Trader Joe's Cherry Mead

I couldn't resist giving this a shot after seeing the bottles of 100% Cherry Juice and Tart Cherry Juice (no preservatives) at Trader Joe's this spring.

My goal was to get this in the dry range so that I wouldn't end up with something that tasted of Childrens Cough Syrup, and I was successful on that front. To make sure I didn't leave much residual sugar I made sure that I hit 25Brix or less so that the 71B yeast would get it close to 1.000 (14% alcohol tolerance).

• 2 quarts Trader Joe’s 100% Cherry Juice (15 Brix)
• 1 quart Trader Joe’s 100% Tart Cherry Juice (14 Brix)
• 1 lb Clover Honey (Costco) added to obtain 25B (1.100)
• 1/8 tsp DAP
• 1/8 tsp yeast energizer
• 3 grams Lavlin 71B (Narbonne) yeast

I used the DAP and yeast energizer in a staggered nutrient addition method and made sure to mix daily to get as much CO2 out of solution as I could during the first half of the primary fermentation.
This went from 1.100 to 1.007 in 10 days.

Forgot to add the picture onto the post. This was my second batch of mead and first to put into 375ml bottles. Love them.

How did you "stir" and for about 5 days? These look great,how long will you age them? I unfortuatly had a mead that was too sweet and tasted like cherry cough syrup(commercial mead)-pretty turned of by that. Id like to make a pyment but want 2 just use grape juice/bluberry juice and honey. Did you just use pasturized juice? I would like to make it simple but good and not shure about concentrates or what exactly.

jonmohno said:

How did you "stir" and for about 5 days? These look great,how long will you age them? Did you just use pasturized juice? I would like to make it simple but good and not shure about concentrates or what exactly.

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I started this 1 gallon batch in a 2 gallon plastic bucket so I would have room to stir. I just used a large stainless spatula to stir during the first half of the fermentation (so to around 1.050 SG) which was maybe 3-4 days. I racked it out of the bucket after the primary fermentation was nearly complete.

The juice was pasteurized 100% cherry juice with no preservatives that I had bought.

Wow that looks great. Is it as red in person as in the pic?

huesmann said:

Wow that looks great. Is it as red in person as in the pic?

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Yeah it is, it really turned out a deep red color. Maybe from using a juice instead of fruit (not sure). It was 100% juice though with no color added.

Looks much better than my very first mead (I don't count it) that I used whole cranberries in, it eventually dropped clear. No color, just clear.

Did you add any water at all, or was it all juice and honey?

im doing this but with sweet mwad from wyeast

Yeast: Lavlin D47
Yeast Starter: Rehydrate
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 2
Original Gravity: 1.100
Final Gravity: .996
Boiling Time (Minutes): None
Color: Red
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 5 @ 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): None
Tasting Notes: Smell and taste of Poison (sadly)


1 quart Trader Joe’s 100% Cherry Juice
1 quart Trader Joe’s 100% Tart Cherry Juice
1 quart Knudsen 100% Cherry Juice
1.5 lb local honey
4 lbs Cane Sugar
1 dry packet D47 yeast
Water to achieve 2 gallon total

I dumped this all in a clean 6 gallon primary bucket with airlock, stirred and covered.

After 5 days the FG was 0.996 - lightning fast.

I racked it into (4) 1/2 Gallon glass carboys, capped and put in Refrigerator to die.

They've been there a week and it is clearing, but the smell and taste are still very chemical/medicinal. Not at all excited about this.

What do you all think?

If I leave it in the fridge for a few weeks, bottle and store in the basement for a month do you think it will be better or worse?

Should I introduce some Brett and try to make a kriek? (guessing it's not that easy).

Advice would be great.

Thought I would follow up with a pic of the finished mead and thoughts on the tasting.
My goal was to get this fairly dry, the last thing I wanted was something that tasted like cherry cough syrup.
I would call this a great success- it is a dry mead by all thoughts, but it doesn't pucker at all. This turned exactly how I had hoped and I will be doing a 3 gallon batch soon.
The key it seems is hitting 1.100 with the Narbonne yeast.
I've had many compliments and the biggest takeaway is from the way it looks, one thinks of a fruity sweet drink- so bright red. It comes off way different and is really smooth after all of this time.
Love that I bottled in the 375ml as well, will do that with all my meads going forward.






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huesmann said:

Did you add any water at all, or was it all juice and honey?

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Sorry for such a late reply- I've been moving across the country...
I just had 3qts total of juice and the honey.



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Ibrewaletx said:

Forgot to add the picture onto the post. This was my second batch of mead and first to put into 375ml bottles. Love them.

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Ibrewaletx

Did you use anything to "clear" the mead ?
I followed your recipe, and have myself a fairly cloudy mead.
Very red !!! But not transparent like your beautiful bottles in the photo

Thanks

steveoatley said:

I followed your recipe, and have myself a fairly cloudy mead.
Very red !!! But not transparent like your beautiful bottles in the photo

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how old is your mead? how long has it been aging/clearing?

Well, it is on day two of Secondary, actually.
I got to FG in 10 days, just like Ibrewaletx
I just racked it off the yeast, and it's still cloudy.

Ibrewaletx mentions that he aged it for 140 days in secondary, I was just wondering if he had added anything to help it clear.

thx

meads can take months to clear on their own. give it more time!

No, I didn't adding any clarifying agents, I just let it sit for a long time. It really cleared well on its own.
I've finally gathered up the 3 bottles of Trader Joe's tart cherry juice and 6 bottles of normal Trader Joe's cherry juice to start my 3 gallon batch.

Why did you add sugar to raise the abv instead of more honey?

I didn't add sugar in mine, just the honey and juice.

I added sugar instead of honey because I am cheap and wanted to save a few dollars.
I paid for this with a pretty gross end product.
Not recommended.

I just whipped up a batch using a variety of tart cherry juice I accumulated on sale and 6 lbs of frozen pitted sweet cherries added to secondary. I racked it once and it's already starting to clear nicely. I'm thinking I may age it on some toasted oak chips and a vanilla bean and add a little bourbon when I bottle it.


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