cacaca86

Recipes 

Can anyone refer me to a easy delicious recipe for a 1 gallon carboy? I love cherry if that helps, ive only down cider so detailed steps could help! Thanks guys!

gratus fermentatio

Recipes 

You can easily scale any of the recipes here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/

Or here:
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&Itemid=616

Regards, GF.

TheBrewingMedic

Recipes 

could start with a basic traditional one gallon recipe, 3.5 pounds of honey, water, nutrients and yeast, when it's done fermenting rack into a second gallon jug with 2 pounds of tart cherries, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 split vanilla beans, after a few weeks to a month, rack again and let it clear and you will have a nice cherry vanilla with a hint of cinnamon spice.

__________________
Watch and Listen to your Mead....It will tell you when the next step is.

fatbloke

Recipes 

The obvious choice is the JAO recipe. You can get all the ingredients in a local grocery store, the method is straight forward and while its doing its thing, you can research a batch with cherry (careful with cherry as it can easily come out like cough medicine).

__________________
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away". Tom Waits.

Oh, and here's some blog stuff!

TheBrewingMedic

Recipes 

May seem obvious because this is almost like the Mr.Beer kit of the mead world. However it doesn't really teach anyone about making mead, It's a set it and forget it for a couple months or years, and it's done, I'm not a huge fan, too sweet for me, I'll drink it as a mixer with some ginger ale.

IMO, a traditional 1 gallon mead should be the obvious first choice for someone interested in the craft.

- It's size makes it more managable
- The initial ingredient list is short
- It's easy aerate and follow nutrient schedule
- Primary fermentation is "relatively" short
- Initial equipment requirements are not too expensive

I'm not saying people should not make a JAO, and that it can't be part of their initiating process, on mead making day a gallon of each can be put together, one thrown in a closet and forgotten the other properly managed.

Or they can save it until they get a good grasp on making mead, I'll agree that it should be in the repertoire, and everyone should eventually have some bottles of it in their cellar to at least use for tasting to introduce people to mead.

But learn how to make a quality traditional mead and the possibilities are endless, you already know the base for melomels and metheglins, then move onto cysers, bochets, pyments..... You can also then tweak your personal techniques, decide if you wanna be a racker or a stabilizer, use primary additions or secondary, want simple meads or let your imagination run rampant with exotic blends, etc. etc.

OK...jumping off my soapbox, Y'all can continue on with your regularly scheduled thread....

__________________
Watch and Listen to your Mead....It will tell you when the next step is.

TyTanium

Recipes 

Very similar to cider, and ridiculously simple. Something like this should work:

3 lbs honey
Top off to 1g water
Add ~1/2 tsp yeast nutrient & 1/4 tsp yeast energizer
Shake to mix & aerate
Add yeast

Stir/shake occasionally to degas & add more O2 till it's halfway done fermenting (a few days)

When it's done fermenting, transfer to clear vessel off of the yeast.

Forget about it for a while

Enjoy.

EDIT: Add a pound or two of frozen, thawed & pitted cherries if you like. Plus 1 tsp of pectin enzyme I think.