Wild Fermented Elderflower Mead

This recipe makes a sweet wild fermented mead wild beautiful floral aromas coming from the fresh elderflowers. It makes a 5 liter or 1 1/3 gallon batch and as mentioned it is wild fermented. The yeast source for this mead are the fresh elderflowers, ginger bug and the wildflower honey itself. This is the mead that was made and bottled in the video that can be watched by clicking this link. The ginger bug is prepared in this video.

Method:

Step 1: pre-boil the water one day in advance to get rid of chlorine and calcium. The next day scoop all the wildflower honey into a wide mouth carboy. Add approximately 3 liter/3 quarts of water to the honey and stir well to dissolve it all. Add a handful of raisins and 1 cup of active ginger bug. Stir well and add add all the elderflower umbels. Top up with fresh water to 5 liters/5 quarts. Stir very well to incorporate air, take and SG reading, cover with a muslin cloth and put the carboy outside in the shade under a cover so when it rains it will not get wet.

Step 2: Repeat the vigorous stirring for at least two weeks. When enough yeast is captured and activated you will see bubbles rising to the top indicating that the fermentation is working. Good job!

Step 3: Take the fermenting mead inside, siphon it into a normal carboy and close it off with a water lock. Place it in a dark and cool place in the house. Let it ferment until it is not bubbling anymore. Honey ferments slowly and this batch took over 6 months.

Step 4: After 6 months check how clear the mead is. If it has cleared up significantly, siphon into another sanitized carboy, take an SG reading and top it up with similar mead to prevent oxidation. Repeat this step until the mead is totally clear. If required stabilize it and then bottle it.

Step 5: When entirely clear, take another SG reading. Wild yeast doesn’t reach high degrees of fermentation so it can be higher than expected and stabilization will be required. Stabilize the mead by dissolving potassium sorbate and sulfite in a small amount of water. Add this to an empty clean carboy. Transfer the mead into this carboy and let it sit for a least 24 hours for the stabilizing agents to do their work.

Step 6: Transfer the mead to bottles, close them off and label the bottles so you know what’s inside. Try some of it fresh and let some of it age for at least a few months before tasting.

Step 7: Enjoy drinking and tasting this wonderful wild fermented elderflower mead!