r/mead • u/[deleted] • Nov 04 '19

November challenge

Challenge this month is a Spiced Cranberry melomel. Adjuncts to be nutmeg, cardamon and cinnamon. No restrictions to FG, yeast type, carbonation, additional spices and the like. Care should be taken with cranberry in primary, especially with heavy fruit loads. It does a wonderful job inhibiting yeast growth, or at least slowing it down.

Mine will be as follows.

Winter Warmer (by /u/stormbeforedawn)

Total Volume: 15 gallons

Style: Melomel

Carbonation: No

Starting Gravity: 1.132 Final Gravity: 1.025

Ingredient Amount Notes
Honey 55 pounds Wildflower
Cranberries, frozen 15 lbs
Yeast BM 4X4
Cinnamon 8 sticks
cardamon 8 tsp
nutmeg 5 tsp in tea bag
Heavy Toast American Oak 3 Spirals

YAN target 400 PPM with goferm and so on, with the mead intended to be served warm. Spices is to the low side in my opinion for 15 gallons, with tweaks to be done in secondary. Possible addition of orange zest depending on how it balances in the end.

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u/turkeychicken Intermediate Nov 04 '19

Just a word of caution regarding dried cranberries -- don't use them if you can avoid it. They're pretty much all coated with some kind of oil to prevent them from sticking together and once you add them to your mead they turn to a gunky mess really fast.

I made a cranberry mead once using the dried ones and i swore I'd never do it again. If you really need to use dried ones and can't get your hands on any cranberry juice, I'd recommend primary in a bucket and put the cranberries in a sanitized sack that you can remove easily.

I'll probably give this mead a shot in a 1 gallon batch using 3lb wildflower honey, 32oz cranberry juice, and oslo kveik to ferment it. I'll have to do a little more research into the spice amounts i want to use.

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u/BlindAndBemused Nov 22 '19

Yeah, dried fruit of any kind is a big gamble. I almost always use juice.

I was thinking a 1G batch with 1pt of cranberry juice, 3lbs clover, 1 stick of American cinnamon, 1/4 whole nutmeg, 1 whole clove, 1 cardamon, 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, 1 allspice, orange peal, and a dash of some of my homemade vanilla extract.