That'd be the elderberry melomel and the elderberry cyser. So, if you've read earlier, you'll know that I was a bit stunned to get an incredibly high gravity reading from the elderberry mel (before I watered it down to about 1.130). Well, when I checked it this morning, it was sat at a nice, pleasing, 1.010, which means that with a bit of stirring and a 2 stage nutrient addition, the Red Star Montrachet has managed a drop of 120 points - which according to Bobs chart (available over at winesathome - and no I'm not gonna link it, if you want to download it, you'll have to find it.....) that's 16.3 % ABV or thereabouts.
I ended up topping it up with some overspill from a batch that I don't recall (but managed to refrigerate and store - and it tasted ok), it's gone onto sulphite/sorbate as I don't want the possiblity that it could start to referment - it's not completely cleared yet so that's what gonna happen now.
A quick word on the taste. Yes there's some residual sweetness, that's to be expected, there's a nice fruit taste to it as well, but as the elderberry juice was quite high fruit i.e. not just the usual 3 or 4 lb per gallon made up with water, but the final 2/3rds of a gallon of steam extracted juice which was mixed with 3lb of honey, and then watered down to reduce the starting gravity, it's also got a distinct tannic bitterness to it, which I guess is natures way of showing me how high in tannins, elderberries are. They still, in my opinion, have an indistinct, generic fruit flavour (a bit like Vimto, if you've ever tasted that
The truth is that Vimto is made from a top-secret recipe, one that's been passed down from John Nichols (Vimto's creator) to us - and he said not to tell anyone! What we can tell you is that our secret formula includes a mix of three fruit juices - grape, blackcurrant and raspberry - along with a mysterious blend of 23 fruit essences, herbs and spices.
and no, I'm not a great fan, but apparently, it's quite popular up north). Though, according to some (thinking of Bob here, he says) that elderberries are good wine makers.... not so sure.
Anyway, it's probably that once it's cleared, it's gonna need to be aged for a long time, in the hope that the tannic taste will blend in......
The other batch I racked off the sediment was the cyser, well I'm gonna refer to it as elderberry cyser, because when I made it, it had a little elderberry in it (left over from whatever I was doing at the time), and thought the bit of colour might be nice. So it tastes like a dry still cider, with some notes of honey. When I racked it off the sediment I got about 1 and 1/3rd gallons, so I've split those to the same ratio and topped them up with some of the left over elderberry melomel must, to act as a back sweetener, but also just to get rid of the airspace. Both the 1 and 1/2 gallon DJ's have been treated with sorbate/sulphate, so there's shouldn't be much, if any, refermentation activity..... the gravity reading before racking was 1.000, so it still might need a bit of honey later, though I'll probably blend the 1 and 1/2 gallon quantities back together before changing anything.....
Got me thinking whether there'll be any use for Mareks suggestion the other month about using banana to improve body, as it should also add a little to the sweetness as well, though I'd probably have to strain and then filter it afterwards... Cos I definitely like the idea of making a strawberry banana melomel in the near future......
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