I really love the descriptors she uses for these! Concave vs springy, high vs low aromas. Always interesting getting an outside perspective on those perceptions.
Holy crap! I just went to go rewatch the other cherry mead video and you stated off by talking about having just gotten 1000 subscribers. Almost 2 years to the day later, and your at 17500. Congrats!
I make my Viking Blood melomel with tart cherry concentrate which is roughly an 8:1 concentration compared to cherry juice, using 32 oz per gallon total (so about twice as much cherry as the recipe shown in the video). Target around ~18% abv using K1 yeast. Coming out of primary it is so dark red that it looks black. In secondary I give it 1oz dried orange peel, 1 tablespoon of my spice extract (black pepper, ginger, all spice, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon extracted with grain alcohol), 1 tablespoon of vanilla, and 4 oz of dried cherries to really wake up that cherry aroma. Without the dried cherries it still has roughly the same cherry flavor but the aroma is lacking. Back-sweeten with orange blossom honey. I also make a version I call Pirates Blood where the amount of spice extract is doubled and it is fortified with OFTD overproof rum to ~20% abv. Also replace about 1/4 of the honey used in back-sweetening with brown sugar (you could use a little molasses instead). Have to be careful with this version since too little rum and all the aroma/flavors become muted but too much and the rum completely dominates. Don't really like the Pirates Blood version even though I really like rum, but so many of my friends do that I always have to separate out roughly a quarter of the batch to make more for them when they come over.
wow was just learning about no water added melomels perfect timing! Ken shcramm says it his favored method, seems like the best way to get every bit of fruit flavor in that mead, much like they would with a wine. im going to try this with my friends crab apples come fall!
Love the color of this new Cherry Mead, nice work! Also, really like that 5 gal press, cannot wait until we get our own and can start pressing our own apples. Best, David and Rachel from CFS!
Thanks for the video! I watched it a few months back and it popped into my mind when I realized that I have access to waste cherry juice from a food processing center that is dehydrating fresh sweet cherries. I figured I could make something similar to your brew, though sweet vs tart cherry juice might make things difficult. I'm still pretty new to mead making, so I'm unsure where to start in terms of planning for balancing the acids/tannins. Any suggestions on where to look for a starting point in that regard? I'm thinking about trying for a 5-6 gallon batch. Thanks again for your videos, they are always incredibly well produced and informative.
Hello! Moderate lurker and first-time subscriber. I wanted to raise my hand and suggest a tasting of this mead. Really curious about how it tastes a year later. Cheers!
Made an all-juice tart cherry mel that I recently opened a bottle of, and it really is quite intense, but in a pleasant way. I do think at least some sweetness is necessary for these sorts of meads
Very cool seeing how you work with the fresh fruit. You must refrigerate during the maceration process before juicing? Do you loose anything from not having the fruit solids in the ferment? Ive been working with local blueberries and wondering if juicing would be better than whole thawed berries
The reason you keep them cold, in my case in a deep freezer just above freezing, is to prevent wild microbes from starting a fermentation. Alternatively, you could hit them with a heavy dose of Metabisulphite to ward off such infection. You definitely will lose some color and tannin extraction by removing the solids. My trade off here was subbing in the maltodextrin to bring it back around. I think the color turned out just fine. It is definitely a lot easier to juice the fruit than to deal with all those fruit solids.
Good video, it was funny you go it looks like ocean spray and was thinking the same thing as i look over at a bottle of cran-pineapple being turning into wine lol
I made a small batch of cherry mead with no water, just juice and fruit solids, a couple of years ago. You think cranberry juice is a good diuretic? That stuff went right through me. I'll probably do it again soon so it'll be ready for Autumn. Whenever I want a smooth red with colour/tannin preservation and a good level of complexity I reach for the Lalvin RC212. Think Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.
Awesome video as always! As I was listening to you talking about the process, I heard you mention you left the cherries in the closed bucket for about a week. That made me think about carbonic maceration, where the fruits are enveloped in co2 for about a week prior to crushing. I don’t know anyone outside the industry who has tried it. Is that something you you would try? I thought about using the gas from an active fermentation for it, but I don’t know for sure if the fruit might take on some off smells and tastes. Thoughts?
It’s definitely a great way to easily carbonate without overcarbonation concerns you get with bottle conditioning. You can also ferment and age in kegs, which is an added bonus. TheBruSho recently posted a great video on kegging!
I am always hesitant with "artificial sweeteners" or whatever they're called. I don't do well with things like stevia extract and others. Has anyone else had problems with those and still use erythritol?
I'm a beekeeper so I have honey available pretty much any time. I made a 5 gallon batch of fall wildflowers honey and store bought organic tart cherry juice mead. I didn't filter the honey i just strained it and it has some beeswax in it. My plan is to age it for a year and then bottle it how often should I rack it or should I rack it at all? Oh by the way it's in a 5 gallon class carboy.
I know you have put up a link for the flat airlock you use on your car boys before. I can’t remember where you got them. Can you post it again ? And will they work on plastic 5 gal car boys? Thanks
For a 1 gallon batch I used 16 ounces 100% Tart Montmorency Cherry concentrate with a 1/2 cup of chopped dried bing cherries with 3-1/2 lbs of clover honey, 1/2 cup of raisins, 1 cup of black tea & 1 tsp yeast nutrient. OG was 1.120 used Lalvin 71B and in 7 days it was at 1.016 racked into secondary and letting it sit now. It does have a good cherry flavor, not too tart with a good honey note does not taste sweet.
Sounds similar to my version, though I use 32 oz of cherry concentrate per gallon, move the dried cherries to secondary (it makes a surprising difference), OG around 1.133 with Lalvin K1 to get around 18% abv, and add some orange peel/spices/vanilla in secondary along with the dried cherries.
@@DointheMost I'm not very knowledgeable on how tannin gets imparted into beverages. Is there not a requirement of alcohol/temperature to extract it and give it that mouthfeel tannin often imparts? I'd be interested to know if you did something similar whether or not the addition of maltodextrin would be necessary. Either way, I'm sure this turned out decadent and to be something special.
@@FreeePoint Tannin is fairly complex, and it definitely depends on which tannin source/polyphenols you’re extracting, pH conditions, surface area contact, yeast selection, and on and on. Fermenting on the skins would’ve likely boosted overall mouthfeel, but could’ve also led to overextraction for what we were going for here. And tbh, I didn’t want to deal with the mess or a brew bag either. 😝
I've watched this video 20 times and I'm just realizing BC removed the actual cherries BEFORE pitching the Yeast. I thought the fruit was supposed to stay in the Primary?
I like to use the mead calculator (google “mead calc”) to build out my batches. You can choose your batch size and honey quantity and dial it in for a specific ABV.
