What a difference a couple of months make! I picked about 30 pounds of fresh tart cherries this summer and used 15 pounds in the primary of a 6-gallon batch. I racked into 5 and 3 gallon carboys and added 4-5 more pounds of cherries to the secondary. You have to be careful with tart fruit like this in order to avoid excessive acidity. After the fermentation was complete I stabilized and backsweetened (I used blackberry blossom honey for this mead) and racked again. Look at the difference in color after the secondary was complete. This mead is now a couple of months old and will be bulk aged for another several months. The difference in color is likely due to suspended yeast in the first photo.