5gal blueberry/cranberry juice (couldn't find straight blueberry)
Fermax yeast nutrient
Wyeast Dry Mead/Cider yeast
2lbs 8oz crushed frozen blueberry

I've been told a few different things so what do ya'll think?
Do I need to sulfite the must to kill anything in the blueberries? (I know honey has natural anesthetic properties so is this necessary?)
I was told to add everything, use campden, then wait a day or 2 before pitching.

Also, should I wait to add the blueberries or throw everything in at once, and/or maybe add more berries to the secondary?

Thanks for any help,
Prost

I would add blueberries to the secondary. I've only ever let wine "sulfite out"...never on my meads and they turn out great.

I've started several meads since the Jamil's Ken Schramm interview, too. I bought his book and 60lbs of raspberry blossom honey...but I subbed the recommended Go-Ferm and Fermaid K for products I was assured were equivalents by my LHBS. I shouldn't have. If you haven't already, I would recommend checking out the http://www.gotmead.com forum before starting, look around at their methods, maybe ask a few questions. It will take only an extra half hour or so and they will help you out and keep you from ruining your mead like I may have.

what did you use for a sub?

rhino777 wrote:what did you use for a sub?

None of the 3 closest LHBSs in my area had Go-Ferm or Fermaid K. I was told by all of them that they were unnecessary and could be substituted with their own generic products or a couple of branded products. I was told Wyeast Wine Yeast Nutrient Blend was the equivalent of Go-Ferm (it's not) so thats what I used to prepare my starter. I was also told that both yeast "nutrient" and "energizer" or even Servomyces were all equivalent to Fermaid K. I bought all three and subbed the Servomyces for Fermaid K.

The guys on gotmead.com alerted me to the fact that Wyeast Yeast Nutrient Blend is just a yeast energizer and contains DAP which will severely harm yeast during starter preparation. Apparently energizers, nutrients, nutrient blends, or Servomyces are not acceptable substitutes for either Go-Ferm or Fermaid K. Fermax looks like it contains DAP (diammonium phospate) so it definitely is not a sub for the Go-Ferm yeast starter prep and probably not a sub for Fermaid K since they recommend adding DAP sultaneously along side Fermaid K. They also warned that this kind of thing happens all the time when taking mead advice from well meaning but beer oriented LHBS staff. They are well meaning but too often don't know enough to know they don't know about mead.

I subbed the wrong products in a 5 gallon batch of Vanilla Raspberry Blossom Sweet Mead and an 8 gallon batch of a multiberry semisweet melomel. Luckily I have about 25lbs left to do correctly. I had to order Go-Ferm and Fermaid K from morebeer.com...both are very inexpensive.

If you had to sub something I think that plain old yeast nutrient could be subbed for both and might be the least harmful as it should not contain DAP as the energizers do. But apparently you would be missing out on all the other critical yeast nutrients in the recommended products.

Mead is far easier than beer but just different enough that your mead will benefit from a look over at gotmead.com. Unlike what I did, be sure to ask before you add. It looks like most guys there don't heat the honey, don't use campden tablets, and don't sulfite the end product. Just mix the honey with a little water for 5 minutes, dilute to your desired volume, add your Go-Fermed yeast starter, and stir in a little Fermaid K and DAP every day until about a third of the sugar is gone (4 or 5 days according to Schramm). Then just let it sit and finish fermentation for about a month before racking off the lees into secondary. There are more technical methods to determine aeration and nutrient addition schedule but they all amount to about the same thing.

By the way, the two meads I may have harmed by substitution seem to be bubbling away as they should...they taste good too. The guys on gotmead warned me they could stop fermenting early and develop funky flavors from the yeast harmed or killed from too much DAP, and I may even end up being able to taste the DAP itself. Can't tell by observation, taste, or smell as of yet though. Seems pretty good to me. I wonder if they overstated the damage substitutions can do but they scared me enough that now I would rather err on the safe side and optimize my efforts.

I think they overstated the damage. I didn't have DAP or Fermaid K for my first two batches and they both still turned out quite tasty.

Thanks for the reply guys, unfortunately I started right after rhino's first reply

I took the initial advice and did not sulfite, I'll also wait and add the berries to the secondary.

As far as nutrients go I used Fermax and servomyces, hopefully I didn't ruin this batch

Before I do another I'll research some, and I have checked out gotmead a few times btw

Problem is that I'm lazy, and my real passion is beer,
while I enjoy meads, ciders, and wines I mostly am making them to keep the wife happy so I can make beer
That's not to say I don't want to learn how to make better meads just I'm less motivated.

Anyway, I really do appreciate the responses and it'll probably help on my next batch.

Prost 0006