First try at Cherry Mead

[flyboy]

Ok, I've been away from brewing for a while and started back up and decided to try my hand a mead. Specifically, I'm going to try a cherry mead. Just purchased a 1 gal carboy and some wine yeast along with a new airlock for the carboy. I've made hundreds of beers but this will my my first try at mead. I visit the meadery in Prescott, AZ when every I get up that way and love it. Can't wait to try my hand at it and appreciate any advice you have.

 

[bernardsmith]

What kind of mead are you aiming for? A sweet mead? A low ABV mead? a carbonated mead? A mead with lots of cherry flavor or just a hint of cherry? A high ABV mead - with a an ABV so high that the yeast die of alcohol poisoning leaving you with some residual sugar (not the same as the sweet mead I referred to earlier- which can be made by backsweetening your finished mead).

What kind of honey do you want to use? A good varietal honey (could be orange blossom) or a common or garden wildflower or clover yeast? Do you want the honey to take center stage or the cherry or do both look for the limelight?

What about the yeast? What strain of yeast? One that will highlight the cherry or one that might provide you with good mouthfeel? One that will finish clean or one that will let you know that you used this or that strain?

How quickly do you want this to be ready? A month or two? In six months? A couple of years is OK?

There are perhaps dozens of other questions you may want to ask yourself but these are, IMO, a few critical ones. The answers you provide yourself will suggest the options you need to take..

 

[flyboy]

I've been scouring hundreds of articles and YouTube videos and, just like brewing beer, there are thousands of ways to make mead and every one of them is the only correct way of making it. I saw one video put out by epicfantacy where he used 3-4 lbs of honey and heated it up with water and added it to the carboy. Filled it up and pitched the yeast and let it ferment for 30 days. Then, he racked it to another carboy with crushed fruit in it. Let that go for another 30 days and then racked it again backsweetening it if needed. Let that go for another 30 days to clarify and then bottled. Let it age for 3-4 months at least. I did an imperial stout a few years ago that took 4 months to ferment and then another 4 to age. But, was it ever smooth! I'm hoping for the same here.

 

[AkTom]

Just saying.... if it's kind of bland at 6 months, cap it and wait another 6 months. Don't drink the whole bottle. Just a sip. You'll be amazed at what happens in in 12-14 months. You can sample a gallon batch to death and never know how good it would have been. Don't ask me how I know.
Cheers

 

[bernardsmith]

In my opinion most people who post on Youtube have no idea how to make mead. Most repost what someone else has posted on Youtube but present that as their work.
There are , however, a couple of very good books on the subject. Books written by world class mead makers such as Ken Schramm (The Compleat Meadmaker - (the spelling is correct)) is one and Steve Piatz (The Complete Guide to Mead Making) is another.

 

[flyboy]

Thanks for the information. What happens in the brewhouse, stays in the brewhouse, huh AkTom? I've heard the same from others that aging it a year is best if not longer. And barnardsmith, thanks for the books. I now know what to ask for Christmas. When I started brewing beer years ago, my wife got my several books then. I'm looking at this batch as a learning batch. That's why I'm only making a one gallon batch. Not as much to toss if it goes bad. But, if it goes like my beer brewing, the first batch will be "ok" and the second will be better. By the time I get the third batch going, my family will be asking if it's done yet. Carboy and yeast will be here this weekend and the new locks will be here Tuesday. So, my plan is to start making it next Saturday. I'll keep you posted.

 

[voltron]

I have made a few cherry meads, and it is one of my favorites. Yeah there are lots of ways of making mead, and many come out ok in the end so if it works for you do it thay way. When I made it i made it lean towards the semi sweet side, i made a two gallon batch where I used three lbs of honey and instead of of water I used Tart cherry from trader joes to fill the contsiner to the two gallon mark and pitch the yeast. I had forgotten to rack the mead from primary to secondary until three month out, but it still turned out great. And i guess the three months allowed it to come out stronger in abv. Since I liked how it turned out, decided to stick with the technique and my smaller batches of mead i just let age in primary three months before racking and let it age after the first racking. (But this is for a still mead not a fizzy mead.)

 

[growlrr]

Voltron - In making your cherry mead, do you use any water at all? I have 6-7# and about 1.5 liters of Montmorency Cherries/Juice in the freezer that was picked fresh this summer and I'm thinking this would be a good start for maybe a 2 gallon batch? Is the tart juice from TJ's real juice or concentrate?

 

[voltron]

Voltron - In making your cherry mead, do you use any water at all? I have 6-7# and about 1.5 liters of Montmorency Cherries/Juice in the freezer that was picked fresh this summer and I'm thinking this would be a good start for maybe a 2 gallon batch? Is the tart juice from TJ's real juice or concentrate?

I do use water, but I use it after my first rack to top up the carboy and then let it age. Initially it is just honey and real juice and no water. I have used both. but i was referring to real juice earlier and not the concentrate.

i have also used tj concentrate, but with the concentrate I do it a bit different. So i do a cherry mead with the tj concentrate, this is my favorite technique if i do it with a concentrate. If i make a five gallon batch cherry mead I ferment about 12-13 pounds of honey to dryness so i leave it alone for a few months (so this is initially just honey and water) then When I rack, I add one of the bottles of tjs tart cherry concentrate and I sample it. Most of the time i only need one tart cherry concentrate a few other times i add a bit more than one bottle but it is done to taste. This also turn out well. This technique also works with wines. I made a tart cherry zinfandel this way and it was popular with people in my area.

 

[voltron]

Voltron - In making your cherry mead, do you use any water at all? I have 6-7# and about 1.5 liters of Montmorency Cherries/Juice in the freezer that was picked fresh this summer and I'm thinking this would be a good start for maybe a 2 gallon batch? Is the tart juice from TJ's real juice or concentrate?

For a two gallon batch 6-7 pounds of just honey will give you a sweet honey mead. This is with out adding the cherry juice. If I had to make a cherry mead with just the stuff you listed, i would probably do it like this. I would ferment the honey alone to dryness. so initially it is just the honey and 3oz of orange juice (if you dont use acid blend, if you do use acid blend skip this.) add water to the two gallon mark and let it ferment. . after it has fermented to dryness i do my first rack and at this point I would add your cherry juice and then let it age in your carboy.

My only concern is you have 7lbs of honey and that may be too much, too too sweet for a two gallon batch. Rule of thumb for a basic sweet honey mead is three pounds of honey per gallon. with your listed ingredients im inclined to use just 5lbs and save two lb of the honey for a future brew.

In case you are wondering on why the OJ, it is a nice substitute to acid blend. The acid blend helps wine and meads not seem flat. Since some people dont want to use chemicals Orange juice works well and bc it is a small amount it wont alter the flavor but enchances it.

 

[growlrr]

Thanks Voltron - My post was unclear - I have 6-7# of frozen Montmorency Cherries and 1.5 liters of their cherry juice (from another batch). I have acess to some local honey so I can add whatever I need (probably 3#/gal, I'm shooting for semi-sweet). Should I just that and juice the rest of the cherries? They probably yield another 1.5 - 2 liters of juice

 

[flyboy]

I got some Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast which will make this batch a bit dry. What would be a good yeast to get for a sweet mead?

 

[Krayton]

My first mead was also a cherry mead. I believe I got the recipe from storm the castle. It is almost a year old now. I made it as our anniversary mead, so we will drink some of it on 1 October.

 

[voltron]

I got some Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast which will make this batch a bit dry. What would be a good yeast to get for a sweet mead?

Lavlin d47

 

[voltron]

Thanks Voltron - My post was unclear - I have 6-7# of frozen Montmorency Cherries and 1.5 liters of their cherry juice (from another batch). I have acess to some local honey so I can add whatever I need (probably 3#/gal, I'm shooting for semi-sweet). Should I just that and juice the rest of the cherries? They probably yield another 1.5 - 2 liters of juice

3 pound of honey per gallon alone will give you a straigt sweet mead. Maybe drop it to 2.5 poumds per fallon . ( the reason is say there is a mishap, it is easier to sweeten a dry wine and not so easy to unsweeten) There are many ways of making mead. One easy way to just ferment 2.5 lbs of the honey to dryness. When your are ready to rack, you can sample it and see the sweetness of just the honey. When you rack you going to have to top off, so instead of water you can introduce your cherry juice to top off your carboy. put your air lock back on. .the mead may ferment a bit more because but not much more as your mead should be reaching the abv tolerance level, and then let it age. check once a month to mske sure your air lock hasnt dry out. i usually bottle in 7 months. I brew about five gallons of mead so i end up with 20 or so bottle. I usually drink one a month and it gives you an idea of what a young mead is like relative to a bottleaged one. One a month is just of a given batch. As I have other brews going. But Meads are my favorite, for every one wine i make i have about 4 meads going.

 

[flyboy]

My first mead was also a cherry mead. I believe I got the recipe from storm the castle. It is almost a year old now. I made it as our anniversary mead, so we will drink some of it on 1 October.

That's where I got my recipe from! How did it come out? Was it too sweet? I seemed like a lot of honey and all the cherry but I followed his directions anyway as I had no experience except with brewing beer.

 

[Krayton]

From my notes (I wasn't good about it on this one) final gravity was 1.012. We opened it on the first and I think it has a very nice taste. I kind of think it is dryer though.