Elderberry Mead?

[Dan O]

I'm using dried berries. If I would have had more foresight, I would've picked some this year. They're fairly common around here.

Stick with the 3 oz for dried berries then. Making one soon myself, so, I'm in the same boat

 

[Raptor99]

For my elderberry wine, I use 5 lbs. of fresh berries per gallon. But if I was doing an elderberry mead I would use less so that the honey flavor came through.

 

[MightyMosin]

Now I want to find Elderberry to just see what it tastes like..

 

[Dan O]

For my elderberry wine, I use 5 lbs. of fresh berries per gallon. But if I was doing an elderberry mead I would use less so that the honey flavor came through.

When using that much elderberries, do you get the Goo they refer to?

 

[Raptor99]

Oh yes, I get the dreaded green goo! But elderberry wine is so good that it is worth going through the trouble.

I think that the goo comes from the waxy coating on the berries. I am careful to remove all the stems.

 

[Dan O]

Oh yes, I get the dreaded green goo! But elderberry wine is so good that it is worth going through the trouble.

I think that the goo comes from the waxy coating on the berries. I am careful to remove all the stems.

What is your cleanup method? Are you using buckets or glass carboys?

That article says ...
"The goo cannot be cleaned with water or soap or cleansers or solvents or spirits. However, it is easily cut with vegetable oil and cleanly wiped from the primary. The oil is then washed away with a liquid soap containing a degreaser. Rinse well and then sanitize with sulfite solution."

Thank you, in advance, if you do reply. Happy meading

 

[Raptor99]

I use a bucket for primary and a glass carboy for secondary. As you saw in the article that you quoted, most of my equipment can be cleaned by scrubbing with vegetable oil and letting it soak for a few minutes, then washing with dish soap. It's trickier to clean tubing, so for the first racking I used my old auto siphon instead of my AIO pump.

Last time there was so much goo on my primary 5-gal bucket that I decided to just get a new bucket. Food grade 5-gal. buckets are cheap at Home Depot or Lowes. But I got the glass carboy clean.

 

[Dan O]

I use a bucket for primary and a glass carboy for secondary. As you saw in the article that you quoted, most of my equipment can be cleaned by scrubbing with vegetable oil and letting it soak for a few minutes, then washing with dish soap. It's trickier to clean tubing, so for the first racking I used my old auto siphon instead of my AIO pump.

Last time there was so much goo on my primary 5-gal bucket that I decided to just get a new bucket. Food grade 5-gal. buckets are cheap at Home Depot or Lowes. But I got the glass carboy clean.

Thank you. This has been a concern for me since I first read about it. I just had to find someone who had actually dealt with it to be sure the article was accurate.

 

[Luke889]

Does any body know if the green goo problem happens if you just use the liquid from the berries after a long low simmer? I've read about this problem and I was wondering how much of a difference it would make if I just used a strong elderberry tea instead of pitching the berries right into primary. would it take away to much from the flavor? Would the green goo carry over in the tea? i might make 2 one gallon batches, one of them with tea and one with berries, to do a side by side comparison and maybe answer these questions. Might be an experiment worth doing...