Just bottled - Cherry Bomb Mead

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summersolstice

summersolstice

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I started this mead last summer from cherries I picked locally and Blackberry Blossom honey I ordered from Oregon. That's it, well, and water. OG was 1.086 and I bulk aged for 8 months. This is a great tasting mead - tart, but with a little sweetness.

IMG_2469.JPG
 
That looks great! I love the label as well. ;)

What about a recipe? I've got 4 lbs of cherries in the freezer begging to be used in a mead. I live in Oregon so getting the blackberry honey is a snap.
 
KatoBaggins said:
That looks great! I love the label as well. ;)

What about a recipe? I've got 4 lbs of cherries in the freezer begging to be used in a mead. I live in Oregon so getting the blackberry honey is a snap.
Click to expand...

Not really much of a recipe since it's only cherries, water, and honey. I used about 2 pounds of cherries per gallon in the primary and enough honey to get the OG I wanted (I prefer to keep the starting gravity on most meads at 1.090 or so - one quart of honey per gallon +-), proper aeration and the introduction of nutrients at the proper time (lots of posts about this), and then another pound of cherries per gallon in the secondary for 3-4 more weeks. Ferment to dryness and backsweeten according to taste (I used one quart of honey in a six-gallon carboy). Lots of patience for bulk aging results in crystal clarity. Simple.
 
Very cool, how exactly does the cherry flavor taste in it? (I have never had a cherry wine or beer)
 
I just transferred my mead onto another couple pounds of cherries in the secondary. I drank the hydro sample with a drop of stevia. This promises to a great mead. My OG was 1.125 and the SG at secondary was .980. Ouch!

Thanks for the recipe. :drunk:
 
Which are better sweet or tart cherries? Also would throwing them in the food processor after freezing work well?
 
KatoBaggins said:
I just transferred my mead onto another couple pounds of cherries in the secondary. I drank the hydro sample with a drop of stevia. This promises to a great mead. My OG was 1.125 and the SG at secondary was .980. Ouch!

Thanks for the recipe. :drunk:
Click to expand...

.980 has to be awfully dry.
 
thatnewguy said:
Odd question, but was your label produced by any program on your computer?

Sounds like a nice mead
Click to expand...

I bought Avery labels, lifted the graphic off the 'net, and used Word Art and played around until everything fit on the labels. Very easy to apply but plain paper with a glue stick comes off easier.
 
Ok, quick question. I'm thinking about making a batch of this. How long did you let it sit in primary before racking to secondary?
 
Dude123 said:
Ok, quick question. I'm thinking about making a batch of this. How long did you let it sit in primary before racking to secondary?
Click to expand...

No hard and fast rule on primaries since fermentation time can vary so much. Usually I give the primary a couple of weeks or until the gravity reads about 1.020.
 
Last week I put a mead on 2 gallons of Oregon cherry puree based on how pretty your mead looked.

It was in pimary about 3-4 weeks before putting on cherries, and plan to leave it on the puree another month or so in the bucket before putting it back into a carboy for bulk aging.
 
jezter6 said:
Last week I put a mead on 2 gallons of Oregon cherry puree based on how pretty your mead looked.

It was in pimary about 3-4 weeks before putting on cherries, and plan to leave it on the puree another month or so in the bucket before putting it back into a carboy for bulk aging.
Click to expand...

Should be yummy!
 
So just wondering the cherries you can buy at the store wouldn't be good cause they are sweet? I was thinking of doing something with cherries since they are so cheap right now
 
This looks really good. I have 15 lbs orange blossom honey from a kit... I am going to start my first mead soon. I love cherries so I might give something like this a try.
 
I love that label on your Cherry Bomb!

I am trying my hand at a mead now, although its going to be realllllllly sweeeet. Here is what I got if anyone has any tips:
Sweet Mead is the intent:
16lbs of wildflower honey (didn't realize how sweet this is over other types!!)
nutrient and wyeast sweet mead
OG - 1.114
FG - 1.040 (kinda high??) The sample was sweet, but pretty good.
This was about 6 weeks at around 72.

I just moved it onto 7 lbs of frozen dark sweet cherries (pitted) from Trader Joes and waiting to see what happens with that. Planning on leaving it there for at least a month.

Any suggestions or opinions??
 
You may want to create a new thread.

Wyeast sweet mead seems to be a real crapper of a yeast. You may want to dry it out a little with another strain that's capable of getting up that extra few ABV% without dying.
 
I think I will do that. Just looked up the tolerance for that Wyeast 4184 and its only 11%... and mine is at about 10.5% currently and thats before its done anything with the cherries I just racked onto.

Thanks
 
Yea I think that would be way to sweet at this point. I had one hovering around 1.030 and it was to much to really drink.
 

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