Here is a one gallon tester of something I have wanted to try for a while now. I like Strawberries and have really wanted to do a mead with it and I have been reading about Jelly wines turning out really well so I thought I would mix that up.
So I picked out some Strawberry Jam that had no corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup in it. I have heard of people using strait corn syrup in other things and that stuff makes pure rocket fuel by itself. It is "Welch's Natural strawberry". Ingredients are: Sugar, strawberries, Fruit pectin, Citric acid, red grape juice concentrate & natural flavors".
I am planning the recipe as follows:
2lb local honey
1lb Strawberry Jam
1 tsp black tea (Earl grey)
2 tsp pectic enzyme
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2tsp yeast energizer
Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast.
I will mix all but the yeast in primary and let sit for 24 hours to let pectic enzyme do it's thing. Then pitch yeast after rehydrating it. Let this run dry and clear over the next 30 days. When fermentation finishes I will throw this in the fridge to help it clear faster. Once clear I'll rack it to a new container and add in Camden and sorbate to stabilize and add in another 1lb of strawberry Jam to back sweeten. That will probably cloudy up so I will let it chill in the fridge till it looks good & then bottle from there unless additional racking is needed.
I'll bet it will be hot and young like most meads at first but I'll save the bottles and test them once every 4 - 6 months and see how it goes.
So after mixing it up the OG is at 1.100 exact so expecting over 13% ABV here.
Feel free to comment, criticize or share experiences if you have tried anything similar and would like to throw your experience out here.
So I picked out some Strawberry Jam that had no corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup in it. I have heard of people using strait corn syrup in other things and that stuff makes pure rocket fuel by itself. It is "Welch's Natural strawberry". Ingredients are: Sugar, strawberries, Fruit pectin, Citric acid, red grape juice concentrate & natural flavors".
I am planning the recipe as follows:
2lb local honey
1lb Strawberry Jam
1 tsp black tea (Earl grey)
2 tsp pectic enzyme
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2tsp yeast energizer
Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast.
I will mix all but the yeast in primary and let sit for 24 hours to let pectic enzyme do it's thing. Then pitch yeast after rehydrating it. Let this run dry and clear over the next 30 days. When fermentation finishes I will throw this in the fridge to help it clear faster. Once clear I'll rack it to a new container and add in Camden and sorbate to stabilize and add in another 1lb of strawberry Jam to back sweeten. That will probably cloudy up so I will let it chill in the fridge till it looks good & then bottle from there unless additional racking is needed.
I'll bet it will be hot and young like most meads at first but I'll save the bottles and test them once every 4 - 6 months and see how it goes.
So after mixing it up the OG is at 1.100 exact so expecting over 13% ABV here.
Feel free to comment, criticize or share experiences if you have tried anything similar and would like to throw your experience out here.