Hey WT,
Here's a recipe from -
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net -
Elderberry Wine
"Jack, many years ago I made a wine from a gallon of pure, freshly pressed elderberry juice. I did not weigh the unpressed elderberries, so don't know how many it took to yield a gallon of juice. I knew this wine would probably be astringent, but I believed it would in time achieve a balance that would make it enjoyable. I bottled the wine in 375-ml bottles and put it away for four years. I opened a bottle and did not enjoy it, so I ignored the remaining bottles until recently when the seventh year of aging concluded. At this point, the wine is probably the best homemade wine I have ever tasted. The recipe I used is below:" Ben Lebeaux, Lake City, Florida
* 1 gallon of 100% elderberry juice
* granulated sugar to raise specific gravity to 1.085
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* pectic enzyme
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* Montrachet wine yeast
Dissolve crushed Campden tablet in elderberry juice. Cover with cloth and set aside overnight. Dissolve pectic enzyme in elderberry juice and set aside another 12 hours. Float hydrometer in juice and determine sugar required to raise specific gravity to 1.085. Add that amount of sugar (1� pounds) and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in yeast nutrient and activated yeast and cover the primary. Stir daily for five days. Transfer to a secondary and fit an airlock. Excess juice can be stored in a clean soda bottle in the refrigerator with a balloon covering the mouth. After 30 days, rack, top up with the excess juice in the soda bottle and replace the airlock. Repeat this every 30 days until the wine clears. Stabilize and set aside three months. If new sediments have formed, rack and set aside another three months. If no new sediments form, rack into half-bottles (375-ml). Age seven years or longer if required. [Recipe by Ben Lebeaux, Lake City, Florida]
Had you though to inquire exactly how many pounds of berries are needed to to press a gallon of juice?
Knowing this would make it easy to follow the mead recipe's you've seen.
Anthony