I had bought a 5 lbs bag of blackcurrents from a farm that vacuum packs and flash freezes the berries then ships them out.
Today I decided it was time to make something with the berries.
3 1/2 gal of water
5 lbs berrries
11 lbs of honey ( a mix of what I had in the pantry. buckwheat, clover and orange blossom)
yeast energizer to pack directions
yeast nutrients to pack directions
Wyeast sweet mead yeast.
I have 2 questions.
first off the berries once thawed contained a whole lot of tiny stems and bracts. I know that Elderberriy stems, bracts and tigs can be poisonous, so I removed what I could of these tiny pieces. It took a little over an hour. whew! Do any of you guys know if black current stems are poisonous, or do they tend to bitter the over all flavor the way pith from citrus fruit does?
My second question is that my OG is 1.094. Is that too low? When I followed a simliar recipe posted by Curt Stock his OG was much higher. He was using a different yeast than me though. I'm not looking for mead that is high abv, but I want to be sure that the berries and honey flavor come through and not seem too watery. I guess I would like about a 12% or so.
Thanks for reading.
Today I decided it was time to make something with the berries.
3 1/2 gal of water
5 lbs berrries
11 lbs of honey ( a mix of what I had in the pantry. buckwheat, clover and orange blossom)
yeast energizer to pack directions
yeast nutrients to pack directions
Wyeast sweet mead yeast.
I have 2 questions.
first off the berries once thawed contained a whole lot of tiny stems and bracts. I know that Elderberriy stems, bracts and tigs can be poisonous, so I removed what I could of these tiny pieces. It took a little over an hour. whew! Do any of you guys know if black current stems are poisonous, or do they tend to bitter the over all flavor the way pith from citrus fruit does?
My second question is that my OG is 1.094. Is that too low? When I followed a simliar recipe posted by Curt Stock his OG was much higher. He was using a different yeast than me though. I'm not looking for mead that is high abv, but I want to be sure that the berries and honey flavor come through and not seem too watery. I guess I would like about a 12% or so.
Thanks for reading.