Elderberry Mead from 100% Juice

[Cracked Cork]

We started this in October 2008 and bottled it this weekend, it was already good, I cant wait to see what a little bottle aging will do for this wine.

6 gallons
Yeast K1V-116
40 pounds of elderberries steam juiced, then another 10 pounds steamed
1 gallon Clover honey dissolved in hot steamed elderberry juice
5 lb sugar (makes it easy for the yeast to eat)
5 tsp Fermaid
10 mls Pectinase
55 gram oakmor toasted in primary
108 gms Acid Blend

Steamed juiced the elderberries, yield about 4 gallons, dissolved honey in hot juice, when cool add everything else. Starting SG 1.140, it went down to 1.050 and stuck, added another gallon of elderberry juice to dilute things a bit plus 2 more tsp Fermaid, that got it going good finally finishing at 1.030.

Next time we will drop the sugar and have a little lower starting OG, other than that everything worked out very tasty for so young a mead.

Crackedcork

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Wow - that sounds REALLY good. YUM.

 

[Wade E]

Thats a butt load of juice huh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still needed acid with all that juice?

 

[Cracked Cork]

Wade, they are elderberries, low on acid especially when steamed. I have not done any wild ones yeet, maybe they have more acid than the cultivated ones? Crackedcork

 

[Wade E]

I didnt know steaming them decreases the acidity.

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Cracked Cork - I love your elderberry webpage! I've tried to find wild elderberries in the Detroit area but (sigh) no luck so far. Your property looks beautiful and thanks for all of the information about elderberries.

 

[Cracked Cork]

Hwy Wade, our edlerberries dont have much acid in them anyway but steaming does decrease it. I dont know if it is because they are cultivated and irrigated and that the wild ones are more acidic but we always have to add acid to ours no matter what way we are making the wine. Crackedcork

 

[Cracked Cork]

Thanks Brewgirl, its a lot of fun and makes it easy for us to track how they are growing. We started with a scrawny little bush we bough from a chile farmer and now I dont have room for much more. Crackedcork

 

[boozinsusan]

Brewgrrrl,
I am in WI (same general area as you) and I find great luck looking on the side of railroad tracks for elderberries. Around here, lots of them are turned into bike/walking paths, so it is pretty convenient. Walk the dog, pick berries.....


I called the parks division to make sure I could pick, and they had no problem with it.

 

[gaudet]

Careful around railroad tracks as they tend to spray the overgrowth with herbicides (used to use diesel, but I'm sure that practice stopped)

 

[boozinsusan]

Ooooh, they never mentioned that to me when I called them (the parks dept - since it is a bikepath now, and technically, a park area). I will check on that next year.


Thanks for that tip!

 

[gaudet]

We would never eat blackberries along the train tracks behind my house where I grew up. They used to spray diesel to kill back any invasive growth to keep the tracks clear. Just a thought to keep you safe......

Wouldn't want any Roundup Wine

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Um... I'm actually in the city (Detroit) and believe me, there is nothing edible growing near the railroad tracks! I will look around some of the local parks in the Spring though - if I can find bushes maybe I can get permission to pick.