Experiment gone right

[KeithStone]

I was making a larger batch of mead and I was going to have some OB honey left over, so I decided I would try out an experimental 1 gallon batch. While I was in my local health food store I walked down the honey aisle and the buckwheat grabbed my attention. On a whim I bought 1lb of it. Then I started looking around and found that there were a large number of people who were adamantly against using buckwheat honey in their mead. Just as they all said, the honey has a barnyard smell and taste to it. But, I decided that I wanted to find out for myself, so I combined the buckwheat with my leftover orange blossom honey. I also added some frozen blackberries to the mix. All I can say is that I'm so glad that I decided to try this mix, because it is delicious. Here is the recipe in case anyone else would like to try it.

5lbs orange blossom honey
1lbs buckwheat honey
2.5 lbs store bought frozen blackberries(thaw before adding)
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp yeast energizer
1 packet of Lalvin V1116 yeast
Add water to fill to one gallon

Just throw everything into your primary fermenter of choice, shake vigorously, and wait for the goodness to happen.

This turns out to be a very vigorous fermentation. I would recommend a blow off hose or an open fermentation for the first 2-3 days. After which you can slap an airlock on the top of the jug. I let this sit in the primary for 30 days before I separated it from the lees and the fruit. I tried it while I was transferring it and it is delicious. Very good flavor. The buckwheat is not in any way overbearing. The two honeys and the fruit combine to form a very nice, complex taste. Honestly, I don't think anyone would have a problem drinking this after only one month. I am going to give it another month or so in the secondary before I bottle, just to see how it ages away from the berries. Give this a try and let me know what you think. Any tips, suggestions or comments are welcome.

 

[commonsenseman]

No tips or suggestions here. Actually nothing much to say at all, except that I imagine 2.5 lbs of blackberries would be able to hide the flavor of just about anything.

Sounds like a great recipe to me!

Edit: Wow didn't even notice that before. Now that you mention it GD, that is an abnormally high O.G.
Perhaps he meant 2 - 1 gallon batches? That would make it much more reasonable.

 

[Golddiggie]

You sure about the amount of honey you used? At 6# for a 1 gallon batch, that's beyond high. Puts the OG around 1.224, with a potential alcohol in the 26% range. Since that yeast (K1-V1116) has a tolerance up to about 18% it's going to be mighty sweet, and hot (at least while young)... If it's a typo, then it will probably still benefit from some aging time... The FG would be about 1.082, if your amounts were listed correctly in the OP... Beyond super sweet mead levels (Desert sweetness level starts at 1.020).. I know from experience that even 1.026-1.028 can seem very sweet even at close to 18% ABV.

I have a batch that I made with 4# of honey in a 1 gallon final volume size. I used EC-1118 for that one. I do need to take another hydrometer reading soon, since I'm not sure if it's gone as far as it can. At last reading it was over 16% ABV... I'm hoping that it finishes a little higher, but it will still work if the FG is in the 1.020+ range (it's supposed to be a desert mead).

Generally speaking, if you're making a melomel (which is basically what you did here) you do want to primary in a bucket. That way you can push down the fruit cap as needed. It also lets you aerate it more easily. Everything I've seen, and been advised on, says to rack off of the fruit after 5-7 days. I used fresh blackberries in my melomel, and it's looking great. It needs a bit more time to age, but it's got real promise. I went with D47 there, since I didn't want a high ABV end result. At last reading it had a SG of 1.002... With the honey I used, and all the fruit I added, that puts it right about 14%...

 

[KeithStone]

No typos here. I used about six pounds of honey plus the fruit in a one gallon batch. I didn't take a hydrometer reading, so I'm basically just winging it as far as time in the fermenters goes. I don't have a one gallon bucket, so I just used the empty gallon wine jug. I did my best to shake it and aerate it. I really could not taste any off flavors, so I don't think that the extra time with the fruit hurt anything. Like I said before, it was just something I came up with on the fly and decided to try. So far, so good.

 

[Golddiggie]

With as much residual sugar you probably have in that thing, it will mask a LOT of things... Even if you managed to push the FG lower and get it upwards of 19-20% ABV, it still has a lot of sweetness left in it... I would be interested on knowing what the SG is now...

The next batch of mead I make I plan on having a lower OG so that I can get it to ferment to dry and then maybe add a bit of honey to get it up into the medium range (1.005-1.0015, with 1.010 being more my goal)... That way, even as it ages, it won't be too sweet...

 

[LightningInABottle]

Did you ferment this in a one gallon container or a larger container? Was that one gallon of water that you added on top of the honey and blackberries or did you put those in and add water up till the 1 gallon mark? Cause racking off of berries leaves a lot of headspace usually and then you would have to top off the gallon container if you didn't want it to oxidize.

Most recipes that call for buckwheat honey use it in about the same ratio that you did. If you went all buckwheat you may have had a bad outcome. But you never know untill you try. Could be an expensive mistake though...

 

[KeithStone]

I fermented this in a one gallon container. I like to use those for my experiments. I racked off the blackberries, and I did add more water to avoid oxidation.
I saw this article when I was thinking about using OB and Buckwheat honey together:
http://www.fordhomebrew.org/index.p...buckwheat-mead&catid=42:mead-making&Itemid=37
The OB to buckwheat ratio is about the same as what I used, but the total volume is not. I used more honey per gallon of water then they did, but this still gave me the confidence to try this out. I tasted some today and it has a slight alcohol bite to it, but the honey and blackberries cover up a lot. I can't wait for this one to age and completely smooth out.