HoD clone.....

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Probably better off calling it a Black Agnes "clone". I'm pretty convinced there'd be no way to recreate Heart of Darkness without having access to the Schramm estate fruit, which obviously no one does.

I don't care what you call it. I would love to (try to) re-create either one!
 
71.jpg

She's pretty hot.
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no

ISO!

Do you slice/mash the fruit to open them up or just toss them in whole?
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no

ISO: this mead.
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no
Holy **** dude.
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no

ISO. Sounds incredible!
 
Not enough fruit, Schramm's doesn't use juice, concentrate or pits. You will need about 12 pounds of real fresh fruit per gallon of mead, most likely 4 lbs of honey per gallon of spring water.

I used 33 lbs of fruit, red raspberries, black currants and balaton cherries for a THREE gallon batch. It's missing the schaerbeek cherriness if that's even a word, but balaton's are close, this came close, a little heavy on the raspberry and that was the least amount of fruit that I used, maybe 6 lbs, but you can ask abawol01, it's pretty solid, and you can still taste honey, which I think gets lost in HoD.

Nkalr2LIGbuHrsH99PwB1yDnX4jatSBnXlyWa8JipooV=w519-h921-no



mike-ditka-tongue-o.gif
 
bigk84 how did your mead turn out? Looks fantastic. Drop me a direct message if you can, would love to pick your brain about it
 
bigk84 how did your mead turn out? Looks fantastic. Drop me a direct message if you can, would love to pick your brain about it
Came out very nice, but it was significantly dryer than HoD, next batch I would use more honey and change my nutrient schedule. It is still an extremely fruit forward mead, I cracked one the other day and I would brew it again as is too. PM me anytime, I'm rarely on here but happy to chat about homebrew/mead/beer etc.
 
bigk84 any chance you would be cool with publishing your recipe? I would love to give this one a shot!
Love to, except I'm terrible at writing recipe's down.

Take 8 lbs black currants, 8 lbs balaton cherries, 8 lbs red raspberries, add about a half gallon spring water, take an immersion blender and blend the **** out of it, add at least 6 lbs honey maybe 8, blend more, take gravity , you're going to want to be close to 1.6 ish maybe higher, add more honey/water until you get desired gravity, which I don't know what it is, 1.8? Definitely less than 1.2...I'm not a professional and am always learning, you'll probably use 12 lbs ish of honey. I've also decided that real fruit is definitely the way to go, I've messed around with concentrates and have yielded great results, but there is just something about real fruit. Real fruit is also expensive. When I bought those fruits I want to say they were close to $8 per lb (do not buy grocery store frozen fruit, you want to buy high quality fruit).

add nutrient and a **** load of 71B, let it go to town. I yielded about 24 375's. This might not be that accurate, but it'll be close enough to get a good product.

I believe I ordered the cherries from here - https://kingorchards.com/iqf-cherries/
Currants here - http://www.currantc.mybigcommerce.com/frozen-black-currants-de-stemmed-5-lb-6-99lb/
red raspberries might have been from pro fruit, but I am not sure.\

I know Schramm's uses estate grown fruit, and Schaerbeeke cherries, but if you know a source for those, go for it, I used the fruit I could find.

Hope this helps and good luck!
 
^The mead in question is the best mead I have ever tasted, period. It converted my anti-mead girlfriend with it's tart dryness. It was so spectacular, it still haunts my dreams.
 
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^The mead in question is the best mead I have ever tasted, period. It converted my anti-mead girlfriend with it's tart, dryness. It was so spectacular, it still haunts my dreams.
Thank you sir. I'll be making it again...and the first batch is set aside for you...whenever I get around to filling the box out, it's in progress
 
Thank you sir. I'll be making it again...and the first batch is set aside for you...whenever I get around to filling the box out, it's in progress
Given the inputs, low yield, etc, I think double dipping is irresponsible on my part. Praise is just beyond due; all hyperbole aside, it is really stellar.
 
Coming back to this, thanks bigk84 for all the advice starting off. Here's what I ended up doing:

*I overshot the ABV as 71B dried this out to nearly 1.0 gravity, I would reduce the honey next time by 1lb.

For 3 Gallons
11 lbs. | Wildflower Honey ($68)
10 lbs. | Frozen Balaton Cherries ($30)
5 lbs. | Frozen Black Currants ($68)
4.5 lbs | Frozen Red Raspberries ($20)
10 g (0.35 oz) | Lalvin Narbonne Yeast (71B-1122)
1.25 gal | Purified Water

O.G. - 1.120
F.G. - 1.002
ABV - 15.5%​

SNA:
Total Fermaid K: 5.1g
Total DAP 9.7g
Mix SNA w/ 4 steps: At 24 hours, 48h, 72h add 1.3g Fermaid K and 2.4g DAP.
30% sugars consumed (no later than day 7), add 1.2g Fermaid K and 2.5g DAP.​

Steps:
1) Sanitize everything
2) Macerate/mash fruit in bucket with 0.5 gallons of purified water
3) Mix honey and water to get to ~3.5-4 gallons (loosen honey by placing containers in warm water) - fruit will take up space, when removed it should be close to 3 gallons.
4) Pitch yeast (rehydrate yeast in advance with Go-Ferm)
5) Add SNA as scheduled above
6) Primary for 3 weeks (remove fruit when racking to secondary)
7) Secondary for 2 months
8) Bulk-age (currently at 8 months) <- currently here
9) Stablize - Add 0.58 g of K-meta (calculated for free SO4), add to bottom of bottling bucket (no more than 1 Campden tablet per gallon)
10) Wait 1-2 hours
11) Add 0.75g-0.9g K-Sorbate (calculated)
12) Back-sweeten w/ 0.52# of table sugar or 0.65# of honey (my mead is at 1.001, this should raise it to 1.010 or semi-sweet to balance the 14% ABV)
13) Bottle

I'm hoping to stabilize and bottle in the next few weeks, I can't wait any longer!
 
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Anything Schramms style should be fruited in primary and start at a minimum of 1150 up to 1180. Use a minimum of 5#s/gal of fruit (I use total volume, not finished) You should finish between 1065-1085FG. When done correctly, you will use hardly any water at all. I freeze my fruit and let it thaw and liquify prior to pitch. Treat the mead like a red wine and punch down the cap frequently during active ferm. I recommend a 4gr/gal of yeast minimum. Nutrients are not necessary in the amounts of a trad mead, but if you can calculate YAN, tailor a nutrient regiment accordingly. Otherwise, cut your amount of nutrients by at least half for a trad at the same gravity. Rehydrating with GoFerm and tempering a nice starter is good practice. You will have about a 60% efficiency if all goes well. Very expensive to play around with but well worth it in the end. Do not skimp on fruit quality.

A basic recipe may look something like this.......

5gal total starting volume
30# fruit of choice (frozen and thawed.......pectic enzyme optional)
20# honey of choice
top off with water to 5 gal total starting volume (probably a few quarts)
25 grams dry yeast
32 grams GoFerm
Nutrient of choice and whatever method you prefer to administer

The biggest issue with meads like this is pushing the gravity boundaries and the possibility of a stuck fermentation. Starting with a big healthy starter is key. Also, mind your PH.

More advanced methods can include step feeding both honey and fruit.
 
Anything Schramms style should be fruited in primary and start at a minimum of 1150 up to 1180. Use a minimum of 5#s/gal of fruit (I use total volume, not finished) You should finish between 1065-1085FG. When done correctly, you will use hardly any water at all. I freeze my fruit and let it thaw and liquify prior to pitch. Treat the mead like a red wine and punch down the cap frequently during active ferm. I recommend a 4gr/gal of yeast minimum. Nutrients are not necessary in the amounts of a trad mead, but if you can calculate YAN, tailor a nutrient regiment accordingly. Otherwise, cut your amount of nutrients by at least half for a trad at the same gravity. Rehydrating with GoFerm and tempering a nice starter is good practice. You will have about a 60% efficiency if all goes well. Very expensive to play around with but well worth it in the end. Do not skimp on fruit quality.

A basic recipe may look something like this.......

5gal total starting volume
30# fruit of choice (frozen and thawed.......pectic enzyme optional)
20# honey of choice
top off with water to 5 gal total starting volume (probably a few quarts)
25 grams dry yeast
32 grams GoFerm
Nutrient of choice and whatever method you prefer to administer

The biggest issue with meads like this is pushing the gravity boundaries and the possibility of a stuck fermentation. Starting with a big healthy starter is key. Also, mind your PH.

More advanced methods can include step feeding both honey and fruit.

Very informative, thanks! Any feedback on amount to use of fruit puree vs whole frozen fruit?
 
Very informative, thanks! Any feedback on amount to use of fruit puree vs whole frozen fruit?

Depending on the puree, I would determine the sugar content and dose accordingly. If it's not concentrated, I would use the same weight ratio I mentioned above. If you can get your sugar contribution from the fruit to 25% or higher, thats ideal. Concentrates are much easier to work with and more efficient than purees, and thats the direction I would go. Another suggestion is to combine concentrate and whole fruit for less loss and more control. I do cherry meads with primarily tart cherry concentrate and use 1-2#/gal of mixed or sweet cherries either in primary or secondary for a more "whole fruit" character and complexity.
 
1-year later, back-sweetened and bottled.

I got a little lazy on the transferring (only transferred twice over the last year), but no ill-effects and slight haziness because I literally just back-sweetened before bottling and didn't let it settle, nor did I use any clarification.

Regardless, I'm thrilled with the results. (picture with direct sunlight behind it, it's really dark mead) Only modification is restrain the black currants a little further, the cherries & raspberries could be more prominent)

20180706_173125.jpg
 
1-year later, back-sweetened and bottled.

I got a little lazy on the transferring (only transferred twice over the last year), but no ill-effects and slight haziness because I literally just back-sweetened before bottling and didn't let it settle, nor did I use any clarification.

Regardless, I'm thrilled with the results. (picture with direct sunlight behind it, it's really dark mead) Only modification is restrain the black currants a little further, the cherries & raspberries could be more prominent)

20180706_173125.jpg

ISO
 
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