Not really a huckleberry varietal: the huckleberry honey going into it isn't honey made by bees primarily feeding on nectar from huckleberry flowers, but rather seems to be honey mixed with huckleberry fruit or juice in some form.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 2 lb., 8 oz. star thistle honey from Sleeping Bear Farms.
  • untreated tap water to just over 1 gallon.
  • ⅜ tsp. Fermaid K.
  • ¾ tsp. Fermaid O.
  • ⅓ vial Inland Island INIS-003 (Colorado IPA) ale yeast, split with batches 158 and 159.
  • 1 tsp. Fermaid O, added on 11 April 2019.
  • approx. 9 oz. huckleberry honey (apparently honey with huckleberries and perhaps huckleberry juice) from the Idaho City Trading Post, added on 4 June 2019.
  • approx. 39 oz. huckleberry honey (rest of jar), added on 12 Feb 2020.
  • clarifying addition of 3 May 2020:
    • ⅕ pouch A1 of Durafine clarifier
    • ⅕ pouch A2 of Durafine clarifier

Procedure

Measured honey into waer, then added Fermaid O and K, then water to just over a gallon. Agitated intermittently and repeatedly for over an hour while other batches were being prepared, then measured the gravity. Pitched yeast at 76℉.

Brew date: 5 April 2019.
Original gravity: 1.088.
Bottling date: 17 May 2020
Final gravity: Not measured.
Estimated ABV: Not calculated. Likely 12% or so.

Yield:

  • 7 x 500mL wine bottles,
  • 1 x 7 fl. oz.

Total: Aprox. 125 fl. oz., or just shy of a gallon.

Observations

  • 2019-04-11: Made a late nutrient addition to the carboy.
  • 2019-06-04: Added some huckleberry honey, filling the carboy to the middle of the neck, without weighing the difference.
  • 2020-02-12: Added more huckleberry honey after pulling out a small taster from the carboy to make room.
  • 2020-05-03T14:00: Added one-fifth pouch of each pouch of Durafine.
  • 2020-05-17: Bottled, yielding just under a gallon of mead.