Tart Cherry Mead (1st attempt with fruit based recipe)
I've been making traditional mead for a few years now with slight variations like vanilla beans, toasted oak and/or spices in secondary but wanted to give a fruit mead a try.
I used frozen tart cherries (pitted) and crushed in a fruit press. This gave me plenty of juice and the pulp to leech the color from the skins. Amazing aroma and even though it's still new the flavor was sharp but definitely tasted the cherry. Not a cough syrup cherry flavor thankfully. Can't wait to try again in 6 months.
I was surprised how pale the cherry pulp looked after primary was done. They were almost gray in color after removing.
3 lbs wildflower honey
2 lbs frozen tart cherries (pitted and thawed)
1 gal spring water
1 packet D47 yeast (or similar)
1.5 tsp Fermaid-O (3x 0.5 tsp step feeding)
0.5 tsp pectin enzyme
Primary - 3 weeks (1.09 sg ending on 1.00 sg ~ roughly 10-11% ABV)
[probably could push it higher with more honey and less water next time]
Secondary - 2 weeks to settle remaining sediment with bentonite. No back sweetening. I like dry meads.
Bottled - to be aged 6-12 months
I know it's probably over simplified as far as ingredients for the more veteran brewers but I feel that sometimes the best things aren't supposed to be complicated. I'll update when I open the 1st bottle later this year.
Feel free to share any suggestions or future fruit based mead recipes to try.
Thanks
