Black mead

[JC47]

I'm new to beekeeping and have purchased the book Making Mead by Acton and Duncan, I will soon have a glut of black currents so propose to make their recipe for Black Mead. I have made homemade wine many years ago. from my recollection dark wine are kept in the dark or brown demijohns, my query is does this apply to Black Mead ?

 

[yeogi75]

yes otherwise it will be a shade of brown /dark to light brownish, put an old tee shirt over it to exclude the light, also I would recommend 1/2 pound more honey than the recipe says , keep an eye on the sugar content thou.

 

[JC47]

Thank you for that information.

 

[Jambo]

Hi JC I'm planning to give this recipe a go soon, how did it turn out for you?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Proper cassis is nicer. Then you can add it to some cheap champagne

 

[Jambo]

Yeah but you have to buy spirit to make that and it doesn't help me to use my rinsings from extraction day!

 

[mickbees23]

I make home brew a lot and haven't seen a dark demi john for a long time. You could wrap newspaper around it and secure with an elastic band or put it in a cupboard. Its only to stop the sunlight damaging the colour.

 

[JC47]

Hi Jambo,
Sorry I have not replied to your question.
I used 3lb honey to the gallon ( i made 10 gallons ) and retained the colour by wrapping 5 gal. fermenters in black bin bags.
The result is very dry but I hope that will improve on keeping.

 

[Jambo]

Quite alright! I am currently making the raspberry one in the same book which is a sweet recipe - adding honey every time the gravity drops to 5. I had assumed the black currant one was the same but on checking the recipe it is not, and therefore will end up dry.

Perhaps you could modify the recipe and treat it as a sweet mead anyway if you think you would like it more?