Concord grapes from my vines and Talisman Farm buffalo berries make a pyment melomel. The buffalo berry plant is a large bush, native to Colorado. It is a relative of Russian olive and has thorns. The berries are small, red, tart and tanic. They were harvested with a berry picker.
Ingredients:
The buffalo berries were gathered a week before this batch was started. They were cleaned and frozen so they would release their juice when thawed.
September 17, 2025. We picked 20 lb of grapes from my vines. Dick took them to the farm where they were cleaned and crushed. Free-run juice was 14.5 Brix. The grape mass went into a mesh bag before adding to the bucket. SG 1.053. KMS added.
September 18, 2025 - yeast rehydrated and pitched.
October 18, 2025 - It fermented (perhaps too long?) before pressing. The must did get good color from the grapes. Yield at this point was about 1.7 gallons. Honey was diluted with warm water to about 2 gallons, then cooled and added to the must. This gave us about 3.7 gallons, to allow room for the berries.
October 26, 2025 - The berries were crushed and put into a mesh bag before adding to the grapes in the bucket.
November 10, 2025 - the berries were in there too long, but they were removed from the bucket and had the juice squeezed out before racking. More than a gallon of water was added to the carboy. Although the gravity was down to 1.000, there was still some active fermentation plus a lot of CO2 released by moving the liquid.
Copyright ris