| 3 gallons water | 1 gallon unfiltered wildflower honey (12 lbs.) |
| 72 oz. cranberries, previously frozen, partially mashed (6 12-oz pkgs) | piece of ginger the size of my 2 thumbs, peeled and sliced |
| 2 lemons, sliced | 1 packet Pasteur Champagne yeast |
Bring water to a boil in a nonreactive pot (e.g. enamel). Stir
in all the honey, swishing out the dregs of the honey from the jar with
some of the warm water.
Bring honey-water mixture to a boil. Boil, skimming the scum,
20-30 minutes (or until the scum rise no more).
Put in mashed cranberries, sliced lemons, and sliced ginger.
Simmer another 15-20 minutes.
Turn off heat and allow to cool to blood temperature.
Strain through a wire strainer into a 5-gallon carboy, and add one
packet yeast. Stir gently.
Cap with a water lock, and allow to ferment 3-4 weeks, until the lock
burps about every 18 seconds.
Bottle in clean bottles. Drinkable at once, chilled. Slightly
fizzy.
Made on May 27, 2003, bottled June 19th, served June 21. Some
still remains, we'll see how long it keeps.
Melomel is mead with fruit. Most people call this "Cranberry mead."
Use bottled (spring) water, or filtered water.
Used this quantity of cranberries because it's what I had on hand.
Consider a second filtering at some point in the cycle, using a finer mesh or a cloth - the June '03 version had quite a lot of fruit meats suspended in.