I was thinking of a very simple recipe of 2.5 pounds of honey, a gallon of cranberry juice and fresh ground ginger. Would this even turn out any good? It seems pretty basic. I was also thinking of making a gallon of chai tea and adding 2.5 pounds of honey and seeing how it turns out. Both seem straight forward and simple. What are your thoughts?
Could you make a simple mead like this?
- Thread starter klcramer
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myndflyte
Well-Known Member
New mead maker here but your first recipe I think would turn out good. You definitely wouldn't be the first to make a cranberry mead. As for the chai tea one, I say give it a shot. I'm not a huge chai tea fan but if it turns out bad, you only made a gallon batch of it.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
Cranberry juice can be very tart. You might want to start with far less cranberry and use the juice to flavor your mead rather than to be the sole source of liquid. I might begin with about 1 quart of juice /gallon.
Further to what @bernardsmith posted, I've done both a pyment and a pomegranate melomel using a gallon of juice in a 5 gal batch. The juice was added after the fermentation became active. The muscadine juice was sorbated and using this technique, there didn't seem to be any negative impact on the fermentation. Likewise, adding the somewhat acidic Pom after things were already rocking didn't seem to slow things down at all....
DaleP
Well-Known Member
One quart of honey and three quarts of cranberry juice makes a very good mead, kind of sweet tart!
What yeast would you use? Bread yeast like in JAOM or something like Lalvin K1-V116?
Tart / acidic fruits make good mead and wine. How are you planning to get the cranberry juice? You going to juice some cranberries yourself, or buy some Ocean Spray? I'd recommend either using water and throwing some crushed cranberries into primary, or juicing some cranberries yourself.
I don’t have much experience with mead. That being said I’m probably making it harder than it needs to be. I you think crushing cranberries is a better idea then I’m all for it. How many for a gallon and do I crush them and reduce them on the stove top ? Also the yeast? Bread yeast like the JAOM. Recipe or wine yeast? Thanks for the input.
EC-1118 yeast. Don't reduce them on the stove, it can mess with the clarity later on.
I'd guess probably about 1.75lbs of cranberries, give or take a quarter pound depending on if you want it to taste more like honey or cranberries. I'm not much for cranberries myself, so I'm basing that off what I'd do for blueberries. I actually just made a blueberry wine late this summer / early this fall by taking fresh blueberries, freezing them for a couple days, letting them thaw a bit, mashing them up with a potato masher, and adding them to the fermenter in a mesh bag.
Use some yeast nutrient and be sure to sanitize a big metal spoon or something to stir it up every day for the first few days.
I'd guess probably about 1.75lbs of cranberries, give or take a quarter pound depending on if you want it to taste more like honey or cranberries. I'm not much for cranberries myself, so I'm basing that off what I'd do for blueberries. I actually just made a blueberry wine late this summer / early this fall by taking fresh blueberries, freezing them for a couple days, letting them thaw a bit, mashing them up with a potato masher, and adding them to the fermenter in a mesh bag.
Use some yeast nutrient and be sure to sanitize a big metal spoon or something to stir it up every day for the first few days.
