Blueberry Cyser

I've recently been told you can add bentonite dry at 1.5x the amount on the package instructions in the beginning of primary - some folks have even said days 2-4 of fermentation. It seems a little variable depending on who you ask. I added my bentonite on day 4, so on the late side, but still within some suggested windows.

Overview

So far we have enjoyed Costco's bulk apple juice and frozen fruit several times, but always in different brews. This is our first try at combining them! After a little research, it looked like blueberry cysers were a relatively common fruit addition to cysers, so we decided to roll with it.

Nutrients will be added in a semi-standard 4 staggered additions. However, I'll flip the order, and add FermK/DAP first - since they can't be used past ~9% ABV, and my last brew hit that by like day 2, and I ended up having to skip some of my DAP/FermK additions.

Calculations

I've decided to start adding these screenshots for brews I planned with the assistance of GotMead's calculator:

A screenshot of the Gotmead calculator with the ingredients for the blueberry cyser entered

Oddly specific amount of honey right? Well, it turned out to be the amount the calculator said I needed to hit the OG that I had in mind... and also exactly what I had left in my honey bucket. Go figure!

Apple juice cartons and bags of frozen blueberries arranged on a table behind a graduated cylinder and hydrometer full of apple juice

I ended up not needing nearly so much apple juice. That's what happens when you go to the store before you calculate your recipe and buy more than you think you'll need to be safe, hah.

Timeline - Pitch to Bottle

11/08/2020 - pitched

Here we go!

11/09/2020 - nutrient addition #1 and SG

SG ~1.154
5.95g Fermaid O

I've been told that the gravity reads falsely high with this much fruit in the solution - presumably, the blueberries haven't coughed up all their juice yet, and although that juice does have sugar in it, its gravity is still lower than the rest of the must is at the moment.

However, I still want to measure and track the gravity that I can just to make sure we are on track to get all of our nutrients in before the 1/3 sugar break and before 9% ABV.

11/10/2020 - nutrient addition #2 and SG

- SG ~1.143
- 5.95g Fermaid O

I had considered adding Fermaid K / DAP first, since sometimes brews go so fast that I can't get 4 additions in, and DAP can't be used past ~9% ABV. However, our gravity is still high enough that I think I will have enough time to fully stagger my additions.

I think this started slow due to temperature - Paso Robles actually does get cold in the winter. Whereas most of our previous brews had to tolerate weather well over 90F, suddenly the nighttime temperatures are plummeting below freezing. It looks like we're spending most of our daytime fermenting in the 60s, and I wouldn't be surprised if it drops to high 50s at night.

I'm not really worried about the lower temperatures - actually, I'm quite looking forward to seeing how it impacts my brewing. I'm under the impression that under most circumstances, this lower temperature range is preferable to the high summer temps we've had to endure.

11/11/2020 - nutrient addition #3 and SG

- SG ~1.136
- 6.6g Fermaid K and 8.65g DAP

11/12/2020 - SG and bentonite

- SG ~1.124

Gravity is moving along nicely. I need to check this again tomorrow, as we're starting to get closer to the 1/3 sugar break, but I'm confident we have at least one more day before the final nutrient addition, possibly more depending on how quickly it ferments over the next 24 hours. This latest gravity drop is a bit faster than the previous few days.

I also added bentonite today, dry. See above note about bentonite in the ingredient section.

11/13/2020 - nutrient addition #4 and SG

- SG ~1.106
- 6.6g Fermaid K and 8.65g DAP

With the rate at which gravity is dropping, we will likely have already hit the 1/3 sugar break by tomorrow. So, in goes the last nutrient addition!

We'll have a couple more days of punching the cap before this sits on the fruit for however long we decide to leave it for. I'm thinking of trying for as long as the cherries (4 weeks) for tannin development, but I'm going to see if anyone has thoughts on blueberries specifically first.

11/14/2020 - SG

- SG ~1.084

Yup, blew past the 1/3 sugar break, putting the final nutrient addition in yesterday looks to have been the correct call. Punched the cap but stopped mixing for aeration purposes - trying not to splash, actually, just making sure the fruit cap stays wet so it won't mold.

Tomorrow is the 1 week mark, so it should be our last day on cap punching before this stays locked up for an additional 2-4 weeks (I received recommendations for a total time on the blueberries ranging from 3-5 weeks).

12/04/2020 - racked

- SG ~1.028

I racked a couple days ahead of 4-week target here because I wanted to see about possibly taking a taste of the brew to a local brew group for feedback. I expected it to be further along due to how much the Cherry Bomb had already cleared after 4 weeks, but the apple haze is significant here, and the brew has the very heavy "fresh fermentation heat" that is overwhelming the other flavors right now. So the slightly early rack ended up not really being worth it, but in the grand scheme of things, I'll be surprised if the few missing days make a huge difference.

I also had a lot of trouble racking this - the blueberries are a little smaller than the cherries, and clogged up my auto siphon far more frequently. Perhaps letting it sit longer would help things to settle a bit more? But given that we were already close to 4 weeks, and clearly had not developed as much as the cherries did in this time, I might just aim for 5 weeks (if I attempt this recipe again).

The taste currently suggests it will age very nicely, which is promising. I do get hints of blueberries, significant cider flavors, and lingering honey on the aftertaste - though, all are obfuscated by the "just came out of primary" heat. I probably won't touch this for a while, until it both clears and calms down. Until then, it's impossible (at least, for me) to tell what kind of finishing it might need.

In terms of yield: I filled up my 5 gallon carboy (all the way, up into the neck), then mostly filled 2 full liquor handles (1.75 liters each). However, I expect thick sediment layers will develop in all containers.

It was partially because I could tell I was getting a LOT of sediment in the carboy that I strained the blueberries in an attempt to fill up those 2 liquor handles. If you rely exclusively on the safer racking cane to get product into secondary, you should expect much closer to a 5 gallon yield (compared to my ~5.9 gallons). I may need to do more research on ways to rack off of heavy fruit additions, or else simply bag these blueberries next time around.

I will do a taste comparison before adding anything from the liquor handles to the main brew, as the straining process used to fill those handles does mean I have a risk of oxidation that is much less present in the main carboy (note that vinegar is unlikely due to the brew ABV, but I can still get other off flavors from the straining and pouring required to fill those handles).

This oxidation is a risk I'm OK with, since it only applies to the 2 liquor handles, which would otherwise have been tossed out. If either handle turns out oxidized and I'm unwilling to backfill with it, there isn't really any loss of product, only a loss of my time trying to collect it. On the flip side, if the handles turn out fine, I will have product on hand to top off my carboy when I eventually rack off the initial sediment layer.

If you attempt a similar process, make sure you fill up your main carboy first - as cleanly and safely as possible - before resorting to any straining.

02/03/2021 - bottled

After taste-testing for a while, we decided to bottle this as-is. I played around with adding some vanilla and/or oak, and I think both additions were nice, but the wife wanted it to be more distinctly different than the Cherry Bomb mead, and since that's getting both vanilla and oak, she figured this one should stay straight fruit.

I believe this was left on the blueberries long enough to develop a good acid-tannin balance on its own, so additional balancing isn't necessary. It still has some young burn to it - sitting over 15% ABV and having apples - but I expect this will age wonderfully.

A quick note on volume - the two liquor handles of excess ended up being more like 1 after I racked them off the large amount of sediment they each had. But that one liquor handle was still enough excess to have a pretty full 5 gallon carboy after filtering. I ended up with two full cases and then one final bottle that's probably about 80% full.

We'll have to drink that one soon-ish due to the headspace, and I may send a sample into the lab to see our actual ABV/FG.

02/08/2021 - lab readings

Received the lab results today:

- ABV: 17.08%
- OG: 1.1494
- FG: 1.026

Wow, over 17% ABV! No wonder this has a lot of young alcohol burn to it. I'm a little surprised that 71B - with an on-paper tolerance of 14% - pushed this high without step-feeding. It's not necessarily bad though, and it reinforces my expectation this will age very well is probably accurate!

Both the calculated OG and the measured FG were slightly off. Not by a lot, probably within typical margin of error for homebrewing calculators and tools - but you can see here how when they're off in opposing directions, the gap they create can lead to a fairly significant discrepancy. At least in my view, there's a big difference between "15% and change" and "over 17%".

11-08-2020 Blueberry Cyser

As noted on my 11/09 entry above, the gravity reads falsely high early on in this brew due to the large amount of fruit in the solution. I assume this also means that the ABV calculations early on are also inaccurate. However, I learned on the Black Dragon's Blood that it is important to check gravity while nutrients are still being added, to ensure they all get in before the 1/3 sugar break and (if you still have DAP to add) before ~9% ABV.

So yes, I'm aware the first gravity reading is higher than the brew's calculated original gravity. I think it's weird too, but it's expected.

Secondly, it is likely that the brew reached its FG before the final measurement was taken. However, I do not measure gravity in between the end of the first week and racking day. This is an extended period of time where the brew is left on the fruit to not only finish fermentation, but to extract fruit flavors and develop tannins from the fruit skins. During this period, you limit air exposure as much as possible, which is why I am not regularly opening the fermentation vessel to take gravity readings, and why it might look like the brew ferments quickly during the first week, and then slowly for the subsequent 3 weeks. In actuality, I expect it went down to the final gravity somewhere closer to the rate at which is fermented during the first week.

Retrospective

Process Improvement

Overall this went pretty well, the only thing I might try to find a fix for is the racking process. The blueberries weren't quite as racking-friendly as the cherries were and frequently clogged the auto siphon. I don't really like the idea of bagging that much fruit, but maybe I should attempt it next time.

Recipe Improvements

So far, I don't think I would change this one, but it is still young. We will see how it ages.
Both oak and vanilla are good optional additions in my opinion, but the wife wanted to keep this one straight fruit to differentiate it from some other big fruit meads like Cherry Bomb, which was a good idea to ensure we have some variety of options around here.

Tasting Notes

I'm pretty sure I'm missing at least one tasting for this mead, but below is the earliest I've been able to find a record of at the moment. If I find my notes for an earlier one later I'll add it in with the appropriate date...

05/19/2022

MUCH smoother than last time I visited this - especially up front. Almost too smooth up front, even - might need a touch more body.
There's just enough residual sugar that it has some apple juice characteristics; almost apple sauce. The apple sauce flavors and smoothness make me want to try this with cinnamon if I make it again, but the blueberry adds something that pulls me more towards oak and/or vanilla. I think either route could be lovely.
It might benefit from a little more sweetness to lean into its apple juice / sauce flavors. I wonder how much increased sweetness could help fill out the flavors.

The swallow is still a bit harsh, but I'm not sure how much of that is the 17%+ ABV and how much of it is acidity. And when I say it's harsh, I'm comparing it to what I know I can achieve with balancing and recipe adjustments - this is more drinkable than many commercial wines I've had. I suspect that this would benefit from some tannin adjustment, given the apples were all juice and in comparison to the fruit bombs I do, the concentration of fruit skins available for tannin development is much lower.
The apple flavor is more dominant than the blueberries. In fact, it tastes mostly like a cyser with something added, I can't quite discern the blueberries specifically.
Considering the previous two points about apple's dominance and the fact that I think this might need just a little more tannin which could potentially be accomplished with more fruit skin, I think next time I might increase the amount of blueberries.
We're at roughly 1.5 years old here - I think this will only get better with age. Decent amount of residual sugar and very high ABV should be a fairly solid recipe for long-term aging. That said, I have a feeling that age won't change much between here and the 2 year mark at which I may revisit this for an update to YouTube video on this recipe.
Overall, I enjoy it very much. It's noticeably better than some (most? all?) of the earlier meads I brewed, and again, in spite of my critiques above I would choose this over many of the commercial wines I've had. I always want to analyze how I could make a brew better, so I'm being picky here. And on top of that, this smelled mind-blowingly delicious when I mixed it up, and the end result here, while tasty, isn't mind-blowing.

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