Pitching the yeast... you guys should really do the true viking way of pitching the yeast! (or at least old Norwegian tradition (and other countries)) Kauking - The Yeast Scream You scream at the yeast while pouring it in! Many people just shout or scream. In some places in Norway, people may shout variations of "hush, go away!", while in Estonia some shouted "At 'em! Go get'em, boys!" There were more variations, too. The idea behind it was to make the yeast strong and make the people who drink it cheerful. Also, some superstition was involved. Brewers believed the scream could scare away house elves / nisse / and other supernatural creatures, and therefore not able to spoil the brew.
cherries are actually native to china as are all stone fruit, the romans introduced cherries to Europe in 74 BC...Europe was under a block of ice during the last age, nothing is ''native'' in Europe
@@theman5946 sure there are. Black currant, most popular root veggies, some plums and bramble berries. Nothing that we eat now is truly “native” to anywhere as 99% of our diet has been genetically selected to yield better crop. This selection even shows itself in the wild. If you go back far enough in time, nothing is native to anywhere. There are many ways that seeds or fruits of plants could have dispersed globally over a long period of time, even before humans. The cherries we eat today are so vastly different than the ones that Vikings or even the ancient Chinese ate that they would be unrecognizable when presented to people
@@theman5946 Imma fact check that- there are wild cherries. What you say there were no DOMESTICATED/CULTIVATED cherries there. Ive seen wild trees here in meadows and forests where people havent trodden for a long while. Fruit is just tarter and smaller.
Jithran Sikken right?? That’s one of the reasons I like this channel. Brian and Derika (hope I spelled those correctly) seem like really down-to-earth people.
I should’ve watched this video instead of the first one you did it would’ve answered all my questions. You-all are so good, again thank you so much. This past year has been tough on everyone. You have given quite a few people a little nudge to learn something new and to enjoy it.
I just wanted to say Thank you for the wonderful videos. My husband and I have made several of the meads and are favorite is the Viking Blood. We have received several compliments on how wonderful it is.
Can’t wait to see how this one turns out :) Hopefully better than the last one. I DID enjoy that old video, by the way. Lesser quality is nothing to be ashamed of; your channel was still pretty new, and you were developing your style.
Made this recipe a few months ago and just bottled it. Gave some samples to friends and it was quite popular. It's also nearly 16%, which explains the joy it created.
I think Brian is aging in reverse. I love these guys videos. They have helped my brewing process by sharing their knowledge and experiences. looking forward to more videos.
I made the first batch before. It turned out great! I used Red Star wine yeast Premium Blanc. Same, frozen cherries, only I didn't mash them up. I just made sure they were cut in half. Only I made it as a trial run in the one gallon jug. I had a little more then the measured amount of cherries. It turned out great. Once a day, I gave it a stir for the week it was fermenting... I racked it and let it sit. There was a small gathering that happened and me and some friends got into it a few days early. The most of the lease was settled. There was just the normal off gasses still bubbling, but slowly. Everyone had it and enjoyed it. I also had a blackberry melomal that was complete along with a standard mead. We drank 2 gallons of mead.
Going to have to try this method, tried it the other way with sweet dark cherries and I didn't care for the way it came out. Tasted almost salty but my wife likes it so she is going to drink it (along with the 2 gallons of ginger beer she had me make again).
6 gallons bubbling away here. I added a tea of hibiscus, w vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and ginger. I did use sweet cherries, but cut the weight in half. AND, I used a stage ferment. The tea and Tart cherry juice added in the second addition of primary ferment. Fount the tannin in the hibiscus and tart from the cherry juice toned down the "sweet" cough syrup taste. But with things bubbling away...only time will tell the final taste!
Why do you steep the tea for so long? I always learned if you want stronger tea add more tea. Just curious love your guys channel and am wanting to actual try to start my own channel. you guys are awesome!!
I'm going to try making my first mead soon, and I have a TON of cherry trees in my area (I'm from Sweden, and yes, cherries do grow here naturally). I might have to try making a cherry mead, it'll probably just be a small batch since I've never tried it before, my main ferment is probably just going to be a regular mead.
I made this and my fiends love it. A friend of mine had me try a chocolate almond wine from a local brewery. So I bought some cocao nibs and added to a bottle to try for a cherry cordial vibe.
I started a batch of vikings blood last wednesday and... some things happened. It was definitely a learning experience but it seems to have worked itself out now. Smells like swediesh fish tho so hopes are high!
11:55 How would you say fungicides and pesticides on fruit play a role? I've heard many people say 'that's why you use organic', but I've visited many, many farms (perks of enjoying hiking and cycling holidays when I was younger and my back didn't hate me) throughout Europe (reportedly stricter in terms of allowed -icides for both organic and non) and because of this interest in brewing also spoke to various wine makers (in so far as they spoke a throat-disease language, because I'm pretty bad at the love-making languages) and it's my impression that 'organic' fungicides in particular can be pretty harsh...
@@CitySteadingBrews Funny story: one farmer I spoke to was working with a combination of modern scientific methods and traditional. For example; he didn't use machines to harvest, because machines left too much twig and leaf in the harvest, affecting the taste of the wine. Stellar wine. I made the mistake of saying he was an 'organic' farmer... Whooooo boy.... two hours of angry rants later I learned that French wine makers do not like the rules for 'organic'. :-P Personally, my main concern is the health of the yeast. I don't think a tiny amount of residue of either copper or FungiKill 2000 will do much more to me than the known carcinogen I put into innocent apple juice on purpose (alcohol). ;-)
I wish I was your neighbor and I could be your taste tester you make so many exotic brews with interesting flavor combinations my mouth waters watching these videos. Keep up the great work
Love your channel! I made this. It started with a SG of 1.18 and after 4 months (and a couple of rackings and degassing) it is at 1.024. Did I do something wrong? Can I bottle it? It has cleared I just found it odd that the SG hasn't dropped further. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
If you started with 1.180 and it's at 1.024, that's 21% ABV. Not many yeasts are capable of that. So I'd say it's done and you've created something pretty incredible for your first try.
Just finished my secondary fermentation of this recipe and the gravity readings were OG: 1.125, FG: 1.032, with a final ABV of 12.21%. Used D47 yeast. As an initial taste testing at bottling, it's got plenty of sweetness and tartness since a lot of the sugars didn't ferment out. Very drinkable now. As a note, I think my next batch of this will include some oak chips to round it out even more. Good recipe, ya'll
I made a 5 gallon wine, not a mead, with 18 POUNDS of fresh cherries, all hand pitted in one sitting by moi. It turned out well. I do not know ABV because I did not have a hydrometer when I started. The last reading I've taken was 1.010. Very nice, but still working as a week ago it was 1.060. I wish I had known to keep it in primary longer though. Probably would have only been 2 weeks. I kept it in primary for 7 days. Working on wild blueberry now, and will apply lessons thusly.
Now that is how I make it.. But I use Indian Summer 100 % pure pie (Montmorency) cherry juice.. Fabulous stuff. I've lately fallen in love with using ground frozen cranberries to make intensely flavorful mead.
Hi Brian and Derica! I made this using Lakeland Pure Tart Cherry Juice and it is hands down the best brew I've made so far! Thank you so much for sharing!
Just bottled. Tastes like a nice medium-dry red wine. Just the right amount of sweetness. Honestly, cherry taste is subtle, but that could be my limited palette, or the fact that it's 2 months old and needs to mature. However, I'm drinking it now, and it's completely presentable as is. 2.2 lb frozen black cherries/2.2 lb frozen sour cherries/3 lb honey/1 gal H2O/handful black raisins/yeast/yeast nutrient. On the shelf for a year. At the same time, just bottled a peach/ginger mead. Tastes like a nice peach wine cooler, but without the cheap, white wine taste. I can't taste the ginger much, but the same limitations apply as above (both brewed on the same day). Hope the info contributes to the community. Love!
I made my first batch last year from a 5-gallon base mead, which I then siphoned off into smaller one-gallon jugs with different fruits. It turned out pretty good. I made raspberry, cherry, and blueberry. The raspberry ended up being the best smelling and tasting mead. We used frozen fruit that we sanitized by heating to 160 degrees for 10 mins before adding it to the base mead. This kills any wild yeast or other what-nots. I think my next batch will follow your juice only method. I'm interested in seeing if the lemon zest you added imparts anything after it's aged. My biggest mistake was adding fruit before it finished fermentation completely, which then the yeast fired back up and almost caused a blowout. It definitely added more alcohol too. The other thing I learned was to siphon the clear mead off more than what you think you need to. Anyway, great video; I'll be sure to follow along and see how yours turns out!
Just a little info regarding sweet vs sour cherries. Besides the sweetness factor they also have different flavors. And if you are growing your own cherries there are different varietals with different flavors and sweetness and colors.
Wild cherries add that special uniqueness. I added 25% to my elderberry wine last year, wow what a huge improvement to my elderberry wine. Chokecherries are rich in tannins, so go easy on them with other high tannic fruits.
redstone1999 good info to know. I just found a wild elderberry near my house so next year i am trying elderberry wine. Of course no Idea if i can also find some chokecherries
Here's a tip: If you end up with foam in your graduated cylinder, just overfill a bit, suck the foam out with your turkey baster, then drop your glass thingy in and take the gravity reading.
Hi Brian and Derica, I am currently waiting for 10 packets of Lalvin D47 to arrive... and my SO has been inquiring about brewing something with a little less defined honey flavour... after his first ever taste of ginger mead (sweet-ish and carbonated). I’ve been binge watching your videos which I absolutely love and been taking copious notes. SO loves beer (well, Belgians often do!). He even enjoys unsweetened Kriek Lambic (for those who don’t know, that’s tart cherry beer). And he lokes champagne... a lot! Preferably the unsweetened ones. Just as this video started I was thinking about making this. My local supermarket sells frozen tart cherries in 500 gram packets at a reasonable price and if I remember correctly the ingredient list is just that: tart cherries. Might go for this one. Bet he’ll like it even if it’s got residual sweetness. Thank you so much for your videos! Keep ‘em coming!
Hey Brian I found a good way to get rid of the head foam after I shake the carboy. I used a turkey baster to take out the phone worked lime a champ. Love your channel
I have a cyser that I added cherries to in secondary. I racked it off the cherries and lees a few months back and just tasted some today and it's fantastic.
I used to make a cherry wine from white grape juice and a cherry anise cordial that is unfortunately no longer available, it was delicious so I think I may try this recipe with the addition of some star anise!
As a brewer and a chemist your tshirt gave me a headache. BTW squeezing the air out of the pipette bulb before sampling is a very very proper chem lab technique... but enough geekiness, I looove your videos. Great channel!
Hi you lovely ppl, quick question, in my haste to get 4 brews going, I never realized that the juice might be too cold. Only after adding the yeast, I saw that the temp as way down low (47 deg F) If I just leave the brew, will the dormant yeast "wake up"?
Good day I'm planning on trying to make a version of your vikings blood 2.0. I like sweet wine and I think mead as well as I have not tried mead yet but would like to try it. My question is with the honey you used 2lbs and it came out dry you said in your video.If I use 3lbs of honey do you think it would come out on the sweet side?
Pitching yeast. In times past, wines and beers were made in large vats. Yeast was in "cakes". You tossed or "pitched" the yeast to different areas of the vat to get the fermentation off to an even start. At least, that's what I was once told.
My Vikings Blood is on day 2 and the brew has breached the airlock and bubbles are coming out the top without much mess.... yet. Should I do anything or just change the airlock once things calm down? Thanks. You both are awesome!
Question. I am going to try this recipe next, and i am thinking of going ahead with a 5 gal batch. So my question is, would you recommend putting 5 cups of tea in it, or backing off on it a bit? My second question is what do you think about using tart dried cherries in secondary like in VB2020? Thanks.
I recently subscribed to you guys and just wanted to say you are extremely well at explaining the "whys" and "why not" and that is much appreciated. As well as having great and interesting content and being a awesome couple! Thanks! I will be watching! :)
My husband and I just started making mead. The first one we did was the regular mead using the black tea and orange peel. It is currently on second fermentation. We decided to try the cherry mead we used all the same ingredients, except we used lavlin 71b-1122 yeast, and we keep getting juice in the airlock. We removed some juice to give it more head space but it continues to fill up. Do you have a suggestion as to what we should try next? Have you ever had this problem? Thank you for the informative videos we really enjoy them!!
I have a gallon batch running right now of Cherry Mead. I used sweet cherries, and made a black tea w/ orange and lemon, generic clover honey (i'm in Korea, there's no good honey to be had in large quantities here), and Nottingham yeast. The lesson I learned was to crush the cherries, not blend the cherries. Turns out, when they're ground, they like to cause this... growth...
The preservative juices are great for sweetening wine, if pasteurizing not used. I use strawberry syrup with sorbates to sweeten up a very dry watermelon wine.
I've got a biiiiiit of a problem. I just started 3 batches of Viking Blood. Why? Because it's AWESOME!! It's yummy and I like the heck out of it!! Now, for the problem... As I was mixing the honey and the cherry juice together, my bung slipped all the way into my carboy and is sitting at the bottom. Have you ever run into this problem and if so, more importantly, How do you get it back out? Also, will it hurt the brew while it's in there until it's done fermenting?? I'd really hate to toss the batch out... seems like alcohol abuse.
Sooo I just racked both of my batches. One is a blueberry mead and the other this exact black cherry recipe, however when I did the reading, my hydrometer just sank. Even after spinning it, and the reading said 1.020… where the hell did I go wrong and does that mean my mead is junk now? First timer here. Taste tested both and definitely had a bit of bite.
Hey guys! -Love your channel, love your vids, love the chemistry between you guys =) introducing questions i dont find answer: 1 So now u tasted "to soon", if u let it sit longer, when its "1.02" gravity, does that take all the sweetness out of it? If so, do u backsweeten it with honey? 2: So when wine/ mead is bottled, you can pasteurize... Can u dump a camdon tablet in it instead? so i dont have to boil and risk broken bottles? thx for taking your time to answer!
We never add sulfites or sorbates: ruclips.net/video/XcwDuNTRygg/видео.html You shouldn't need to pasteurize... ruclips.net/video/T9vwUibIYe8/видео.html As for "tasted it too soon", no, we taste to know what to do next. Most meads improve with age. 1.020 gravity is considered semi-sweet or sweet. If you backsweeten, you have to be aware of the possibility of fermentation starting again. ruclips.net/video/SP2gdkwFano/видео.html There's quite a bit to know, and if you are new at this I highly suggest following along with some of our recipes til you get an understanding of how things work. But... you have to follow them exactly, same yeast, same ingredients, etc.
First off, your videos are awesome! You have a new subscriber! I'm on my 3rd batch of cider and this Viking blood sounds like a fun new project. I was thinking of making it 'double blood' with blood orange juice, and using fresh pressed cider instead of water. If i don't want cherries (i don't particularly care for the taste) what would be the best substitute for the dark color? Pomegranate? Blueberry? Blackberry?
I just put together a gallon of this following your ingredients and directions. How will it turn out? Only time will tell. I enjoy your videos. Thanks!
I LOVED that video, it brought me here! Nice to see your wife again!❤ and some more of your face, beards DO age a man... keep up the great work! Sub'd! 🌱👏👏👏👏👏
Sweet meads/melomels are made by using more honey than your yeast can convert to alcohol. If you back-sweeten a mead with an ABV below what the yeast can tolerate, you'll just restart fermentation and the sweetness in the added honey will become alcohol instead.
I am in CT and I used the link in your video that was for your store....the store cam up....I clicked to order but nothing happened..it just went back to the beginning....sorry.
I’ve got 2 carboys that have been going for 2 weeks now and I have questions. Followed your recipe on this video and the OG’s were 1.114 and 1.116, now they are 1.014 and 1.011. I used D47. I’m thinking 1 more week in primary before racking it off the lees and just wanted your opinion. This is my first time at this and it just seems like it happened really fast.
In reference to a good natural sleep aid and pain reliever, look into wild lettuce. It's a weed that grows just about everywhere. I dehydrate it, grind it into a powder and fill gelatin capsules with it. I take 2 or 3 at night about 20 minutes before I want to go to sleep. I've been doing this for about a year now. It works great for me. 🤷🍻
Hey I'm glad you mentioned the whole putting fruit solids in there. So hypothetically, for a friend, if a guy put a bunch of crushed blueberries into a blueberry melomel but didn't previously know that pectic enzyme might be necessary or that it existed then saw bits still floatin' around a couple weeks in, how might said 'friend' filter the fruit out come racking time? Thanks, from my friend of course, definitely not me.
I just happened to have a ton of blueberries handy for my first two batches of mead, so I used them instead of raisins. They took a while in secondary to clarify, but they did clarify. One of them was still a bit cloudy as bottling approached, so I cold crashed and it went the rest of the way to a deep gemlike blurple color
The hell with the Vikings Blood, gimme some of that Elijah Craig on the shelf behind ya! You can keep the WSR though lol. In all seriousness great vid!
Hey! I'm new to making mead and brewing my own stuff. I gave this recipe a try but scaled it up to 3 gallons. My OG was 1.118. it took about 20 hours to start bubbling and did so vigorously for 2-3 days and then calmed down quite a bit. Is this normal for mead to do this? This has not happened with the cider I've been making. Thanks and I love y'all's site!
Fermentation doesn't have to take that long. Most times it's nearly finished in the first few days. Take a reading, wait a week, take another. If they are the same, it's finished fermenting.
Hey I'm planning on making this with SafAle S-04 (dry ale yeast). Have you made a mead with beer yeast before? Also can mead with beer yeast in it sit on the leas, similar to the yeast that you use in this video. Thanks for taking the time to read my comment
Most of our hydromels are made with Safale S-04. Remember that it has an alcohol tolerance of 9 - 11 %. That is why we use them in hydromels (lower ABV meads) and don't use Safale S-04 for higher ABV meads. We have not noticed any ill effect of leaving the brews on the lees for the time frame we show in our videos.
@@CitySteadingBrews thanks for the info it will definitely be help for my 2nd mead. The mead kit I got was from craft a brew, I've followed the directions from the kit hopefully it comes out good. I definitely plan on following your directions for my 2nd one.
I am getting ready to make a gallon of Viking Blood with Cheribundi Light Cherry Juice. My question is how you calculated the specific gravity of the honey? The honey is out of my own hives. It is true raw honey. No filtering or pasteurizing. Also should I add more honey since the Cheribundi Light has less sugar than the original?
I did my 3 week check today. I started with an SPG of 1.12 and today it is 1.02. By my calculation it is 13% ABV. I haven't seen bubbles for over a week. I sealed it back up and will check it in a week to see if it is done fermenting. I took a sip and it has a strong cherry taste and warms all the way down.
Aloha, Dig the Vid's......Maybe you can help me ........Started batch of 3 gallons mead used bread yeast. Very active first 4 days! 5 days into it i added LALVIN 45 2.5 grams active lookin good. After only 10 days i RACKED into new clean carboy,Only because sediment on bottom and floaters on top were lookin a little sketchy. Now in new carboy very LITTLE bubble action,1 bubble every 30 seconds. As of now batch is 2 weeks old. My question is can i add a bit more yeast or should i hold off....being 2 weeks into fermentation.....? Cheers!!!
Why did you add more yeast on day 5? And... you probably tacked too early, but... did you take gravity readings? Could be finished, could be stuck.... hard to know without readings.
@@CitySteadingBrews I added more yeast on day 5 because my first yeast I used was bread yeast..........so I added Lalvin 45 once I received it from mail. Was told bread yeast will be killed by alcohol so need proper yeast.....just under 2 weeks now slow bubbles 1 every 30seconds, not much bubbles on surface, smells o.k........no readings...slowly clearing up...I'll just wait I guess as long as it smell alright it just might work. During this week I started a fresh batch with proper yeast and looks great nice bubble action smells good.....nothing but fresh squeezed O.J. vanilla bean, yeast ,honey .........thanks for the help..!!! How do I know if I racked it to early will it just sit and not bubble...? cheers
@@Hayden-sp1ol Bread yeast will work usually to about 10-12%. Without readings, you're kinda flying blind. I highly suggest using a hydrometer! The only way to know when to rack is using gravity readings, otherwise... you're guessing.
Ah, good thing i looked u up. Was about to make some with some sweet cherries. I will have to hunt the tart. But i am planning on back sweetening like i do with my other wines after the yeast is dead
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Hey, who else thinks they are the best REAL couple on yt? 🤔❤❤
Aww, thanks!
sorry, thats mxr and potasticpanda
Pitching the yeast... you guys should really do the true viking way of pitching the yeast! (or at least old Norwegian tradition (and other countries))
Kauking - The Yeast Scream
You scream at the yeast while pouring it in! Many people just shout or scream. In some places in Norway, people may shout variations of "hush, go away!", while in Estonia some shouted "At 'em! Go get'em, boys!" There were more variations, too. The idea behind it was to make the yeast strong and make the people who drink it cheerful. Also, some superstition was involved. Brewers believed the scream could scare away house elves / nisse / and other supernatural creatures, and therefore not able to spoil the brew.
Maybe a bit extreme.
@@CitySteadingBrews 😆
Nope I'm doing this from now on lol.
Until now my yeast have gone in like, "yeah, okay, work to do...", Not anymore! xD
@Golden Eyed Tiga wardundra Lyrics
At around 13 minutes your cat starts talking in the background. My cat suddenly became very interested in mead making. Great video!
yall should put some grated coconut in with the cherry. it is fantastic. I got the idea from my favorite snow cone flavor tigers blood.
Cherries are native through Scandinavia and were for sure known and enjoyed by Vikings.
Indeed. I am from the middle of Norway, and we have cherry trees in our back yard ;)
there are lots of cherry trees.....
cherries are actually native to china as are all stone fruit, the romans introduced cherries to Europe in 74 BC...Europe was under a block of ice during the last age, nothing is ''native'' in Europe
@@theman5946 sure there are. Black currant, most popular root veggies, some plums and bramble berries. Nothing that we eat now is truly “native” to anywhere as 99% of our diet has been genetically selected to yield better crop. This selection even shows itself in the wild. If you go back far enough in time, nothing is native to anywhere. There are many ways that seeds or fruits of plants could have dispersed globally over a long period of time, even before humans. The cherries we eat today are so vastly different than the ones that Vikings or even the ancient Chinese ate that they would be unrecognizable when presented to people
@@theman5946 Imma fact check that- there are wild cherries. What you say there were no DOMESTICATED/CULTIVATED cherries there. Ive seen wild trees here in meadows and forests where people havent trodden for a long while. Fruit is just tarter and smaller.
I love your video's. Like sitting around the table with some friends. Casually talking brewing shenanigans.
Jithran Sikken right?? That’s one of the reasons I like this channel. Brian and Derika (hope I spelled those correctly) seem like really down-to-earth people.
I should’ve watched this video instead of the first one you did it would’ve answered all my questions. You-all are so good, again thank you so much. This past year has been tough on everyone. You have given quite a few people a little nudge to learn something new and to enjoy it.
Our pleasure!
I just wanted to say Thank you for the wonderful videos. My husband and I have made several of the meads and are favorite is the Viking Blood. We have received several compliments on how wonderful it is.
Can’t wait to see how this one turns out :) Hopefully better than the last one. I DID enjoy that old video, by the way. Lesser quality is nothing to be ashamed of; your channel was still pretty new, and you were developing your style.
I liked it. It is homemade and real people. Home/city steaders are not Hollywood folks. :)
Pro tip on keeping the rubber bung from popping out. You dry the stopper but you also need to dry the inside of the jugs mouth. Works for me!
Made this recipe a few months ago and just bottled it. Gave some samples to friends and it was quite popular. It's also nearly 16%, which explains the joy it created.
I’m still new but watched every video I could I’ve made this and my people love it you guys are awesome thx for sharing a fine hobby and great recipes
Thanks for watching!
I think Brian is aging in reverse. I love these guys videos. They have helped my brewing process by sharing their knowledge and experiences. looking forward to more videos.
I wish.
I made the first batch before. It turned out great! I used Red Star wine yeast Premium Blanc. Same, frozen cherries, only I didn't mash them up. I just made sure they were cut in half. Only I made it as a trial run in the one gallon jug. I had a little more then the measured amount of cherries. It turned out great. Once a day, I gave it a stir for the week it was fermenting... I racked it and let it sit. There was a small gathering that happened and me and some friends got into it a few days early. The most of the lease was settled. There was just the normal off gasses still bubbling, but slowly. Everyone had it and enjoyed it. I also had a blackberry melomal that was complete along with a standard mead. We drank 2 gallons of mead.
Going to have to try this method, tried it the other way with sweet dark cherries and I didn't care for the way it came out. Tasted almost salty but my wife likes it so she is going to drink it (along with the 2 gallons of ginger beer she had me make again).
6 gallons bubbling away here. I added a tea of hibiscus, w vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and ginger. I did use sweet cherries, but cut the weight in half. AND, I used a stage ferment. The tea and Tart cherry juice added in the second addition of primary ferment. Fount the tannin in the hibiscus and tart from the cherry juice toned down the "sweet" cough syrup taste. But with things bubbling away...only time will tell the final taste!
Why do you steep the tea for so long? I always learned if you want stronger tea add more tea. Just curious love your guys channel and am wanting to actual try to start my own channel. you guys are awesome!!
More tannins that way.
I'm going to try making my first mead soon, and I have a TON of cherry trees in my area (I'm from Sweden, and yes, cherries do grow here naturally). I might have to try making a cherry mead, it'll probably just be a small batch since I've never tried it before, my main ferment is probably just going to be a regular mead.
I made this and my fiends love it. A friend of mine had me try a chocolate almond wine from a local brewery. So I bought some cocao nibs and added to a bottle to try for a cherry cordial vibe.
I started a batch of vikings blood last wednesday and... some things happened. It was definitely a learning experience but it seems to have worked itself out now. Smells like swediesh fish tho so hopes are high!
11:55 How would you say fungicides and pesticides on fruit play a role? I've heard many people say 'that's why you use organic', but I've visited many, many farms (perks of enjoying hiking and cycling holidays when I was younger and my back didn't hate me) throughout Europe (reportedly stricter in terms of allowed -icides for both organic and non) and because of this interest in brewing also spoke to various wine makers (in so far as they spoke a throat-disease language, because I'm pretty bad at the love-making languages) and it's my impression that 'organic' fungicides in particular can be pretty harsh...
Honestly I uave never looked into that. As much as is possible, we wash anything we consume though of course it’s impossible to get it all.
@@CitySteadingBrews Funny story: one farmer I spoke to was working with a combination of modern scientific methods and traditional. For example; he didn't use machines to harvest, because machines left too much twig and leaf in the harvest, affecting the taste of the wine. Stellar wine.
I made the mistake of saying he was an 'organic' farmer...
Whooooo boy.... two hours of angry rants later I learned that French wine makers do not like the rules for 'organic'. :-P
Personally, my main concern is the health of the yeast. I don't think a tiny amount of residue of either copper or FungiKill 2000 will do much more to me than the known carcinogen I put into innocent apple juice on purpose (alcohol). ;-)
I wish I was your neighbor and I could be your taste tester you make so many exotic brews with interesting flavor combinations my mouth waters watching these videos. Keep up the great work
I wish you were too, our neighbor on the one side isn't really all that friendly.
Love your channel! I made this. It started with a SG of 1.18 and after 4 months (and a couple of rackings and degassing) it is at 1.024. Did I do something wrong? Can I bottle it? It has cleared I just found it odd that the SG hasn't dropped further. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
If you started with 1.180 and it's at 1.024, that's 21% ABV. Not many yeasts are capable of that. So I'd say it's done and you've created something pretty incredible for your first try.
Just finished my secondary fermentation of this recipe and the gravity readings were OG: 1.125, FG: 1.032, with a final ABV of 12.21%. Used D47 yeast. As an initial taste testing at bottling, it's got plenty of sweetness and tartness since a lot of the sugars didn't ferment out. Very drinkable now. As a note, I think my next batch of this will include some oak chips to round it out even more. Good recipe, ya'll
To eliminate the foam, have a second funnel with a hose for thinner liquids.
Your methods are awesome. I might try your recipe
I made a 5 gallon wine, not a mead, with 18 POUNDS of fresh cherries, all hand pitted in one sitting by moi. It turned out well. I do not know ABV because I did not have a hydrometer when I started. The last reading I've taken was 1.010. Very nice, but still working as a week ago it was 1.060. I wish I had known to keep it in primary longer though. Probably would have only been 2 weeks. I kept it in primary for 7 days. Working on wild blueberry now, and will apply lessons thusly.
wish you guys lived in my area... it's almost like sitting down with family members when i sit and watch you two!
Maybe making the tea in a microwave safe measuring cup would be best for this process since pouring from a mug is difficult
Now that is how I make it.. But I use Indian Summer 100 % pure pie (Montmorency) cherry juice.. Fabulous stuff.
I've lately fallen in love with using ground frozen cranberries to make intensely flavorful mead.
Another excellent video...thank you Brian and Derica!
Hi Brian and Derica! I made this using Lakeland Pure Tart Cherry Juice and it is hands down the best brew I've made so far! Thank you so much for sharing!
You're welcome!
Mine's a little over 2 months old now. Guess I'll bottle soon. I'll give you a taste report.
Just bottled. Tastes like a nice medium-dry red wine. Just the right amount of sweetness. Honestly, cherry taste is subtle, but that could be my limited palette, or the fact that it's 2 months old and needs to mature. However, I'm drinking it now, and it's completely presentable as is. 2.2 lb frozen black cherries/2.2 lb frozen sour cherries/3 lb honey/1 gal H2O/handful black raisins/yeast/yeast nutrient. On the shelf for a year. At the same time, just bottled a peach/ginger mead. Tastes like a nice peach wine cooler, but without the cheap, white wine taste. I can't taste the ginger much, but the same limitations apply as above (both brewed on the same day). Hope the info contributes to the community. Love!
Love yout guys channel. You guys are the mead making kings and queens ofcorse.
heh, thanks.
Great melomel recipe Brian and Derica. I’ll be going to my local Publix this afternoon now.
I made my first batch last year from a 5-gallon base mead, which I then siphoned off into smaller one-gallon jugs with different fruits. It turned out pretty good. I made raspberry, cherry, and blueberry. The raspberry ended up being the best smelling and tasting mead. We used frozen fruit that we sanitized by heating to 160 degrees for 10 mins before adding it to the base mead. This kills any wild yeast or other what-nots. I think my next batch will follow your juice only method. I'm interested in seeing if the lemon zest you added imparts anything after it's aged. My biggest mistake was adding fruit before it finished fermentation completely, which then the yeast fired back up and almost caused a blowout. It definitely added more alcohol too. The other thing I learned was to siphon the clear mead off more than what you think you need to. Anyway, great video; I'll be sure to follow along and see how yours turns out!
Just a little info regarding sweet vs sour cherries. Besides the sweetness factor they also have different flavors. And if you are growing your own cherries there are different varietals with different flavors and sweetness and colors.
Wild cherries add that special uniqueness. I added 25% to my elderberry wine last year, wow what a huge improvement to my elderberry wine. Chokecherries are rich in tannins, so go easy on them with other high tannic fruits.
redstone1999 good info to know. I just found a wild elderberry near my house so next year i am trying elderberry wine. Of course no
Idea if i can also find some chokecherries
I love how we can now date CS Brews videos based on whether or not Brian hydrates the yeast lol. BHY and AHY
lol
My gma used to keep a big jar of rum raisins on the counter and took a table spoon a day for authritis (rumatizim)
Thank you for your recipe. I used your original recipe and tweaked it a bit and today, just bottled 6 gallons.
Here's a tip: If you end up with foam in your graduated cylinder, just overfill a bit, suck the foam out with your turkey baster, then drop your glass thingy in and take the gravity reading.
Loven this ....... i made my Vikings blood with sweet frozen cherries and it doesnt have that cough syrup taste it is sweet .... but o so good
Just purchased my first mead making kit! Been recently watching your show that has inspired me too give this a try. Wish me luck
How did it turn out?
I usually take some of the most while it stormferment and keep it in the fridge to start the next badge its usually Good for a month or two.
I was thinking of doing the same thing but cutting the cherry juice with hibiscus tea.
Can you suggest a book about the chemistry of wine/mead making? Increase or decrease amount, make sweeter, less sweeter, etc.
I learned by doing... so I cannot recommend any books, sorry.
But, this video may help: ruclips.net/video/6aLlJUMBEN0/видео.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks
Hi Brian and Derica,
I am currently waiting for 10 packets of Lalvin D47 to arrive... and my SO has been inquiring about brewing something with a little less defined honey flavour... after his first ever taste of ginger mead (sweet-ish and carbonated). I’ve been binge watching your videos which I absolutely love and been taking copious notes. SO loves beer (well, Belgians often do!). He even enjoys unsweetened Kriek Lambic (for those who don’t know, that’s tart cherry beer). And he lokes champagne... a lot! Preferably the unsweetened ones.
Just as this video started I was thinking about making this. My local supermarket sells frozen tart cherries in 500 gram packets at a reasonable price and if I remember correctly the ingredient list is just that: tart cherries. Might go for this one. Bet he’ll like it even if it’s got residual sweetness.
Thank you so much for your videos! Keep ‘em coming!
Waiting impatiently for mine to finish. The last rack taste was amazing. I also added a 1oz natural vanilla. And mulling spice tea.
Another great informative and fun video
Hey Brian I found a good way to get rid of the head foam after I shake the carboy. I used a turkey baster to take out the phone worked lime a champ. Love your channel
Foam not phone sorry for the typo
No real need to remove it.
How long did you age the Viking blood from the bottles at Publix before you drank it.
I have a cyser that I added cherries to in secondary. I racked it off the cherries and lees a few months back and just tasted some today and it's fantastic.
Does the type of juice matter? Like, "no preservatives" etc.?
You don't want preservatives, that's for sure.
I saw a kitty in the background at 11:45. I know you guys have talked about having cats. Will we ever get to meet them on video?
I used to make a cherry wine from white grape juice and a cherry anise cordial that is unfortunately no longer available, it was delicious so I think I may try this recipe with the addition of some star anise!
Was it unfiltered orange blossom honey? I did it last night with unfiltered orange blossom. Got some floating “debris” on the top....(?)
As a brewer and a chemist your tshirt gave me a headache. BTW squeezing the air out of the pipette bulb before sampling is a very very proper chem lab technique... but enough geekiness, I looove your videos. Great channel!
Awesome video, I feel a lot more confident making my own Viking blood now.
Hi you lovely ppl, quick question, in my haste to get 4 brews going, I never realized that the juice might be too cold. Only after adding the yeast, I saw that the temp as way down low (47 deg F) If I just leave the brew, will the dormant yeast "wake up"?
It should yes!
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you!
What is pasteurisation? Can it be done to carbonated brews?
Just Racked and bottled my Mead Today took 12 days For fermentation.
Boy it's Strong And tastes Great
That's quick, you sure it was finished?
Well the hydrometer says it's a 1.090.
And I don't think I want it any stronger than that
I can't find the yeast on my country what substitute Ican I use or can I use bread yeast?
I like the video but what is this "Group" you speak of and how can I join?
Https://www.city-steading.com/vip-club
Good day I'm planning on trying to make a version of your vikings blood 2.0. I like sweet wine and I think mead as well as I have not tried mead yet but would like to try it. My question is with the honey you used 2lbs and it came out dry you said in your video.If I use 3lbs of honey do you think it would come out on the sweet side?
Just a suggestion you should make a muscadine mead
wont acids kill yeast in hydration process?
Depends on the actual pH.
Pitching yeast. In times past, wines and beers were made in large vats. Yeast was in "cakes". You tossed or "pitched" the yeast to different areas of the vat to get the fermentation off to an even start. At least, that's what I was once told.
My Vikings Blood is on day 2 and the brew has breached the airlock and bubbles are coming out the top without much mess.... yet. Should I do anything or just change the airlock once things calm down? Thanks. You both are awesome!
Love the little post credit scene, but shocked you didn’t go with a Ferris Bueller ending since you wear that t-shirt lol
Question. I am going to try this recipe next, and i am thinking of going ahead with a 5 gal batch. So my question is, would you recommend putting 5 cups of tea in it, or backing off on it a bit? My second question is what do you think about using tart dried cherries in secondary like in VB2020? Thanks.
I recently subscribed to you guys and just wanted to say you are extremely well at explaining the "whys" and "why not" and that is much appreciated. As well as having great and interesting content and being a awesome couple! Thanks! I will be watching! :)
My husband and I just started making mead. The first one we did was the regular mead using the black tea and orange peel. It is currently on second fermentation. We decided to try the cherry mead we used all the same ingredients, except we used lavlin 71b-1122 yeast, and we keep getting juice in the airlock. We removed some juice to give it more head space but it continues to fill up. Do you have a suggestion as to what we should try next? Have you ever had this problem? Thank you for the informative videos we really enjoy them!!
Use a blowoff tube until it subsides: ruclips.net/video/nIHRaBpplLA/видео.html
I have a gallon batch running right now of Cherry Mead. I used sweet cherries, and made a black tea w/ orange and lemon, generic clover honey (i'm in Korea, there's no good honey to be had in large quantities here), and Nottingham yeast. The lesson I learned was to crush the cherries, not blend the cherries. Turns out, when they're ground, they like to cause this... growth...
Can I use it bottle own bottle and sugar like your apple cider video and yet made hard cider :-)
Any sort of chemical/ingredient that might be in juices that you should avoid if you want to use it for brewing?
Sorbates and sulfites or anything marked as a preservative.
@@CitySteadingBrews Okay, thanks!
The preservative juices are great for sweetening wine, if pasteurizing not used. I use strawberry syrup with sorbates to sweeten up a very dry watermelon wine.
I've got a biiiiiit of a problem. I just started 3 batches of Viking Blood. Why? Because it's AWESOME!! It's yummy and I like the heck out of it!! Now, for the problem... As I was mixing the honey and the cherry juice together, my bung slipped all the way into my carboy and is sitting at the bottom. Have you ever run into this problem and if so, more importantly, How do you get it back out? Also, will it hurt the brew while it's in there until it's done fermenting?? I'd really hate to toss the batch out... seems like alcohol abuse.
Can this be made with fleischmanns bread yeast?
Yes, but it will be exceptionally sweet most likely.
How do i augment the flavor? You talked about adding cinnamon? Please enlighten me in the ways and various flavors of augmentation
You add different flavors to primary or secondary fermentation.
Will try tea! Thanks
I just bottled this and it tastes amazing
The only thing I did was stabilize and clear
I don’t know how to send you a picture of the bottled product
YT does not have a way to share photos.
Now subscriber, getting ready to start, my question is would this recipe work with any kind of fruit juice, wine base? Thanks in advance
Viking blood is a Cherry mead. You can use whatever fruit juice you like but it will be something else.
Sooo I just racked both of my batches. One is a blueberry mead and the other this exact black cherry recipe, however when I did the reading, my hydrometer just sank. Even after spinning it, and the reading said 1.020… where the hell did I go wrong and does that mean my mead is junk now? First timer here. Taste tested both and definitely had a bit of bite.
Absolutely not junk. The reading will drop over time. Watch the next video in this series. Should be a link in the description.
Hey guys! -Love your channel, love your vids, love the chemistry between you guys =)
introducing questions i dont find answer: 1 So now u tasted "to soon", if u let it sit longer, when its "1.02" gravity, does that take all the sweetness out of it? If so, do u backsweeten it with honey?
2: So when wine/ mead is bottled, you can pasteurize... Can u dump a camdon tablet in it instead? so i dont have to boil and risk broken bottles?
thx for taking your time to answer!
We never add sulfites or sorbates: ruclips.net/video/XcwDuNTRygg/видео.html
You shouldn't need to pasteurize... ruclips.net/video/T9vwUibIYe8/видео.html
As for "tasted it too soon", no, we taste to know what to do next. Most meads improve with age. 1.020 gravity is considered semi-sweet or sweet. If you backsweeten, you have to be aware of the possibility of fermentation starting again. ruclips.net/video/SP2gdkwFano/видео.html
There's quite a bit to know, and if you are new at this I highly suggest following along with some of our recipes til you get an understanding of how things work. But... you have to follow them exactly, same yeast, same ingredients, etc.
First off, your videos are awesome! You have a new subscriber!
I'm on my 3rd batch of cider and this Viking blood sounds like a fun new project. I was thinking of making it 'double blood' with blood orange juice, and using fresh pressed cider instead of water.
If i don't want cherries (i don't particularly care for the taste) what would be the best substitute for the dark color? Pomegranate? Blueberry? Blackberry?
I just put together a gallon of this following your ingredients and directions. How will it turn out? Only time will tell. I enjoy your videos. Thanks!
I LOVED that video, it brought me here! Nice to see your wife again!❤ and some more of your face, beards DO age a man... keep up the great work! Sub'd! 🌱👏👏👏👏👏
Sweet meads/melomels are made by using more honey than your yeast can convert to alcohol. If you back-sweeten a mead with an ABV below what the yeast can tolerate, you'll just restart fermentation and the sweetness in the added honey will become alcohol instead.
Yup.
I really enjoyed your video...in fact I ordered stuff to make it! I tried to use your shop several times but could not make it work...?
Did you try the links in the video? Are you in the US?
I am in CT and I used the link in your video that was for your store....the store cam up....I clicked to order but nothing happened..it just went back to the beginning....sorry.
Try www.city-steading/shop
Check out brownwood fruit fast. Im trying there tart cherry now and at one month my viking blood smells great and tastes good.
I want to make a 5 gallon batch how much honey do you recommend and also how much tart cherry juice would I need for it?
You can just scale up my recipe to 5 gallons.
I’ve got 2 carboys that have been going for 2 weeks now and I have questions. Followed your recipe on this video and the OG’s were 1.114 and 1.116, now they are 1.014 and 1.011. I used D47. I’m thinking 1 more week in primary before racking it off the lees and just wanted your opinion. This is my first time at this and it just seems like it happened really fast.
This video will help: ruclips.net/video/hsOd9rWRcSU/видео.html
In reference to a good natural sleep aid and pain reliever, look into wild lettuce. It's a weed that grows just about everywhere. I dehydrate it, grind it into a powder and fill gelatin capsules with it. I take 2 or 3 at night about 20 minutes before I want to go to sleep. I've been doing this for about a year now. It works great for me. 🤷🍻
Tried to buy some StarSan but I live in Japan and can't get it shipped here. Do you know of any acceptable substitutes?
Hey I'm glad you mentioned the whole putting fruit solids in there. So hypothetically, for a friend, if a guy put a bunch of crushed blueberries into a blueberry melomel but didn't previously know that pectic enzyme might be necessary or that it existed then saw bits still floatin' around a couple weeks in, how might said 'friend' filter the fruit out come racking time? Thanks, from my friend of course, definitely not me.
Cheesecloth. The let it sit, it will clear. I never use pectic enzyme.
I just happened to have a ton of blueberries handy for my first two batches of mead, so I used them instead of raisins. They took a while in secondary to clarify, but they did clarify.
One of them was still a bit cloudy as bottling approached, so I cold crashed and it went the rest of the way to a deep gemlike blurple color
The hell with the Vikings Blood, gimme some of that Elijah Craig on the shelf behind ya! You can keep the WSR though lol. In all seriousness great vid!
Hey! I'm new to making mead and brewing my own stuff. I gave this recipe a try but scaled it up to 3 gallons. My OG was 1.118. it took about 20 hours to start bubbling and did so vigorously for 2-3 days and then calmed down quite a bit. Is this normal for mead to do this? This has not happened with the cider I've been making. Thanks and I love y'all's site!
Fermentation doesn't have to take that long. Most times it's nearly finished in the first few days. Take a reading, wait a week, take another. If they are the same, it's finished fermenting.
Hey I'm planning on making this with SafAle S-04 (dry ale yeast). Have you made a mead with beer yeast before? Also can mead with beer yeast in it sit on the leas, similar to the yeast that you use in this video.
Thanks for taking the time to read my comment
Most of our hydromels are made with Safale S-04. Remember that it has an alcohol tolerance of 9 - 11 %. That is why we use them in hydromels (lower ABV meads) and don't use Safale S-04 for higher ABV meads. We have not noticed any ill effect of leaving the brews on the lees for the time frame we show in our videos.
@@CitySteadingBrews thanks for the info it will definitely be help for my 2nd mead.
The mead kit I got was from craft a brew, I've followed the directions from the kit hopefully it comes out good. I definitely plan on following your directions for my 2nd one.
Wrap your stopper in saran wrap and push it into the bottle. I do it, and I never have a problem with my stopper slipping.
I am getting ready to make a gallon of Viking Blood with Cheribundi Light Cherry Juice. My question is how you calculated the specific gravity of the honey? The honey is out of my own hives. It is true raw honey. No filtering or pasteurizing. Also should I add more honey since the Cheribundi Light has less sugar than the original?
honey runs about 35 points per pound in a gallon of must, that varies by a few points of course, but... it's a general rule.
I did my 3 week check today. I started with an SPG of 1.12 and today it is 1.02. By my calculation it is 13% ABV. I haven't seen bubbles for over a week. I sealed it back up and will check it in a week to see if it is done fermenting. I took a sip and it has a strong cherry taste and warms all the way down.
Aloha, Dig the Vid's......Maybe you can help me ........Started batch of 3 gallons mead used bread yeast. Very active first 4 days! 5 days into it i added LALVIN 45 2.5 grams active lookin good. After only 10 days i RACKED into new clean carboy,Only because sediment on bottom and floaters on top were lookin a little sketchy. Now in new carboy very LITTLE bubble action,1 bubble every 30 seconds. As of now batch is 2 weeks old. My question is can i add a bit more yeast or should i hold off....being 2 weeks into fermentation.....? Cheers!!!
Why did you add more yeast on day 5? And... you probably tacked too early, but... did you take gravity readings? Could be finished, could be stuck.... hard to know without readings.
@@CitySteadingBrews I added more yeast on day 5 because my first yeast I used was bread yeast..........so I added Lalvin 45 once I received it from mail. Was told bread yeast will be killed by alcohol so need proper yeast.....just under 2 weeks now slow bubbles 1 every 30seconds, not much bubbles on surface, smells o.k........no readings...slowly clearing up...I'll just wait I guess as long as it smell alright it just might work. During this week I started a fresh batch with proper yeast and looks great nice bubble action smells good.....nothing but fresh squeezed O.J. vanilla bean, yeast ,honey .........thanks for the help..!!! How do I know if I racked it to early will it just sit and not bubble...? cheers
@@Hayden-sp1ol Bread yeast will work usually to about 10-12%. Without readings, you're kinda flying blind. I highly suggest using a hydrometer! The only way to know when to rack is using gravity readings, otherwise... you're guessing.
Ah, good thing i looked u up. Was about to make some with some sweet cherries. I will have to hunt the tart. But i am planning on back sweetening like i do with my other wines after the yeast is dead