Gooseberry mead?

[MistFM]

Hello everyone, I searched the forums and came up with goose-eggs. A coworker of mine recently gave me 7 lbs of gooseberrys and has challenged me to make an alcoholic beverage out of it. I didn't think gooseberrys would work well in a beer, but I feel a mead would have a nice sweetness that would balance out the gooseberry. There is only one problems, I've never brewed mead before and have zero pallate as far as what specific ingredients taste like.

Has anyone tried making a gooseberry mead? If not, what do you think I could add into this mead to make it drinkable? I was thinking something to try to mimic a gooseberry pie (cinnamon? clove? etc?). Any thoughts?

 

[fatbloke]

Well with 7lb of fruit I'd be thinking a gallon to a gallon and a half, with 4lb in primary and 3lb in secondary.

Cloves ? One or two only and cinnamon, maybe a 3 inch stick. Both in secondary and tastes to check levels.

An actual recipe ? No, don't have one but I'd be thinking 3lb of honey made up to a gallon and then add the fruit and add 1 crushed campden tablet and a teaspoon of pectic enzyme. Leaving it a couple of days, then rehydrating a pack of 71B-1122 and pitching that (room temp for the must should be fine).

Nutrients ? Just Fermaidk or similar at the usual dosage. Fermented dry, then racked off the lees/fruit. Sulphite and sorbate to stabilise and honey to back sweeten to about 1.015 then rack onto the rest of the fruit adding the spices and 2 or 3 tsp of pectic enzyme and then let it sit for 3 to 4 weeks before racking again.

You could have a search over at gotmead for a proper recipe but my thought above is what I'd be thinking of doing.....

 

[MistFM]

Do you think gooseberry would ruin a mead? It's very very sour/tart. I honestly never had gooseberrys until moving to Missouri, so I have no idea what I'm doing when brewing it. :/

 

[Zaffo]

Gooseberry mead sounds delicious to me. Each person has their own preference on wines and the various properties they can have (dry, crisp, sweet, earthy, etc.).

Like most foods, you won't know if it's good until you try it.

 

[WVMJ]

That is enough for a good 2 gallon batch with all the acid in them. Are they red ones or green ones? The reds are a little sweeter than the green ones. We have made gooseberry wine before and it was good but man was it tart. I think straight berry and a light colored honey would do well and plan on backsweetening with a little of the honey at the end to knock the edge off of the tartness. A little bit of oak goes well with this one also (at least the wine, not sure about the mead but would think it would work well). WVMJ

 

[noblesquirrel]

It's not so different from blackcurrant. Fruitier and less berry-like, but equal acidity. I'd go a bit sweeter than you think you'll like to balance it out.

 

[bernardsmith]

I've made straight gooseberry wine (dry) and the acidity of the berries is not so great that it spoils the wine... In fact gooseberry wine is quite delicious. The acidity, however, may depend on the ripeness of the berries. I imagine that a melomel (fruit mead) made with gooseberries could be very tasty.

I am wondering whether an alternative to FB's implied suggestion of adding water to the honey to bring it a gallon might be to simply use the gooseberry juice. In other words, freeze the berries, defrost them, press the juice with pectic enzyme and use the juice to dilute the honey. I suspect that you might get between 1/2 gallon and 2/3 from 7 lbs of gooseberries... IMO, you really do not want to be adding water to fruit juice unless the juice itself is a concentrate. So you may be aiming more for about 2 lbs of honey (or 2.5 lbs) and you may want to see if you can find more gooseberries, gooseberry juice, gooseberry juice concentrate or even gooseberry jam...

As to the sweetness you refer to, MistFM, there is no inherent "sweetness" in mead. If you ferment all the sugar in the honey (and fruit) then your mead will be dry. If you use a method of fermentation that leaves you with residual sugar then it will be as sweet as the amount of residual sugar left in the melomel. Mead will taste like honey minus the sweetness of the honey. Which is to say (and this goes without saying) that honey is full of flavor independent of the sweetness. But don't confuse sweetness with flavor.

 

[On-target]

I can't wait to hear how this turns out for you. I recently planted two gooseberry bushesthat my wife got me. Can't wait untill they start producing enough fruit for a batch. Good luck and keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

[bernardsmith]

I can't wait to hear how this turns out for you. I recently planted two gooseberry bushesthat my wife got me. Can't wait untill they start producing enough fruit for a batch. Good luck and keep us posted on how it turns out.

Not wanting to hijack this thread but we also planted three gooseberry bushes this past spring and I too am looking for a harvest in the coming years - and (and this is for WVMJ - Jack) we also planted three elderflower bushes. Elderflower wine is IMO, incredible. Hoping they will all survive the Upstate NY winter.