Elderberry Damiana Mead

very interesting looking post--a friend of mine has recently been using damiana as a smoking herb which I find to be relaxing and promotes lucid dreaming. I had considered some brews using herbs for (as it was put in another post) "added effects" both medicinal and recreational. I look forward to your future posts.

As to your post--

SP is a term I do not think I am familiar with. Most hydrometers read in Specific Gravity (SG--is this what you meant?) &/or in Brix.

your readings seem pretty normal to me, you made a dry mead at 14.5% abv. PABV went to 0% because with all of the sugar fermented out there is no more potential for alcohol production. If there is a number higher than SG 1.000 you have sugar left over and you've made a sweet mead without back sweetening, I do this often. Simply subtract your new PABV from your initial PABV to find out how much alcohol you made. In very high alcohol brews I've seen SG drop to .99~.. being that there is so much alcohol in the brew it is actually thinner than water.

If 1.000 is lower than you are used to than the natural nutrients in the elderberry may have given your yeast a little kick. I once had a sweet mead wake right back up and run dry once I added a few pounds of cherries.

The thing to be wary of in back sweetening is renewed fermentation. Say you add enough honey to make your mead 1.020, thats about 2.5% PABV worth of sugar. If your yeast is not at its peak tolerance or dead by other means (sulfites and sorbates) it may restart fermentation and go dry yet again. There are two problems with this-- 1) renewed fermentation can create stressed yeasties and that can make harsher alcohol 2) if you bottled already renewed fermentation in the bottle could turn your mead into sweet handcrafted hand grenades (seriously--look for "bottle bombs" on the site)

I do not know the alcohol tolerance of cote des blanc, someone else may be able to help or you may find it on the site. A quick google search told me it goes anywhere from 14-16 % depending on who you ask.

by the by--could you update your recipe to show how much damiana was used?

hope that helps, I gess I didnt mean to go on for so long...
best of luck in all you endeavor

/z

Welcome to GotMead Michele!!!

Michele said:

The Damiana left a very bitter taste (common for many of the herbs I have used) ...

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To say nothing about elderberries. The tannins in elderberry can be quite bitter. How was the elderberry juice processed?

Michele said:

I guess I just need to know if I am on the right track...

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It sounds like you are on the right track. Côte des Blancs is supposed to have a tolerance of about 14% ABV or less, but I've had it go beyond 15% when well fed. When you add more honey, it may very will kick up fermentation again.

Medsen

It sounds like you handled the berries in a way to that would keep the tannins from being overpowering.

It sounds quite tasty. How's the color?