Michigan U-Pick: Montmorency Vs. Balaton Stone Fruit Mead

Freeze and then thaw cherries (measure Brix readings for each type) and place fruit into fermenter. Add Lallzme EX-V and Opti-Red according to instructions on packages. Wait 24 hours, add FT Rouge Berry tannins, and then add and blend honey on top of fruit. Make sure to take a Brix reading of your honey so you can estimate gravity calculations. At this point wait another 24 hours before pitching yeast to give honey time to blend well with the fruit and juice.

Rehydrate 25 g yeast with 33 g Go-Ferm and 650 mL spring water at 104°F (40°C). After 20 minutes, add an equal amount of must into the rehydrated yeast mixture and wait 20 more minutes to make sure yeast is active and happy. Repeat as needed to temper yeast to within 10°F (6°C) of must temperature. When that’s the case, pitch yeast into must.

24 hours after pitch, begin yeast nutrient additions. For this mead, I just did one pitch of 14.3 g Ferm-K and skipped the TOSNA protocol.

At this point, monitor fermentation and punch the fruit cap down into the must daily. After a few weeks, as fermentation slows, rack fruit off the must and strain it through a colander. Press the fruit to squeeze out extra juice and then rack mead back into carboy with the remainder of the juice. Continue fermentation until complete. Clear the mead using finings (my choice is kieselsol, then chitosan an hour later—Super Kleer packages have both).

Let the mead rest a week to settle and clear. Once cleared, rack off once more to another clean, sanitized carboy and add 8 cubes of medium-toast American oak. Age until it achieves the flavor you like.

The post Michigan U-Pick: Montmorency Vs. Balaton Stone Fruit Mead appeared first on American Homebrewers Association.