Cranberries in mead

[OleBrewing]

I am going to make a cranberry/strawberry dry mead. I was wondering how much cranberry is to much? I do enjoy tartness. I was thinking of doing 1/2 of the cranberries in primary and the other 1/2 with the strawberries post primary fermentation.

I have searched google but with my crappie tablet I get no where. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[MNSmitty]

I did 4# in 5 gallons, boiled until they burst, and put in the primary right away. No cranberry tartness, just a bit of flavor, but thats what I wanted.
I think you will get more tartness in the secondary, but the strawberry will probably cancel that out.

 

[madcitydad]

3.5gal batch here. Some oj, 1# cranberries, which I boiled till bursting, 1# dark brown sugar and 3# honey. Used US-05. It was definitely sweet, with a nice tartness, like a strawberry lemonade, when racking it last week. Gonna bottle to condition later today, and I can't wait to see how it finishes.

 

[OleBrewing]

Thanks guys. I will post what I wil actually do, I may put all fruit in post primary as I am going for the fruit flavor. This is my second mead and first with fruit.

 

[OleBrewing]

After 2 weeks of primary I put 60 ounces of cranberries in. After that waited a week and put 60 ouces of strawberries. Let it roll on fruit for 30 days. Racked to secondary. Stayed there for a couple weeks and is done right at 1.00. About 14%. I may rack onto some more cranerries for the finish.

I don't have a pic but currenty it is crystal clear.

 

[fuelish]

I've used them before (cranberry wheat beer and a mead), I typically rinse and Starsan spray them, freeze them 'til I need them, thaw them, put them in a large zip lock freezer bag and lightly go over them with a rolling pin to rupture them a bit.....I think I used 36 to 48 oz of actual berries in primary (but after most vigorous ferment is over), although I augmented with organic pure unsweetened cranberry juice (a few quarts....dunno how that translates to lbs of crans)....the mead ended up being a cranberry cyser, I guess.....still bulk aging, tastes quite good...tart, yes...crystal clear, this may be bottled and enjoyed by thanksgiving

 

[riderkb]

I used 12 oz in a 1 gallon batch, frozen, mostly thawed, and coarsely chopped in a food processor. The cranberry slush went into the honey dissolved in warm water and was sulfited for 24 hours. Fermented with a white wine yeast for several days, then scooped out the fruit. I racked it two or three times over the next few months, then bottled it.

The color is beautiful. I like it chilled and slightly carbonated, but it is good still too.

 

[OleBrewing]

I don't use sulfites. As I was adding the fruit to the mead that was around 10% so I was not to worried about having some bug introduced. I even squeezed out the berry bags by hand and added the juice back. May be bad practice and wouldn't do that if the abv was lower or before the yeast is not in full attack mode.

The last mead I made I highly carbed it. With the high abv and carb level it was undesirable until the co2 mellowed.

I will carb this batch slightly so there will be a blanket of co2 in the bottle for aging.

 

[OleBrewing]

Here is the update. It turned out great. The fruit gave it some mouth feel. The taste doesn't say strawberry cranberry but the cranberry pushes through a little more. The pour is pink and tastes great cold or at cellar temps. I will follow with a pic shortly.

Currently it is in a soda keg and will be bottling soon before the wife drinks it all. It is very smooth at its abv.

Oh and never mentioned the yeast. Didn't have a starter at the time so I used a packet of each champagne and muntons ale yeast. I don't remember the champagne yeast brand other than I think it was lallemands...

 

[OleBrewing]

Took a while to post pic but here it is. I had it kegged a while ago and sat in fridge all summer finally have it bottled and in the cellar now. It is definitely something I would try again maybe with more strawberries next time.

 

[TotalMeadNoob]

Have to try this myself, looks good to me.
So what was the strawberry/Cranberry ratio?

 

[OleBrewing]

it was 60 ounces of each for five gallons. Since the mead was refrigerated all summer I will have to let it age at the basement temp and see which one comes through. The cranberries definitely come through at the moment and I imagine it will when it ages.