Cherry Bomb

Process

1. Add cherries and honey to a bucket fermenter. Do not use a carboy for primary with this much fruit. The bucket will need to be 9-10 gallons, depending a bit on your particular cherries. Alternatively, you can split the batch into two 5 gallon fermenters - this is a nice cheap option given the availability of cheap food grade 5 gallon buckets at most hardware stores.

2. Place a lid + airlock on the bucket and allow the cherries to begin defrosting and cold soaking in the honey, checking in periodically to monitor the warming process. How often you check in is a bit of a judgement call - a variety of factors like ambient temperature will dictate how quickly the cherries warm up. Defrosting during a summer heatwave will require more frequent check-ins than defrosting during a winter storm.

3. When the mixture is fluid enough to mix in a powdered addition, add the 0.483g Lallzyme EX-V. As the must warms up, it becomes helpful to take temperature readings so you can ballpark how much longer you need to wait before you can pitch.

   • If your cherries are defrosting but the must is still not fluid enough to stir, you can add 1 quart of fermentation-grade water (no chlorine, etc). I suggest temperature readings for an objective sense of how defrosted your cherries actually are - don't jump the gun and add water early if it's not needed!

4. As the must approaches room temperature, rehydrate your 71B yeast using Go-ferm by the package instructions. A strong pitch is recommended with this high starting gravity, around 3.5-4 grams per gallon (at this volume, ~22.5-25.76g). Since 71B is most readily available in 5 gram packets, I'm suggesting 25g.

5. Once you reach a pitchable temperature, pitch away and seal up the bucket to commence primary.

6. During the first week:

   • Punch the cap down 2-3 times daily to ensure it does not dry out - a dry fruit cap can mold.

   • Add your 2 nutrient additions. Each one should have 6.095g Fermaid K and 6.385g DAP.

   • Keep an eye on your fermentation temperatures. Temps above ~72F at the center of your bucket won't ruin the mead, but it will be a more stressed fermentation and the end product will likely require some additional aging.

7. After the first week, you should leave the mead to sit for an additional 3-4 weeks. During this time, try to avoid opening up the bucket, as this could expose the mead to additional oxygen or mold spores. This part of primary may be a little intimidating, but the cherries should stay wet on their own this late in primary, and the alcohol levels should be high enough to guard against mold. The additional 3 weeks should ensure that fermentation finishes, allow sediment to settle out, and provide the right amount of time for tannin development.

8. When it's time to rack, just remember that cherries are more racking-friendly than most other fruits in a no-water mead! :)

   • Some people have had issues, but it wasn't actually that bad for me with a generic auto siphon. Cory uses a "large bore" auto siphon and has never had any issues. We both pulled 4 gallons of product out of the primary fermenter.

   • Take a gravity reading during this process so you can confirm your FG.

   • I racked into a 1 gallon and a 3 gallon fermenter. If you'd like to try the secondary additions of cacao nibs and vanilla that Cory uses, I recommend applying them to the 1 gallon fermenter first to see if you get the results you want.

   • As a miscellaneous side note - Cory suggests making a "small funky beer or session mead" for when you rack off the cherries. The spent fruit can be used to help flavor a lighter brew of some kind.

9. Until you are ready to bottle, that's it, you're done! If your fermentation was smooth and clean, this should be ready to drink very young for a mead of this ABV.