Elderberry Mead

[byathread]

Well, it's long overdue, but I'm finally starting my first elderberry mead. It's a 3 gallon batch using 1 lb dried elderberries plus 3.5 lbs of frozen berries I harvested last fall. As my tastes have changed, I've gone from brewing 10-12 batches of mead per year to just a couple, often melomels from fruit I harvest. This batch is influenced by my kit winemaking hobby as far as yeast selection, and additives. I'm shooting for a fairly big, bold, oaked mead and I don't mind waiting a year or two to fully enjoy it.

PS - Special thanks to WVMJack whose posts and website have really informed my knowledge of Elderberry wines and meads.


Elderberry Mead, oaked, 3gal
6lb Desert Blossom honey (med-dark, rich butterscotch, toffee)
3+lb Wildflower honey (from my hives - medium, somewhat spicy)
1lb elderberries, dried
3.5lb elderberries, fresh/frozen/thawed (treated as above)
25g tartaric acid
1.5t pectinase
1/8t K-Meta
3g Opti-Red
3g Booster Rouge
8g Lalvin D254 yeast (rehydrated in 10g GoFerm)
3gal spring water (to 3.25 gal)
28g Medium French oak chips (in primary)
??g French/Hungarian oak cubes (in secondary)

SG=1.099. I soaked the dried berries overnight in water, thawed the frozen berries, combined and simmered them for about 10 minutes, then cooled, bagged, mixed up must and added pectinase, tartaric, K-Meta and left overnight. Pitched yeast this morning. I plan to remove the fruit in 3 or maybe 4 days.

Thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

 

[wineforfun]

I am very curious to see how this turns out. I really like fresh elderberry wine. Never tried it in a mead.

I assume you are going for more of the honey taste as it looks a little light on the fruit for 3gal.

 

[Jericurl]

I'll be following this as I'm planning an elderberry/blackberry mead very soon. (blueberry honey)

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

1 lb of dried elders isnt light on fruit in 3 gal I am jealous, we only got to pick a few elders this year, spotted wing drosophila got us again. Are you guys using the Blue elderberry, cerulea or the common black canadensis? Dessert blossum honey sounds like a perfect pairing. We are actually going to bush hog down all the bushes and rip out every other row to try to get some control over these darn pests.

WVMJ

 

[Tenbears]

Sounds like a good recipe, I have a batch going as we speak. I used all fresh frozen berries 7.5 Pounds in a 3 gallon batch. And Lalvin 1118 yeast I stepped the nutrients at SG1.050. Without going to the winery I believe I started the batch on Nov 5, it is already clearing nicely.

Now, To address my pet peeve. Mead is Honey, water, and yeast. When fruit is added, With the exception of grapes, or apples it is a melomel. Grapes make it a pyment, and apples a cyser. Let's try harder to remember that.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

What did the Indian nations call elderberry mead before Columbus showed up and forced English upon them? That would be cool to know as this is an American original with the Blue Elderberry that is native to here. WVMJ

 

[Tenbears]

I cannot speak of all the tribes of the nation, But I can tell you this.
Prior to the 1800s when the French introduces alcohol to the Lakota people (also Known as the Sioux) they did not drink it. Thus the Lakota language has no word for mead other than the word mead. Elderberries are wasta wahka. So I would imagine the proper terminology would be wasta wahka MELOMEL! ROFLMAO

 

[byathread]

Wineforfun: I don't plan on it being light on fruit. Like most berries Elderberries are pretty flavor-dense. That pound of dried fruit should be the equivalent of, I'm guessing, 3.5 lbs fresh fruit plus the 3.5 pounds fresh fruit I used.

WVMJack: I'm pretty sure the fresh fruit I picked (planted as an ornamental in town in Colorado) is the native S. canadensis, while the dried elderberries I purchased and are undoubtedly the elderberries of commerce, S. nigra, probably grown in Bulgaria or Hungary.

Either way, the mead is inky dark (deep purple with a slight brownish cast - I think this is pretty typical of elderberry?) and tastes surprisingly of grape must. I dosed it with nutrient this morning. The D254 yeast is rocking it hard and fast, as it typically does.

Tenbears: Glad to hear your elderberry is coming along nicely. I've made well over a hundred meads in the past decade and I'm familiar with the dozens of specific names of the mead types, I just don't typically care to use them. To me, if honey is the primary fermentable, its mead. But to each his own. Either way, I'm excited about this melomel.

 

[sour_grapes]

My feelings on nomenclature mirror those of byathread. However, I was curious about the etymology of "melomel," so I looked it up in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Believe it or not, the word does not appear in the OED! Nor does it appear in Merriam-Webster, The Free Dictionary, The American Heritage Dictionary, Dictionary.com, etc.

To be clear, I am not saying that melomel is not a word; I am saying that this word is not yet in the dictionary, so I don't know how to trace its origin. (You can find various theories on the intertubes.) Cyser and pyment, on the other hand, have a long and well-documented history. Interesting, pyment originally meant "spiced wine," with the same root as "pigment" or "pimento."

 

[byathread]

When I was doing research a decade ago, as far as I could tell, pyment referred to grape wine with medicinal herbs and a bit of fresh honey to make it palatable. Basically, an herb tincture that was back-sweetened? The history of mead is largely lost to the ages. We're just lucky to live in an era where it's making a resurgence!

 

[Tenbears]

byathread You have due cause to be excited, I believe you will find it to be a most pleasurable combination, the robust flavor of the elderberries and the smooth warmth of the honey are nothing less than fantastic. Great around the fire in late autumn or early winter. The only problem wit it is I can never make enough, When it comes of age I drink it like a fiend. Then when I get down to 5 bottles I hoard it afraid I will run out before The aging batch comes of age.

 

[byathread]

Temp holding steady at 75F. SG=1.042. I removed the fruit this morning (4 days into fermentation). Though still quite sweet the tannins come through generously. This will be a big, brooding winter mead no doubt. I may regret only making 3 gallons.

Perhaps I'll try WVMJack's method and remove the fruit after 2-3 days next time for an early drinker. Do most of you guys and gals finish Elderberry meads off-dry? What final gravity do you shoot for? I may bottle 1 gallon dry, then stabilize/back-sweeten the rest.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

But we use a lot of fruit, taking out less fruit earlier isnt the same as a lot of fruit earlier, WVMJ

 

[Tenbears]

I finish mine to dryness, It usually finishes around 0.995 I then bring it back to around 1.005 using the same Honey I used in the must.

 

[byathread]

Duly noted. Thanks for the replies, guys. We just moved to my mother-in-law's property so I now have lots of acres to play with. I'm planning on putting in a mixed hedgerow down along the road to screen views and provide wildlife habitat and I'll be getting some several varieties of elderberry cuttings rooted and planted out in the spring. I should have lots to work with in a few years!

 

[Jericurl]

How is your mead coming along?

I'm getting ready to start mine. Unfortunately, I only have access to canned and dried, no fresh or frozen to be found anywhere near here.