Ingredients
- 7lbs wildflower honey
- 1lb finishing honey (blackberry, fireweed, whatever finish is desired)
- 3.75lbs cherries (dark sweet)
- Lalvin ICV-D47 yeast
- 2tsp Fermaid K
- 5 equal parts
- 2 parts on day one
- 1 per day for three days after
- 1tsp Peptic enzyme
- 12oz Hibiscus, dried
- 2 Campden Tablet
- 2 gallons of water
Materials
- 3 gallon fermentation bucket
- 3 gallon glass carboy
- 3 piece airlock
Recipe
In a separate container (yeast):
- Reactivate yeast
- Seal
- Let sit for 30 min
In a soup pan:
- Add .75gal of the water (container)
- Add dried hibiscus
- Bring to a boil
- Immediately cut heat and let steep for 30min
- Drain back into the water container
In a separate container (water):
- Fill up the remainder to two gallons of water, warm
- Add 2 Campden tablets
- Let sit 30min
In fermentation bucket:
- Add 7lbs wildflower honey
- Add dark sweet cherries
- Add water (container)
- Ensure temperature is below 80F
- Stir and dissolve honey
- Take specific gravity reading
- Add 2 parts Fermaid K
- Add yeast (container)
- Add peptic enzyme
- Stir vigorously
- Seal
- For the next three days, once per day:
- open the fermentation bucket
- stir vigorously
- add one part Fermaid K nutrient
- reseal
- place airlock
- After one month, cold shock to halt fermentation
- Rack to carboy
- Take a measurement of the gravity
- Stir in 1lb of finishing honey
- After one more month, the mead is ready to be bottled and have a final gravity measurement
- For best results wait three to five months since racking before bottling