¹Blåfarge Himmelen Melomel$

Must

Yeast Starter

15 lbs wildflower honey

2 c white grape juice

7 ½ lbs blueberries

Large pinch of energizer

¾ cup chamomile tea

Few drops of lemon juice

≈ 4 gallons hard water

Ice

½ lemon, large

Champagne yeast

Sterilize / sanitize all equipment first.  I put 1 cup of bleach & 5 gallons of warm water into my primary fermenter, and let everything else sit in there until needed.  Rinse the bleach mix off before using.

Make yeast starter before starting must.  Heat juices and energizer to just below boiling for about 15 minutes.  Let cool on ice to about 90°F.  Remove from ice, shake well, add yeast, & put in the dark.

Put fresh berries into cheesecloth bag and add to must (15 lbs honey, 2 gal. water).  Lightly mash bag occasionally, not hard enough to squeeze out any chunks.  Simmer, do not boil, must until all scum is gone.

Remove from heat, cover (not tight), & let sit for six hours.

Make sure both mixtures are the same temperature.  Run the must through cheesecloth and screened funnel directly into your primary fermenter.  Add lemon and yeast starter, top off with water to 5 gallons, there should still be space on top.  Install airlock.

First rack around 1 month, remove lemon.  Do not bottle until air lock popping is down to about ten minutes.

OG:  1.085

Rack 1

Rack 2

Rack 3

FG: 0.996

8-04-2003

Sept 03

N/A

N/A

Nov 03

This was my first batch.  The lemon was pulled on 8-17-03; first rack was the weekend after Labor Day.  Bottling was late in November.  It is a cross between a recipe for a Blue Heaven and a 6-month quick batch.  I got into it at around 5 months, it was a little sharp, but by the time you were past the neck, nobody could tell.  Very strong, also came with a sugar high, a combination that made anyone grin ear-to-ear after one bottle, and tip over after 3.