Homemade Apple Strawberry Mead (Strawberry Cyser)

Strawberry Mead

Strawberry mead is also called strawberry “honey wine.” Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to humanity, spanning thousands of years. Its origins are difficult to pinpoint due to its ancient roots, but there is evidence of mead in various early cultures worldwide, including Asia, Europe, and Africa.

The simplicity of its primary ingredients (honey, water, and yeast) meant that early civilizations could make it. Historical records and archaeological finds suggest that mead could have been made and consumed as far back as 7000 BC in Northern China and around 2800-1800 BC in Europe.

As for its health aspects, strawberry mead, like other alcoholic beverages, can have beneficial effects on health when you consume it in moderation.

In moderation, mead made with raw honey can offer some health benefits due to the nutrients found in honey, including antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Honey is known for its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. The healthfulness of mead can also vary depending on the specific recipe and any additional ingredients, such as fruits in melomels, which can add further nutrients and antioxidants.

Nonetheless, consuming mead in moderation is essential, recognizing it primarily as a cultural and gastronomic experience rather than a health product.

Mead with Fruit (Melomel)

Melomel is a type of mead made with fruit added to the fermentation process alongside the primary ingredients of water and honey.

Adding fruit imparts a range of natural colors and flavors to the mead and can influence its sweetness, acidity, and aroma, creating a diverse spectrum of taste profiles.

Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are popular choices, but you can use virtually any type of fruit to make melomel, offering endless possibilities for customization.

Melomels provide a delightful way to explore the art of mead-making with the added dimensions of fruit flavors, making them a favorite among novice and experienced brewers.

My Strawberry Mead Recipe

I have a riddle for you: If mead is alcohol fermented with honey, cider is alcohol made from fermenting apple juice, and melomel is mead made with fruit juice, what do you call apple juice fermented with honey? LOL, it’s called Cyser.

Cyser is both a mead (melomel) made with apple juice and a cider fermented with honey.

This strawberry mead recipe is one of my all-time favorite homebrews because the ingredients are extremely simple. I mean, it doesn’t get easier than five ingredients!

Here is everything you need to make a half-gallon of this apple strawberry mead (cyser):

• 48 fl oz apple juice
• 16 fl oz filtered water
• 350 Grams strawberries
• 75-100 grams honey
• 2 grams cider yeast (or 2 tablespoons wild yeast starter)

Mead Brewing Supplies

If this is your first time making strawberry mead at home, I highly suggest starting with a half-gallon recipe like this. This lets you get acquainted with the process and taste test before committing to a large batch.

Here is my Amazon list for brewing supplies. If you have a local home brew store, that is also an option to get what you need.

I got all my supplies at my local homebrew store up the street from my house. At a homebrew store, you can have someone help you pick out the right supplies and proper fitting airlocks. Please note that these links change sometimes, so you need to verify that the lids and airlocks you buy fit the jug you buy.

• 1/2 gallon glass jug (with a cap)
• a second 1/2 gallon glass jug (with cap)
• 1 rubber stopper for brewing – You will need to make sure it is the right size for your jug. Some jugs have different diameter openings. I’ve linked the size stopper that fits my 1/2 gallon glass jug.
• an S airlock for the stopper
• a funnel
• large pot for boiling
• cheap vodka (for cleaning equipment)
• Two 1-Liter swing-top bottles (carbonation safe, for bottling the mead)

Choosing Yeast for Mead

You can use champagne yeast or cider yeast for all my cider, wine, and mead recipes. If you visit a home-brew store, they should be able to help you select a yeast. I really love this Cider Yeast from Mangrove Jack’s too.

When buying packaged yeast, I like to make sure that the yeast species is not genetically modified. We chose to use Saccharomyces bayanus. This yeast species is associated with the natural fermentation of grapes, and it’s great for any mead fermentation.

Another option is to use wild yeast. You only need about two tablespoons of wild yeast starter in place of the yeast in the recipe. Click here to learn how to make a wild yeast starter.

How to Bottle and Carbonate Apple Strawberry Mead

Bottling and storing strawberry mead is pretty straightforward. It would help if you verified that you have carbonation-safe bottles.

To carbonate mead in the bottle, we must add a small amount of sugar, priming sugar, right before bottling. I like to use honey as priming sugar because it contains a lot of fermentable fructans—more fructans = more bubbles.

The yeast will feed on the freshly added sugar and produce more carbon dioxide. Since the mead is in carbonation-safe bottles with the cap secure, the CO2 is forced into the mead and becomes carbonated. Bottling 1 liter with only one tablespoon of honey is not enough sugar to excessively carbonate. It’s just enough to produce a pleasant level of carbonation.

To make this a still strawberry mead instead of sparkling mead, do not add any honey or sugar when you bottle it.

You’ll need:

• Two 1-Liter Swing top bottles(Carbonation Safe)
• Organic Honey

How to Bottle

1. Clean and sterilize the bottles.
2. Add one tablespoon of honey to each 1-liter bottle. (side note: I like to add in a splash of lemon juice when I bottle to round out the flavor.)
3. Using a funnel, transfer the mead from the aging jug into the carbonation-safe bale top bottles, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the jug.
4. Cap the bottles and invert gently twice to mix the honey with the mead.
5. Allow to ferment at room temperature for five to seven days, then immediately place in the fridge. You can age the mead for three more weeks in the fridge before enjoying it chilled.

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