Spring Melomel receipe
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Who's got an easy Melomel receipe for me. Made my first mead, bottling Monday, and I want to start another right away. Rank amateur at best, so I am easing into it. I would love to use some local fresh fruit, what is good for the Missouri or Midwest region to use?
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somebody else wanna take this, or should i.........
ok, well, we don't have much spring fruit 'round these parts. i suggest making a mead right now and doing everything normal, then in april when the elderberry's bloom, grab some of this big, pretty flowering umbels and cram them into the secondary -
leave them in there for a few weeks, then rack off into a tertiary and let it ride
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Elderberry flowers? What sort of taste can I expect? Also, you will have to send me your honey contact. We have a guy in our park with hives, but he is not sure he will have a gallon or not. Also, what do you need to be careful of regarded honey? Isn't there something done to store bought honey sometimes? I could be wrong.
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storebought is heavily filtered crap. just don't use it. i know several peeps you can get bulk, fresh honey from, won't be a problem
elderberry flowers give more fragrance than flavor, but it tricks you into thinking it is flavor. its just intensly floral and good. -
I was extremelly late in getting the honey I wanted. We have a bee keeper who uses one of our parks, and I wanted honey from those boxes. I have 9 lbs. Is that good for a 3g batch? If so, I will need to buy a 3g carboy, no big deal. I don't drink much mead, so smaller batches would be fine with me. I see elderberry in my LHBS, I think I will try that. Any idea of quantities to use for the smaller batch? Still one pack of yeast? Nutrient? Etc? Based on our last posts, seems like I should make it soon, then add elderberry in about three months when I rack to secondary right? Should that be glass at that time? Leave for a few weeks, then rack off into glass again and let set for another three months. Sound right?
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if you purchase elderberry flowers, i will punch you in the throat.
they grow everywhere and will be flowering in the next few weeks!
as far as nine pounds goes.....i would still just probably do a 5 gallon batch. it will be drinkable much sooner, and only around 8% abv (i think) so you can sparkle it.
start it fermenting tonight and then in a few weeks add an elderberry tincture to top up the carboy. done and done.
to make elderberry tincture, just steep the flowers in some hot (not boiling) water for awhile. taste as you go. maybe take a half hour or so, but whatever feels right.
than sparkle that bitch up at bottling time! -
i think just a mead with elderflowers would be a methylglin (spiced mead)
if you used the berries instead of the flowers, it would be a melomel. berries come ripe around july.
you would sparkle it the same way as anything else, add fermentable at bottling time, or just put into a keg and have it on draught. -
frydogbrews said:
if you purchase elderberry flowers, i will punch you in the throat.
they grow everywhere and will be flowering in the next few weeks!
Best recipe advice ever. EVER!"On it. I hate software." ~Cpt Snarklepants -
Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
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I added steeped, hand picked elderberry flowers to my mead last night, which makes it metheglin now. I used the tea to top up the carboy, stirred it in well and checked the SG. It is at 1.024. That seems really high still. I stirred and added yeast nutrient a bit over a week ago before racking. Any thoughts on how to proceed? Wait and check again? Add champaign yeast. I used wyeast sweet mead yeast this time, wanted to try something new. I would like it to dry out, it tastes sweet.
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toss in some champagne and aerate slightly.
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Benvarine said:
Not champaign, Cristal.
cristal the stripper? i know she's usually slippery, but i don't think she will fit on the bottle.
maybe other way around though -
frydogbrews said:Benvarine said:
Not champaign, Cristal.
cristal the stripper? i know she's usually slippery, but i don't think she will fit on the bottle.
maybe other way around though
don't use stripper yeast. you'll end up with highly carbonated shame juice.
The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake
