summersolstice
Well-Known Member
Like many mead makers, Joe Mattioli has been an inspiration to me. I make a lot of mead but sometimes my friends want something right away - aging be damned. To that end I developed (with Joe's help) a quick blueberry/pomegranate mead. I tried the first bottle within two months. It was a little tart but it had a nice honey nose and flavor and it cleared very nicely. This is a straightforward quick drinking mead.
8 cans Old Orchard Blueberry/Pomegranate concentrate (Wally World)
1/2 can Welch's white grape/raspberry concentrate
6 pounds Nebraska alfalfa honey
1/2 pound Western buckwheat honey
1/2t pectic enzyme (don't know if it's really needed)
water to 4 gallons
Lalvin EC1118
OG 1.078
no starter or rehydration - ten days in the primary at 67F drops it down to 1.001. Four more weeks in secondary to .996, add K-meta/sorbate and backsweeten with 8 oz alfalfa honey and 6 oz Welch's white grape concentrate (more honey/concentrate will make it less tart but why make a pomegranate mead if you don't like tart?). Within another week to ten days it'll be clear and ready to bottle.
Put this in crown capped sparkling wine bottles, beer bottles, and swing tops for 3-4 weeks and refrigerate and you'll have a nice sparkling mead. Add k-meta and potassium sulfite and allow it to age for 2-3 more months in the secondary for a still mead.
8 cans Old Orchard Blueberry/Pomegranate concentrate (Wally World)
1/2 can Welch's white grape/raspberry concentrate
6 pounds Nebraska alfalfa honey
1/2 pound Western buckwheat honey
1/2t pectic enzyme (don't know if it's really needed)
water to 4 gallons
Lalvin EC1118
OG 1.078
no starter or rehydration - ten days in the primary at 67F drops it down to 1.001. Four more weeks in secondary to .996, add K-meta/sorbate and backsweeten with 8 oz alfalfa honey and 6 oz Welch's white grape concentrate (more honey/concentrate will make it less tart but why make a pomegranate mead if you don't like tart?). Within another week to ten days it'll be clear and ready to bottle.
Put this in crown capped sparkling wine bottles, beer bottles, and swing tops for 3-4 weeks and refrigerate and you'll have a nice sparkling mead. Add k-meta and potassium sulfite and allow it to age for 2-3 more months in the secondary for a still mead.