Small Cherry Melomel

Looking ahead to summer weather and travel plans, I wanted to make something for DeAunn that a) would be ready relatively quickly and b) would be of an alcohol level that would allow her to have more than a few ounces in a sitting.  I combined a smaller amount of honey with the remainder of the bottle of cherry concentrate from the session sour, and voilà: a "sessionable" melomel that should be ready to clarify and bottle after a few weeks.

Having never even tried a mead of this gravity, I'm not sure what to expect.  I kept the ferm temp low, even with the wine yeast, to minimize fermentation byproducts (off-flavours) the yeast would have to spend a lot of time cleaning up or that would require a lot of aging to mellow.  This will get Bentonite in the next couple days; looking forward to trying the sample, hoping it's not overly watery.

Tomorrow will be my first beer brewday in quite some time, following the close of the school semester this week and appropriately on National Homebrew Day and (hip-dorkily) Star Wars Day.  Though my plans for a kölsch have been thwarted by a lack of lagering time before we head back east, I have a backup strategy.  More on that soon.

Small Cherry Melomel

OG: 13.8P (1.056)
Volume: 2 gallons

Fermentables
2.5 lb Cox Honeyland Honey
8 oz Stanton Orchards Montmorency Tart Cherry Concentrate

Yeast
1 pkg Lalvin 71B-1122

Extras (beginning of primary)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Yeast Energizer

Brewday: 13 April 2013
Fermented at 55F ambient.

SNA at 24 hours into active fermentation (1 tsp each yeast nutrient & energizer).

18 April 2013: Visible fermentation has ceased; krauesen has dropped.  Moved to 60F+ ambient to finish up.

Secondary: 3 May 2013
FG: 1.002
ABV: 7.0%
Bentonite added.

Bottled: 15 May 2013
Very thin and insipid, lacking in honey and fruit character.  Bottled still, backsweetened with 8 tbsp honey in solution.