Cider and Melomel

Today, I got busy and made a new batch of strawberry melomel. Nancy (my significant other) loves the strawberry mels and she, along with her "book club", have about cleaned me out. So, I got on it.

I also made a hard cider with cranberry which is a first for me. I had some difficulty deciding how to get the cranberry flavor for the cider; after all, have you ever seen fresh cranberries for sale in West Texas? Yeah, me neither. Dried cranberries often have preservatives and other chemicals to keep them from clumping. So I went with a 100% Juice Cranberry Cocktail. I hope it works. Here are the recipes:



7-003 Cranberry Cider

• 1 gal 100% Juice Cranberry Cocktail


• 4 gal Apple Juice


• 4 oz Grapefruit Juice


• 1 tbs Pectin Enzyme


• 2 tbs Yeast Nutrient


• 1 pkt K1V-1116


• OG: 1.050

7-004 Strawberry Melomel

• 1 gal Clover Honey


• 10 lbs Fresh Strawberries, pureed


• Water to 6 gal


• 3 tsp Pectin Enzyme


• 5 tsp Yeast Nutrient


• Juice of 3 Lemons


• 1 pkt K1V-1116


• OG: 1.112

Wassail!

-Safari Bob

Racking Fun with 6-001

Today I racked 6-001 into a glass carboy. I lost quite a bit of the must due to the strawberry puree but I took a reading (SG: .994; ABV: 18.1%). The mead tastes bitter with distinct lemon and strawberry flavors. I may add another 3 lbs of honey and see what happens. I did add 2 vanilla beans to the secondary.

-Safari Bob

Batch 6-001: Strawberry Melomel

I just brewed my first batch of mead in 2010; this dissertation is getting in the way of the more important things in life! I have never (until today) brewed a strawberry melomel and I have heard some horror stories about strawberry mels fading or oxidizing so I had to give it a shot.

Here is the recipe:

6-001

• 12 lbs clover honey
  
• 8 lbs strawberries (pureed)
  
• Juice of 1 lemon
  
• 1 gal apple juice
  
• 5 tsp yeast nutrient
  
• 1 tsp pectin enzyme (all I had left)
  
• 1 pkt K1V-1116 (hydrated)
  
• Water to 5 gal
  
• 2 vanilla beans (secondary)
  
• OG: 1.128

I chose to puree the strawberries for 2 reasons: (1) more surface area for the yeast and (2) the seeds should add tannins for a more complex mouth. Also, I added apple juice in order to (hopefully) darken the color of the final melomel.

-Safari Bob