Spring of 2016
I made a melomel, mead, with wildflower / buckwheat / maple syrup / cherry. It was quite the blend. Initial results were unimpressive. Others describe the flavor as “barnyard” and they are not wrong. It was really bad! At that point I did what any good mead maker should do, I put it away for some time and just let it sit. Eight months later I took what was left and it was amazing. Harshness mellowed, flavors matured, and everything came together. The barnyard flavor was gone and what was left was very pleasing. This turned into a very smooth drink but was lacking any real defining flavors. I had added a 1/4 oak spiral in this batch too for the 8 months of the secondary racking. Even the oak was barely noticeable.
January 2017
Today we take what we learned last summer and attempt to get a stronger fruit and spice. I had a few pounds of buckwheat honey around from years ago and thought this may be the perfect for this project. I wanted to create something with some deep, dark rich flavor. What better way than with a powerful buckwheat and dark cherries.
Print Recipe
Buckwheat Cherry Melomel
As with many batches I am making lately, this will be a double batch. Depending on the first tasting I may split the double batch and add more honey and cherries to another 2 gallons, making 4 gallons total.
Instructions
Three Week Update
The airlock is still bubbling very consistantly. The while thing is very dark and still needs clearing. After three weeks I estimate this batch will need another 4 to 6 weeks in the primary fermenting container. I would like to wait until the airlock bubbles once every 30 seconds or more.
We are seeing a healthy layer of sediment on the bottom. That is all the yeast that have done their job of converting the sugars into alcohol, died, and fell to the bottom.
