1st shot at a Cherry mead

Just bottled up my first batch of Mead, a peach/mango melomel, that I made about 10 months ago, it's not bad, not great either, but I am happy with it for my first attempt and am anxious to see what it will be like in another 6 months in bottles.

Anyway, I decided to try my hand at a cherry mead this afternoon, here's what I have downstairs in a large bucket
- 15 Lbs Clover Honey(Costco special)
- 9Lbs sweet red cherries(I've read tart are better but I couldn't find any, so went with sweet instead. Will see if I can get some tart ones for the secondary).
- 2 handfuls of raisins.
- 2 packages of Cote Des Blancs dry yeast.

Mixed it up, shook the bucket to aerate, pitched yeast, shook some more, dropped in the cherries & raisins and down to the brew cave with it.

Looking forward to how this one turns out in about 9-12 months.

Sounds like it should be tasty. Keep a nose to it to make sure you're not getting any sulfur emissions from the Cotes de Blanc; if you are, add some more nutrient (in this case, raisins).

Not to nit-pick, but consider hitting up the farmer's market for your honey next time around; pasteurized honey (I'd assume CostCo would have this) doesn't have a great rep for making good mead, and there's been more and more instances with foreign honey (especially from China) having unlabeled adjuncts like corn syrup. Not saying you should worry about this batch of mead, but if you buy quality honey, your end-product is bound to be that much better.

Cheers.

I keep telling myself I am going to find a beekeeper in my area, but so far have been unsuccessful.

I may have to hit up the farmers market to see if they sell in bulk as every market I've seen they only carry the small bottles for $10-$20 a piece, which would make for a VERY expensive batch of mead :/

Thats what I did in the end, the internet failed me on beekeepers. I went to the local farmers market and asked if they could sell in bulk and got his phone number. Deffinatly a good way forward.

dummkauf said:

I keep telling myself I am going to find a beekeeper in my area, but so far have been unsuccessful.

I may have to hit up the farmers market to see if they sell in bulk as every market I've seen they only carry the small bottles for $10-$20 a piece, which would make for a VERY expensive batch of mead :/

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The internet is your best friend... You should be able to get honey in bulk for *no more than* $10 per quart (3 lbs). I generally get my 5 gallon bucket of wildflower honey every year from a local beekeeper at this rate. $200 bucks and I'm set for 3-4 batches, depending on exactly how much I'm actually using...I wouldn't pay more than that unless it's a particularly nice varietal honey.

Well this one took almost a full year to get ready. I just pulled a sample tonight and this is ready to bottle! This is the best mead I've made to date, though I've only got 10 batches under my belt and only 4 of which have been bottle and drinkable yet, so I am by no means a master meader. Would've bottle tonight but I just finished brewing up a beer and it's midnight so I think bottling will wait til this coming weekend at this point since I don't want to spend the 4th bottling.

Thanks for the follow up!

Well this so far is my 2nd 5 gallon batch I've gotten bottled up thus far and so far it's the best big batch I've made(had a couple good 1 gallon test batches too).

Here it is:

I think that honey prices vary upon the beekeeper. When I was at my last beekeeper meeting there were plenty of people selling a pint for $8. (and still sell out) The problem you may run into is that they can sell to people with allergies who are willing to shell out the cash. After shelling out the cash for the equipment and seeing the time and effort that goes into it I can see why some of them would want that much for the honey.


Your mead looks awesome. I love the color on it.

daugenet said:

I think that honey prices vary upon the beekeeper. When I was at my last beekeeper meeting there were plenty of people selling a pint for $8. (and still sell out) The problem you may run into is that they can sell to people with allergies who are willing to shell out the cash. After shelling out the cash for the equipment and seeing the time and effort that goes into it I can see why some of them would want that much for the honey.


Your mead looks awesome. I love the color on it.

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Thank you, and the honey sourcing isn't much of an issue anymore. I was at a family get together a while ago and my brewing/mead making came up, and as it turns out my mom's cousins are beekeepers!!! Haven't called them yet this summer since I've been waiting for a carboy to free up for another big batch, but now that this cherry is bottled up, I will have to see what they have available