Update - Blueberry Melomel

Hello all!

Turns out I was wrong about the Blueberry, it seems as though it has cleared even further. It is still not fuly clear, but flavor is not improving with age so far. Perhaps I am taste testing too soon and a little under a week isn't enough time for a nice age. But seeing as it wasn't fully cleared I went ahead and decided to back sweeten. Here is the process:

Take one and a half cups of water and put in sauce pan. Put 4 cups of blueberries in the same pan. Bring contents to boil mashing the blueberries (I used a potato smasher). Then use strainers of various sizes to strain out as much of the pulp and seed as you can. I mostly got it all down to "juice" at this stage and so I added it to my mead. Finally I added about a half pound of honey. Stir gently (as to not aerate the mead too much) until all honey is dissolved. I then placed the mead in the freezer to attempt to kill any yeast that may have survived the filtration and cold crashing from before. Also by freezing it will clear fast to try to bring it back to where it was pre-back sweetening.

So far this mead has proven to be only a minor success. My goals for the blueberry where:

1. Quick - be ready in under 2 months
2. Have a "good" ABV value - 12% or higher
3. Cheap - Money wise I didn't want to spend a lot to make this mead.
4. Very drinkable, semi-sweet with a mild blueberry flavor

So far I have gotten the following:

1. Quick - I think I got this one down even if I had left it to clear rather than back sweeten I think it would have been done in at most 2 months.
2. I have succeeded in making a good ABV it is sitting at about an 11-12%.
3. It was definitely cheap. Under $9 USD to produce.
4. This is were the mead falls flat. It has only a alcohol/bread taste. After back sweetening there is a mild fruity/sweet flavor that is barely noticeable. Perhaps with clearing/aging it will improve but so far I am not impressed.

Why then, do I herald this as a minor success? Well in the above list I didn't weight them. Here are the goals weighted.

1. 30%
2. 20%
3. 15%
4. 35%

I score myself the following grades per section:

1. 30%
2. 15%
3. 15%
4. 10%

My total: 70%

Being a professor anything under 85% is unacceptable. I didn't do enough homework. If aging beyond 2 months proves to work I'll rate myself as follows:

1. 15%
2. 15%
3. 15%
4. 30%

Total: 75% Only a slight increase.

Maybe I am wrong, maybe it will surprise me after it fully clears in a couple of weeks. If it is ready by November 6th and is what I think it might taste like my grade will be:

1. 30%
2. 15%
3. 15%
4. 25%

Total: 85% So that would work out good.

I'll keep you posted.