Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Lalvin 1122
Yeast Starter: yes 500ml
Batch Size (Gallons): 6 gal
Original Gravity: 1.120
Final Gravity: ...
Boiling Time (Minutes): 15
Color: Red/Purple
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 28/68
Additional Fermentation: rack until cleared
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 28/68
Tasting Notes: honey and cranberry dominate this full-flavored sweet mead.

One of my favorites...

7 lbs Clover Honey
5 lbs Orange Blossom Honey
1 lb Eucalyptus Honey
7 lbs. Cranberries
4 lbs. Blackberries
2 oz. Yeast Energizer
2 oz. Yeast Nutrient

I usually put the fruit in primary for this one, I think having the cranberries in there from the start gives it more time to kill some of the tartness and help the flavors meld. The fruit flavor is still huge afterwards.

Boil the honey energizer and nutrient in 2 gal. water for 15 minutes and dissolve. Pour into carboy.
Bring fruit to a light boil (more to the point where "foam" begins to form) and leave them on the heat until the blackberries begin to break apart and the cranberries split open. Use a funnel to add fruit to the carboy.

I usually add a little more water at this point but make sure to leave plenty of head room. Cool and pitch yeast starter when down to temp.

This is a great mead if you've wanted to make a cranberry mead but have always been worried about the tartness. The cranberry is still the dominate fruit flavor mixing well with the honey flavors but the blackberries help to sweeten the fruit profile and help mellow out the tartness to a degree.

Sometimes I will use k-meta and sorbate and add another pound of any of the honey varieties after secondary and before I begin to bulk age.