Help with huckleberry recipe

[Alcoholic Andy]

Hello all,

I currently have at my disposal 25 lbs of huckleberries, 10 lbs of wild flower honey, Huckleberry Haven wild huckleberry tea, and 13 oz of blueberry honey.
I also have Wyeast 4632 cider and mead yeast.

I need assistance with how much water and how many huckleberry tea bags one would suggest. I have carboys that can hold upwards of 9 gallons. So I have some flexibility with adding additional honey and water.

I am not dedicated to my current yeast. I have read mixed reviews for 4632 and can save it for cider making. So I am open to any better suggestions to other yeasts. I was thinking of using 20 lbs of huckleberry, 18 lbs of honey, 6 huckleberry teabags (with Ceylon tea) on 6 gallons of water should give me nearly 15% abv. I was going to save the blueberry honey and 5 lbs of huckleberry for back sweetening. I am open to any spices that would accompany the huckleberry taste.

Thank you all for the assistance this forum has provided in the past. I look up recipe ideas in past threads, just not much on huckleberry. I am looking to start this weekend and will provide notes and updates as it progresses.
Happy brewing.
-Andy

 

[Blacksmith1]

What the hell is a huckleberry?

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

A huckleberry is like a potent little blueberry. Much stronger flavor than a blueberry. Looks like this:

 

[Blacksmith1]

Damn, I love blueberries. Will those grow in florida?

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

No, to hot. Btw I grew up on the other side of the state Melbourne/Palm bay area. How hot is there? We get down to the low 50's at night here!

 

[Hayden123982]

What ABV are you wanting to target? And sweet vs dry?

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Below 15% and pretty much open to either. With a batch this large I could split and do both. If I could net more than 6 gallons I am willing to do both. The only thing right now that I am not willing to consider is oaking it. Screwed up my 1st batch of grape wine by over doing the oak. It had a buttery aftertaste that is ageing away. Lesson learned!

 

[Hayden123982]

okay, with ~11# of honey you could probably get about 4 gallons of some semi dry that will get some extra sweetness from the fruit. I like to allow it to ferment out then rack onto the fruit and off the lees.

How much yeast do you have? And do you have a plan for your SNA?

I haven’t used huckleberries, but have eaten them and done some other “berry” meads. I’d probably shoot for 1# per gallon for your first go round. Could always add more if you taste it a week or two down the line and it’s not where you want it

 

[Blacksmith1]

How hot is there

high about 90, current 84 @9:00pm, Low of 77 by morning. Much cooler than it has been this summer.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

I have to get to the LHBS so this weekend I can pickup as much yeast as needed. So that is where I am flexible. I can pick up more honey and a different yeast. And any other additional ingredients. I do have plenty of yeast energizer and nutrient and if necessary can pick up honey. Typical 1/3 sugar break with my other meads to adding the other ingredients. My other meads have been deadly. As in they are like ninjas. Silent and happy and very potent and strong.

 

[Hayden123982]

Well then I may recommend getting a little extra honey if you want to fill that carboy up more. Is your secondary vessel going to be smaller? If not then I would definitely bump up volume so that you don’t have as more head space. Or keep it but be sure to purge it well

I’ve had good success with go ferm, fermaid O, fermaid K, and DAP for my SNA for quick primary ferments. I believe my last batch was a 5 gallon, dry, 11% mead that was done with primary in 3-4 weeks. I used 3 packs of dry yeast I believe (~8 grams). It’s now split into five 1 gallon jugs with different adjuncts in each

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Yes I have smaller carboys. Will pick up more honey. Need to research which yeast will enhance what the huckleberry brings to the table. After thinking about it I might break this batch of huckleberry into 2 fermentations. That way of it goes south i limit my losses.

 

[Hayden123982]

If you really want a lot of mead on hand, maybe get enough honey for ~8 gallon batch then you could split that into your smaller carboys to split the batch

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Good idea, gives me lots of flexibility. I can then figure out how much tea bags to use.

 

[Hayden123982]

I just did a tea addition to a 5 gallon beer where I used just 1 oz of loose leaf. Since your mead will be cold steeping, you could probably up it to 2-3 oz? but starting low and adding more is always a good idea

 

[bob1852]

Rc212 or 71b-1122 make a very nice berry melomel.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Rc212 looks promising, if my LHBS has it I'll use it. The huckleberry tea are in bags, it also has Ceylon tea in it. I need to try one to see how potent it is. I'm getting excited about this mead. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Well went to town to get supplies and forgot more honey. So here is what I am doing, 12lbs of Costco honey, 10 lbs huckleberry, 10 huckleberry tea bags, 5 lbs sugar (forgot honey) 1 can white grape juice concentrate and 1 cup raisins (h honestly I was just sick of seeing the box so used what was left). All this on about 7.5 gallons of water. SG appx 1.092 too much foam to get an accurate reading. I am waiting for to packets of rc212 to bloom, will take another reading before pitching. The taste is really delicious. I am glad I halved the amount of huckleberry. It is strong tasting. I need to look up if this yeast will take it below 1.0 fg. That would put right where I want the alcohol level.Thanks everyone and happy brewing!

 

[bob1852]

The raisins won't do anything. It's an old myth that they're yeast nutrient.

While the huckleberries will provide some nitrogen, I hope you have another source of it, such as fermaid-k and DAP.

RC212 tends to be a nutrient hog as well, but feed properly will have no problem taking a sub-1.100 batch down to 1.000 (or less).

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

I know that I was just sick of seeing the box. Might add some body of i added more, that was want i was thinking with the gjc. Before I pitch the yeast I 'll take another reading, and add my nutrient and energizer. Excellent news on the info on this yeast. Thank you.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Took reading after foam subsided and we are at 1.094 and pitched 2 packets of rehydrated rc212 yeast. Will update accordingly. Thanks.

 

[homebrudoc]

...... The only thing right now that I am not willing to consider is oaking it. Screwed up my 1st batch of grape wine by over doing the oak. It had a buttery aftertaste that is ageing away. Lesson learned!

I'm surprised nobody has jumped on this. Oak does not impart a "buttery" flavor. Oak provides tannins. Buttery flavor is diacetyl (aka imitation butter flavoring) and is a metabolic byproduct produced by many yeast and bacteria.

Many brewing yeast have the ability to "clean up" the diacetyl later in fermentation but it doesn't always work like they say in the books. The first bacteria that comes to mind is pediococcus.

Don't be afraid of the oak when you have a problem that is not likely due to the oak but is due to poor fermentation performance or contamination.

Hope this helps
homebrudoc

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Well since I pitched last week, on Thursday reading was 1.072, added nutrient and energizer. Pulled out the huckleberries and they were all nearly whole even after thawing and mashing them with potato masher. So they got to meet the Ol' blender. Still smells awesome.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

I'm surprised nobody has jumped on this. Oak does not impart a "buttery" flavor. Oak provides tannins. Buttery flavor is diacetyl (aka imitation butter flavoring) and is a metabolic byproduct produced by many yeast and bacteria.

Many brewing yeast have the ability to "clean up" the diacetyl later in fermentation but it doesn't always work like they say in the books. The first bacteria that comes to mind is pediococcus.

Don't be afraid of the oak when you have a problem that is not likely due to the oak but is due to poor fermentation performance or contamination.

Hope this helps
homebrudoc

What makes me think I overdid with the oak was i had toasted oak chips in a pint jar with vodka. It sat for nearly a year (i forgot about it in the cupboard). Was trying to pour a little bit in the carboys and the entire contents went in. I figured out i wouldn't let it sit on the contents as long as I was going to. Mistake. It tasted like "grapy" wine before hand it had sat for 9 months prior to me screwing it up. After that incident it had an awful buttery aftertaste. But the taste is less pronounced since I bottles 3 months ago. If it wasn't these actions and it tasted alright before hand, then I don't know what did it. And I did try finding diacetyl for red wines and came up empty on what causes it in red wines on the internet.

 

[bob1852]

"Butter" in wine can also come from malolactic fermentation...in addition to new oak.

Think, many chardonnays...

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Well this morning pulled the mesh and teabags, took reading and it's 1.044, fermenting at 65-68°f. Smells wonderful.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

Took reading this evening and at 1.022 last bit of nutrient and energizer . I fell behind monitoring this mead due to pressing apples the last few days. I have a cyser planed this weekend and still have choke cherries to pick. Happy brewing everyone.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

RC212 yeast still working on what little sugars are left. On Sept 23 reading was 1.008, yesterday down to 1.004. It has gotten cold up here and my brewing equipment is in apart of the house not currently being heated. So temps in the 50's for lows, slowing down the fermentation. Smells terrific. Happy brewing!

 

[Hayden123982]

Are you sampling these gravity readings? How's it tasting?

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

The day finally arrived! Took reading it's at .998 so it's 12.6 % . Well outside it goes to cold crash. Grabbed a wine glass for obligatory sample. After being in the fridge for about 4 hrs here is what I taste. I by no means am an tasting expert, so in layman's terms....It smells faintly like huckleberry, has a tart dry berry taste, while being bitter at the same time. It has no alcohol taste and the alcohol smell is clean. I mean it doesn't smell like nail polish remover. This is weird but went back for another smell and the smell is like when I was picking the darn things. Like being around the plant. Gotta be my mind playing tricks on me while reminiscing all my hard work paying off. I am definitely bottling some as is. I'm interested in seeing how some of it is when left alone.
Here it is in it's home before eviction

And what it looks like in it's cradle

 

[Nick Z]

Hello all,

I currently have at my disposal 25 lbs of huckleberries, 10 lbs of wild flower honey, Huckleberry Haven wild huckleberry tea...."

-Andy

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. But where did you get 25 pounds of huckleberries? I haven't been able to find even five pounds in the wild here and we have several species.

Do you know what species of huckleberry it is? Or common name? For example: Here we have evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum), black huckleberry, and red huckleberry.

Huckleberries are a rare and expensive fruit here because they cannot be cultivated.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. But where did you get 25 pounds of huckleberries? I haven't been able to find even five pounds in the wild here and we have several species.

Do you know what species of huckleberry it is? Or common name? For example: Here we have evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum), black huckleberry, and red huckleberry.

Huckleberries are a rare and expensive fruit here because they cannot be cultivated.

From what I could find it is this:
Common Huckleberry - Vaccinium membranaceum
Other Names: Vaccinium globulare
Not to be a smart ass but I found them out in the woods. I have lots of free time on my hands, took me 4 hours to pick a gallon! Just had to beat the lone grizzly bear that ran off all the black bears in the area. For instance, early in the picking the hillside was loaded with ripe huckleberries everywhere. Found this patch late in the evening and was tired of getting eaten by mosquitoes. Came back at 8 am the next morning and they were all gone. Found bear dung in multiple locations, then ran into a game warden who confirmed what I found.

So basically I timed it by looking daily by the end of july. And once found started at lower elevations and worked my way up the mountain. Until choke cherries were ripe. Hope that helps.

 

[Nick Z]

It does, thank you. In my area I think they are called "black huckleberry". I tried to find some but I was too late in the season. I'm not even sure the place I looked (Larch Mountain) actually had black huckleberry plants or something else. My plant ID skills are still in their infancy.

I am attempting to grow them from nursery starts (there is a local, native plant nursery near me) but huckleberries are notorious for not surviving outside their natural habitats, let alone producing fruit in gardens.

I think evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum) is a little more amenable to cultivation but still isn't reliable. I don't know if those are native to your area. I'm surprised Montana and the pacific northwest share the black/common huckleberry species.

A professor was trying to domesticate huckleberries and made some progress but his funding was cut.

Choke cherries are also native to my area. I couldn't find any this year though.