Strawberry with quick turnaround?

**nukinfuts29** · 11-28-2011, 08:32 PM

I got into this obsession at the wrong part of the year. SWMBO has asked me if I can make a sweet strawberry wine by Christmas, which I know I cannot.

Any recipe's out there for a mead that can be done in just under a month?

Cruel · 11-29-2011, 01:42 AM

You're going to be looking at something low in alcohol back sweetened with honey, IMO. If I was forced at gunpoint to make something like this, I'd probably shoot for about 3-6% ABV then stabilize and back sweeten after the week mark. If I needed real mode alcohol I'd try jumping it up with decent vodka after the fact.

JOAM and the Quick grape mead/whatever it's called are kind of the standards for quickly finished mead, but even those tend to have a 6 week minimum before most will bother drinking them. Here's the link to the Quick Grape mead if you want ideas.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/joes-quick-grape-mead-57190/

I've heard stories of people making decent 3%ish wine coolery type drinks from frozen fruit mixes in a weekend, but that isn't something I've tried. Frozen strawberries are easy to find and you might be able to work something out back sweetening with honey after you've stabilized (or just always keeping it real cold, I guess.), but you might want to plan for the mead next christmas. All of this stuff is really just a get around to try and incorporate honey into some low alcohol beverage for something to serve.

**nukinfuts29** · 11-29-2011, 01:44 AM

Sweet. She can't drink anyway, it's more that she wants something for everyone else. She is trying to get into what i'm up to, but i think it would be easier to just buy something.

**huesmann** · 11-29-2011, 11:59 AM

There's always the fortification route...

Hethen57 · 11-29-2011, 11:45 PM

You can make one....I did a Quick Cyser that was ready to drink in 4 weeks...very sweet, but 7-8% ABV. Off the top of my head, it think it's basically 2.5-3# honey, cider to fill balance of gallon, yeast nutrient, and 1116 yeast (check links to recipes above...it's on GotMead). It tasted great. I would add a little strawberry extract or ferment with frozen strawberrys and it should be good and have some strawberry flavor. This stuff isn't rocket science, just lots of cleanliness, sugar and yeast....if you can stop fermentation while it is still sweet, you can drink it sooner, otherwise plan on letting it sit around for a long time to mellow and you will possibly have to back-sweeten to taste.