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3 gallons spring water 3 tsp DAP (split into two) 1.5 tsp Yeast Energizer (split into two) 9 lb clover honey (3 lb/gal) 1 pack Lalvin 71B yeast - (better for fruity notes - don't let sit on Lees too long in primary) 9.9 lb total blueberries - 1.25 packs costco wild frozen and 5 lb 10 oz of naturipe fresh. Frozen overnight and thawed. all go in primary. Method: heat water to 158 in two separate pots, one gallon water (absopure spring water) in each. add 4.5 lb honey to each pot (brings temp down to 140). Put blueberries in muslin bags and mash slightly. put pots with must into fermenter (using 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket) and top off with water up to 3 gallons. mix well, take gravity. GOT 25.5 BRIX = 1.105 gravity WITHOUT BLUEBERRIES (according to mead calculator http://gotmead.com/blog/the-mead-calculator/ the SG should be 1.123, 15.54-15.88 abv) - this means that yeast should top out at 14% and there will be residual sweetness add in half of DAP and yeast energizer. bring temp down to 80 degrees and add in rehydrated yeast and blueberries, two vanilla pods (scraped) added second half od DAP and energizer on day two (~28 hours) two weeks out (14 days 10-15-17) took gravity reading, gravity down to .992. Crazy attenuation. this is 17.6% abv if we go by the 1.123 SG figure. 15.1% if we go by the 1.105 SG figure Racked into secondary on 10-24-17 (three weeks, two days) and added ~2 tbsp vanilla extract. Ended up with approx. 3 gal and 32 oz. tasted some of the trub we poured out near the end which was likely to be pretty oxidated anyway. It is a lot like a cabernet, but more fruity and a bit less tannic. hope it clears out well, really love the juiciness. My father compared it when he made it to a good beaujolais nouveau. Will assess backsweetening after a few months. Bottled on 2-3-18. Great beautiful color. Has a winey taste on the front but vanilla pops in there. Juicy but not too juicy. Great blueberry flavor. I don't really want this sweeter or dryer. Purple caps labeled 2/18.