Simple Cherry Mead Recipe

Step 1

Get together your bag of frozen fruit, your gallon fermentation container, your gallon pot with lid, a lemon and 2-2.5lbs of honey. If you buy honey containers that weigh a nice whole number like 1lb or 4-5 lb jugs of honey, it makes measuring out the honey needed easier

Step 2

Macerate frozen cherries in your large gallon pot with lid by thawing them over 24 hours and letting them reach room temperature.  You can also add a half pound of sugar (subtract 1/2 lb from honey used) to aid the maceration of the berries.This additional sugar can help to draw out additional flavor - after 24hrs, the frozen berries will have macerated with that little bit of sugar to make a dark red syrupy liquid which will make a delicious cherry mead after fermentation!

Step 3

Mix in the water and honey to your pot containing the macerated cherries.Turn heat on low under the pot.   It helps to drop the honey container in a warm water bath to make the honey more liquid.   Stir occasionally for about 10 minutes until fruit breaks down into a saucy liquid

Step 4

Put a funnel on top of a gallon container and lay metal strainer on top. Pour saucy liquid from your pot onto the strainer and funnel to transfer the liquid into the gallon fermentation container. You can use the leftover blackberries in the strainer to make cherry preserves.The recipe is simple: weigh the remaining blackberries, add them back to the pot you just used and add 50-75% of their weight in sugar. Heat on medium-low for 45 mins and can in sanitized preserves container

Step 5

In order for the brewsy bag to completely ferment your cherry mead in 7 days you'll need the container to stay in a dark place that's 65-75°F, like the top of a closet. If it's on the colder side, the fermentation will take longer, somewhere around 10-15 days. Swirl your fermentation container every other day and check an hour later, when it stops bubbling, the fermentation is complete

Step 6

Remove the airlock from your fermentation container and put the fermentation container in the fridge. Place the original container lid loosely on the top of your container to let some air out  This will bring down the temperature to de-activate the yeast and will help to drop the remaining lees (sediment) to the bottom of your container.

Step 7

After about 3-5 days you'll want to rack your mead from one gallon container to another leaving behind the sediment.This is a great time to start tasting your mead, it's still a little long but you'll get an idea for what it'll taste like after aging.A lot of those harsh ethanol like tastes disappear after 2-3 weeks. Repeat this step 3-4 times every 3 days until there is very little sediment left

Step 8

There are a few options here - you can start to drink your Mead if you keep it refrigerated. If you can resist the temptation to drink your cherry mead, you can leave it in the refrigerator to age for 3-4 weeks and even up to 6 months, it'll taste better the more you wait!