Blackberry mead with buckwheat?

[Srimmey]

I’ve been dreaming of making blackberry wine this summer as I eyeball a giant patch of Himalayan blackberries in my mother-in-law’s back yard.

Then tonight I thought tonight as I inspected the berries for ripening… what if I used buckwheat honey instead of standard table sugar for increasing the OG? It could add an interesting “earthy note” to balance out the tartness of the berries.

I was think of using 6-8lb of berries, hopefully get enough for 5+ gallons. I would probably look to add 8-12 pounds of honey for a 5 gallon batch. 71B yeast and perhaps some MLF to help tame the malic acid in the berries.

 

[Srimmey]

I could also go a slightly different direction and use meadow foam honey for the vanilla/caramel notes.

 

[TheWanderingHop]

Have you ever used Buckwheat honey before? If not, it is incredibly strong and I probably wouldn't use it to make up all of your sugar.

 

[dmtaylor]

Mmm.... poop and blackberries. Delicious combo.

 

[Srimmey]

Mmm.... poop and blackberries. Delicious combo.

Mmmmmm… there are so many options for good names with that kind of flavor profile.

 

[Srimmey]

Have you ever used Buckwheat honey before? If not, it is incredibly strong and I probably wouldn't use it to make up all of your sugar.

I’ve used it once before in an Acerglyn. It made up 1/3rd of the fermentable sugars and was pretty good.

A lot of it depends on what the SG of the blackberry juice is. I might only need 5-6 pounds of honey for a 5’ish gallon batch.

 

[kjdevault1]

I just started my first buckwheat mead last night. Used a buckwheat and wildflower as the base, reserving some of the buckwheat for backsweetening when finished. It’s definitely different. The combo of blackberries and buckwheat sound heavenly, as fresh ingredients. I’ve yet to taste buckwheat honey after fermenting though.
Give it a go!

 

[MightyMosin]

If this was audio, Buckwheat would be bass.

Buckwheat is great for complexity when balanced with other honey.

Try a buckwheat traditional if you want to see how difficult it is by itself.

A favorite of mine is a traditional buckwheat and orange blossom mix at 12% ABV.

Buckwheat adds some great notes in a bochet mead.