At a glance
- Style
- Melomel
- Alcohol
- About 12.9% ABV
- Finish
- Semi-sweet
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Honey
- Clover or wildflower
- Yeast
- Lalvin 71B
- Ready in
- 4 to 6 months
- Batch
- 1 gallon, scalable
Ingredients
Quantities are for one US gallon (3.8 liters). Pick a batch size and every amount updates; one packet of yeast covers up to six gallons. Not sure how much honey your own twist needs? Use the mead calculator.
- 2.25 lb Honey, clover or wildflower
- 2 lb Tart cherries (Montmorency), pitted (frozen pitted are fine; added in secondary)
- 2 lb Dark sweet cherries (Bing or similar), pitted (added in secondary)
- 0.75 gallons Spring water (to make 1 gallon of must with the honey)
- 1 packet Lalvin 71B wine yeast (5 g; one packet covers up to 6 gallons)
- 6 g Go-Ferm (yeast rehydration nutrient) (optional but recommended)
- 4 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 4 doses, see steps)
- 0.5 tsp Pectic enzyme (added with the fruit)
- 0.13 tsp Pure almond extract (optional) (a drop at a time, at bottling)
- 0.5 tsp Potassium sorbate
- 1 Campden tablet (potassium metabisulfite)
Swapping the fruit or changing the amount? Adding fruit to mead covers how much to use per gallon, when to add it and how long to leave it. The dose and timing of the enzyme are explained in how much pectic enzyme per gallon of mead. This recipe ferments dry and is sweetened at the end: how to backsweeten mead has the stabilizing doses and a honey chart for any batch size.
Equipment
- 2-gallon bucket with lid
- 1-gallon glass jug
- Airlock and drilled bung
- Hydrometer
- Cherry pitter
- Nylon straining bag
- Auto-siphon and tubing
- No-rinse sanitizer (Star San)
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
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Mix the must
Sanitize everything, dissolve the honey in half the water and top up to 1 gallon. With 2.25 lb of honey the reading should be around 1.079: lower than the other fruit meads, because the cherries bring a lot of sugar of their own.
-
Pitch the yeast
Rehydrate the 71B with the Go-Ferm, pitch, and keep the ferment at 62 to 68°F (17 to 20°C) under an airlock.
-
Feed the yeast
Add a quarter of the Fermaid O at 24, 48 and 72 hours and at the 1/3 sugar break (about 1.053) or on day 7. Degas gently before each addition.
-
Pit and freeze the cherries
Pit the sweet cherries (a hand pitter saves an hour), halve them and freeze them with the tart cherries for at least 24 hours. Keep every drop of juice. Frozen pitted tart cherries are a real shortcut and are often easier to find than fresh ones.
-
Rack onto the cherries
When the gravity is below 1.010 (2 to 3 weeks), thaw the cherries in the straining bag in a sanitized bucket, add the pectic enzyme and rack the mead onto them. Cherries add around 19 gravity points, so expect a vigorous restart: leave plenty of headspace.
-
Ten to fourteen days on fruit
Push the bag under daily. Cherry flesh is firmer than berries and gives up juice slowly, so it needs longer than raspberry. Lift the bag out when the fruit looks pale and spent, and let it drain without squeezing.
-
Clear and stabilize
Rack into the glass jug, top up and leave it about 6 weeks to clear. Once stable, add the crushed Campden tablet and sorbate, then wait 48 hours.
-
Sweeten, add almond if you like, bottle
Sweeten with honey 1 oz at a time: about 7 oz takes it from 1.000 to 1.014. For an almond note, test first: add one drop of extract to a measured cup, taste, then scale to the gallon. It is very easy to overdo. Bottle and give it 2 months.
Timeline
- Day 0Mix the must, pitch yeast
- Days 1 to 7Nutrient additions; pit and freeze cherries
- Weeks 2 to 3Rack onto thawed cherries
- Weeks 4 to 5Remove fruit after 10 to 14 days
- Weeks 10 to 12Stabilize, sweeten, bottle
- Month 5 and onDrink; best from 6 months to 2 years
Why this recipe works
The blend is the recipe. Tart (Montmorency) cherries bring the acid and the bright, sour-cherry flavor people recognize from pie; dark sweet cherries bring deep color and sugar but little acid. For the gravity estimate we assume about 8% sugar in tart cherries and 13% in sweet, so the 4 lb adds roughly 19 points. That is why the honey drops to 2.25 lb to land at 1.098.
The fruit goes in secondary so the cherry aroma survives. Cherries hold their flavor better than strawberries, but primary still dulls them, and the color is richer when it is extracted into a mead that already has alcohol in it.
The almond note is where cherry mead gets its reputation, and it comes from the kernel inside the pit, which contains amygdalin. Crushed or cracked kernels can release cyanide compounds, so this recipe pits everything and adds almond at the end with extract, where you control it. It is the safer route and the more predictable one.
71B is known for softening malic acid, which is the main acid in cherries. That takes the sharp edge off the tart cherries without making the mead flabby, and its fruit-forward character suits the fruit. It tolerates about 14% alcohol, comfortably above this recipe.
Variations
- All tart and drier: use 4 lb of tart cherries, 2.5 lb of honey, and sweeten only to about 1.006 for a sharper, sour-cherry mead.
- Cherry vanilla oak: add half a split vanilla bean and 0.5 oz of medium-toast oak cubes during clearing for 2 to 3 weeks.
- Black forest: add 1 oz of cacao nibs for the last 7 to 10 days of clearing, with or without the vanilla.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| It tastes medicinal, like cough syrup | Too much sweetness and not enough acid, often from all-sweet cherries. Add acid blend 1/4 tsp at a time, or next time use the tart and sweet blend. |
| Foam pushed through the airlock after adding fruit | The cherry sugar restarted fermentation hard. Use a bucket with more headspace for secondary, or a blowoff tube. |
| The red color is turning brown | Oxygen exposure. Keep the jug topped up, add the Campden tablet on schedule and store it cool and dark. |
More mead recipes to try
- Blackberry mead recipe: Fruit in primary for a deep purple, structured mead that drinks like a light red wine.
- Strawberry mead recipe: Fruit in secondary, a gentle yeast and a semi-sweet finish that keeps the fresh-berry nose.
- Coffee mead (plus chocolate and vanilla) recipe: A finished traditional mead dosed with cold brew by taste. Chocolate and vanilla versions too.
More fruit mead recipes: Raspberry mead, Blueberry mead, Cyser (apple mead), Peach mead, Mango mead (and pineapple mead), Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM), Pyment (grape mead), Elderberry mead, Banana mead, Pomegranate mead, Pumpkin mead, Cranberry mead, Apple pie mead.
Or browse all our mead recipes. If this is your first batch, start with the traditional mead recipe or the step-by-step guide to making honey wine.
Frequently asked questions
How many cherries per gallon of mead?
3 to 4 lb of pitted cherries per gallon. This recipe uses 4 lb (2 lb tart, 2 lb sweet) for a clear cherry flavor and deep color.
Do I need to pit cherries for mead?
Yes, pitting is the safe and predictable choice. The pit kernel contains amygdalin, and crushed pits can release cyanide compounds. For an almond note, use a drop of almond extract at bottling instead.
Are sweet or tart cherries better for mead?
A blend is best. Tart cherries give acid and classic cherry flavor; sweet cherries give color and body. All-sweet cherry meads tend to taste flat.
Can I make cherry mead with cherry juice?
Yes. Use 100% tart cherry juice with no potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate and replace part of the water with it. Take a gravity reading, because the juice adds sugar, and reduce the honey to match.
How do I make cherry vanilla mead?
Follow this recipe and add half a split vanilla bean during clearing for 2 to 3 weeks, tasting weekly and pulling it when the vanilla sits just behind the cherry. Vanilla reads as sweetness, so sweeten a little less than usual, to about 1.010.
Can I make this as a tart cherry mead only?
Yes. Use 4 lb of tart (Montmorency) cherries, raise the honey to 2.5 lb because tart cherries carry less sugar, and sweeten only to about 1.006. The result is sharper and closer to sour-cherry pie.
Is cherry mead a melomel?
Yes. Melomel is the name for any mead fermented with fruit, so a cherry mead and a cherry melomel are the same thing.
How long does cherry mead take?
About 3 months to bottle and 4 to 6 months to drink. It keeps improving for a year or more.
What ABV is cherry mead?
This recipe is about 12.9% ABV.