Is it ok to use thi in a mead?

[OpenSights]

Planning on making my first mead probably next weekend when I free up a fermenter. I know mead is supposed to be sweet, but both my wife and I prefer dry wines.

I’d like to start out with a tart cherry mead. I have some awesome tart cherry concentrate that is organic, no preservatives or any other chemicals that I use in my still evolving recipe for chocolate cherry covered stout.

My plan is 18# honey, normal nutrient and energizer schedule and at the start of fermentation 3-24oz jars of these tart cherries I bought at Aldi today. Planing on using D47, so it will get a good six months fermentation in the basement. If I need to add the tart cherry concentrate I’ll use a stabilizer just in case.

My question is about the citric acid and the brine or juice, is that a big no, or will it be ok?

The honey is local, raw, unfiltered and in a crystallized state so I plan on warming it up to about 100 degrees in a double boiler.

Just so I kinda know what I’m doing next weekend, does everything sound about right?

Appreciate any advice.

 

[OpenSights]

RO water will be used.

Sorry for the title missing the s in “this”...

 

[NeverDie]

Nothing wrong with the citric acid or the cherry juice. Just account for the sugar in your honey allotment calculation.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Sorry for the title missing the s in “this”...

I thought Thi was some ingredient I had never heard of. As for dry vs sweet it's a matter of taste. My Mom used to get a dry mead through a local liquor store years ago. It was wonderful.

 

[Lefou]

Nothing wrong with the citric acid or the cherry juice. Just account for the sugar in your honey allotment calculation.

The ingredient list on the container doesn't seem to list any preservatives like sorbate. That's a positive.
If it ferments and contributes character and flavor there shouldn't be an issue using the bottled cherries as a fermentable.

One thing I might suggest you consider is a possible addition of calcium mineral salts to the RO water. If you make beer you know why but I'll put it out there for others, too.
Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate mineral additions in the range of 50-100ppm (.5-1tsp per 5 gallons of water) can help increase your yeast health and metabolism by preventing "rotten egg" sulfide products. Beer brewers sometimes add these salts to wort due to the low incidence of free amino nitrogen present with low protein barley worts. It helps prevent sulfides and oxalate precipitation in beer. Fermaid additions add free amino nitrogen to benefit yeast so why not add minerals to the must water, too?
If beer brewers do it for the yeast, why not winemakers or mazers? If there's a brewshop nearby they will usually carry mineral salts for purchase.

 

[OpenSights]

The ingredient list on the container doesn't seem to list any preservatives like sorbate. That's a positive.
If it ferments and contributes character and flavor there shouldn't be an issue using the bottled cherries as a fermentable.

One thing I might suggest you consider is a possible addition of calcium mineral salts to the RO water. If you make beer you know why but I'll put it out there for others, too.
Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate mineral additions in the range of 50-100ppm (.5-1tsp per 5 gallons of water) can help increase your yeast health and metabolism by preventing "rotten egg" sulfide products. Beer brewers sometimes add these salts to wort due to the low incidence of free amino nitrogen present with low protein barley worts. Fermaid additions add free amino nitrogen to the must but can benefit from calcium in the water.
If beer brewers do it for the yeast, why not winemakers or mazers? If there's a brewshop nearby they will usually carry mineral salts for purchase.

I have a couple dozen beers and ciders under my belt, but I’m still a newbie and learning.

I appreciate the info! My LHBS is closed till Tuesday so I’ll be sure to pick some up!

 

[NeverDie]

The ingredient list on the container doesn't seem to list any preservatives like sorbate. That's a positive.
If it ferments and contributes character and flavor there shouldn't be an issue using the bottled cherries as a fermentable.

One thing I might suggest you consider is a possible addition of calcium mineral salts to the RO water. If you make beer you know why but I'll put it out there for others, too.
Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate mineral additions in the range of 50-100ppm (.5-1tsp per 5 gallons of water) can help increase your yeast health and metabolism by preventing "rotten egg" sulfide products. Beer brewers sometimes add these salts to wort due to the low incidence of free amino nitrogen present with low protein barley worts. It helps prevent sulfides and oxalate precipitation in beer. Fermaid additions add free amino nitrogen to benefit yeast so why not add minerals to the must water, too?
If beer brewers do it for the yeast, why not winemakers or mazers? If there's a brewshop nearby they will usually carry mineral salts for purchase.

Which do you recommend more: calcium chloride or calcium sulfate, or both together?

Come to think of it, Wyeast has a Wine Nutrient Blend that they recommend be used for meads. I suspect it's mostly minerals, because it takes just a very tiny amount per gallon.

 

[Miraculix]

I thought Thi was some ingredient I had never heard of. As for dry vs sweet it's a matter of taste. My Mom used to get a dry mead through a local liquor store years ago. It was wonderful.

I actually thought it would be an oldschool British English way of saying "these".

 

[Lefou]

Which do you recommend more: calcium chloride or calcium sulfate, or both together?

Come to think of it, Wyeast has a Wine Nutrient Blend that they recommend be used for meads. I suspect it's mostly minerals, because it takes just a very tiny amount per gallon.

Wyeast has their own special mix that lists DAP, but you can keep it simple or complicate things a bit more. There are multiple Fermaid products (A, K, and O) with different ingredients geared for wines that most people won't really use on a regular basis with beer wort.
I brew mostly light-colored beers and use roughly a 50/50 mix of CaCl and CaSO4 added to chlorine-free soft water. With mead you aren't adjusting water for hop level bitterness or mash pH, so your calcium salt additions, if you wish to use them, can be about 1tsp or less, scaled to your batch volume and taste levels. This is more or less a rough estimate of salt additions taken as a reference from Chris Colby's brewing blog for beer wort.
http://beerandwinejournal.com/pale-liquor/

Colby also has a section on mead. Don't miss out.

There's also a product on the market called "servomyces". It's marketed as a yeast nutrient but you'll find it's basically a concoction of zinc and dead yeast cells sold as a fermentation aid. Don't get hung up on marketing, you just need a minimum of the basics.

 

[NeverDie]

Wyeast has their own special mix that lists DAP, but you can keep it simple or complicate things a bit more. There are multiple Fermaid products (A, K, and O) with different ingredients geared for wines that most people won't really use on a regular basis with beer wort.
I brew mostly light-colored beers and use roughly a 50/50 mix of CaCl and CaSO4 added to chlorine-free soft water. With mead you aren't adjusting water for hop level bitterness or mash pH, so your calcium salt additions, if you wish to use them, can be about 1tsp or less, scaled to your batch volume and taste levels. This is more or less a rough estimate of salt additions taken as a reference from Chris Colby's brewing blog for beer wort.
http://beerandwinejournal.com/pale-liquor/

Colby also has a section on mead. Don't miss out.

There's also a product on the market called "servomyces". It's marketed as a yeast nutrient but you'll find it's basically a concoction of zinc and dead yeast cells sold as a fermentation aid. Don't get hung up on marketing, you just need a minimum of the basics.

This guy concluded that the higher calcium in the water that he tested led to better flocculation: https://experimeads.com/2017/10/24/g-ferm-yan-and-mineral-protocols/

I already acquired some calcium chloride, so unless there's a reason (?) to go 50/50 with CASO4, I may just start with the calcium chloride addition to see if that helps with flocculation.

 

[Wanne]

To kind of piggy back so I don't have to start a new thread...does anybody have any experience with the Brewers Best Strawberry Flavoring? I'm really leery of putting in "flavoring"...but have read some reviews that it's not actually all that bad. Not sure whether I want to throw strawberries in my secondary or just add some of this?

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Funny related story. I had a big jar of cherries in the fridge. They stayed too long and started fermenting. I thought, "what the hey" so I tossed them in 1/2 gal of AJ and let it rip. In a couple weeks I had a nice, funky cherry cider. It was really good, but since it was a wild ferment I don't really know how to repeat it.

 

[SKBugs]

does anybody have any experience with the Brewers Best Strawberry Flavoring?

I have the same issue. I tried a straigt-up strawberry a while back and honestly it was not worth the effort. I put 1.5 pounds into primary of a 1 gal mix. Hardly any flavour at all. So i am going to try the strawberry cabana mead (listed in the recipes section) with 1.5 pounds in primary, and another 1.5 in secondary and use the strawberry flavour to taste. Hopefully that will give it a bit of oomph to it.