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Mead Calculator Utility and TONSA

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Got it - rack and stabilize, THEN back sweeten.
Guess I will just add the cherries into the carboy after a day or so when adding the Sorbate. I like to use a bag for the cherries, but my 5 gal glass carboy neck prob won't allow this.
If I get to the goal of SG 1.000, then using the Mead Calculator I figured to achieve a target of 1.015, it works out to (1) 15 oz can each of Meijer Sweet and Tart Cherries, plus 34 oz of dried Costco Tart Cherries would get me there. No Honey. Is 1.015 really Semi Sweet, and will it take 2 weeks, a month, or longer to get there? No clue. I can also use some Oak to adjust - that is somewhere further down this journey.
 
Add your sorbate and sulphite 24 hours prior to adding the cherries and other items.

I like using the FerMonster plastic carboys as they have a nice wide mouth for accommodating those secondary additions.

1.015 isn't dessert sweet but the honey used and other ingredients can certainly impact the perceived sweetness. I have dry meads that taste sweeter than they actually are. use the hydrometer to get you in the ballpark you want and then adjust to your taste.

If you have slightly crushed and froze your fruit ahead of time, it will extract faster in the secondary as the freezing will have exploded the cell walls making it easier to extract what you want out of it. Probably in the area of 10 days or so. You generally should see the fruit turning more white as the alcohol extracts the juice and sugars from it.

If the fruits you are using have pectin, then some pectic enzyme added to the mix will help clarity on your final racking.

Oak can be good, but if your fruit flavors are very forward you may lose anything added by the oak.
 
Status Update. Finally racked into a 5 Gal carboy on 5/26 which was a little more than a month from making the batch on 4/23. SG was steady at 1.003 for few weeks, so ABV was ~16%. Added .9G K-Met, no Sorbate yet. Added a little honey dissolved in H2O to top off, this moved SG to ~1.008 or so. No visible fermentation in bubble air lock.
On 6/2 I back sweetened, and racked into a 6 gallon carboy with 27 oz dried sweet cherries and (1) 15oz can sweet cherries, topped off with some Mead from my first batch I attempted, and a little honey in H20. Also added .4G more K-Met, but no Sorbate, and decided I would add it if fermentation started again - it has not. The honey water top off additions prob cut the ABV somewhat, but OK with that since 16% is already potent.
Tasted it yesterday, and it is already superb, and much smoother that I figured it would be so early on!!!. Need to take a SG reading, but the taste profile (sweetness) is what is important to me.
NOW - I plan on racking off the cherries after a (2) week duration, which is 6/16.
I have HUNGARIAN OAK medium toast cubes on hand, and am tempted to OAK it, but forum recommendations are all over the map. Like one says 2.5 - 3 oz per gallon (~80-85 cubes) for 1.5 months, another says HALF of that and start tasting at 2 weeks. Since it already tastes pretty good, I don't want to ruin it by over oaking. Or Oak at all?
One member soaked 5 cubes along with some cinnamon sticks in 1/2 cup Vodka, and used that (strained) as a addition in a 3 gallon batch. I made some as a test and keep taking a horn or two of it, makes for a great shot:). Maybe I should rack off a gallon and experiment, and rack the rest back into my 5 gal Carboy?
Would appreciate recommendations from any members experienced in Oak additions.
 
Hi

So oak additions are best to use a lesser amount over a longer period. I say this because there are different flavors that come from the center of the cubes than the outside of the cubes. So you want a slow soak so that you get all of the different flavors you can. If you were to add double of that it will get oaky much faster. But you may then need to take them out before you reach the inside flavors. I would probably add about 15 cubes. It takes a couple of months. Maybe three, to get all the extraction you will get out of them. Use your mouth and not a calendar to figure out when it's where you like it. Pull them out when it fits what you're looking for. Remember. You can always add more. You can never take it out. I wrote a paper called wood management. And there is also a podcast that we did on it as well.
 
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Thanks for that input. I did watch the podcasts. And appreciate the specific answer you provide here to add 15 cubes and let it sit for a few months. This would be in approx 5 gallons after I rack. If I were to follow other forum guidelines of 40 to 80 cubes, it could of ruined it. As you state, start slow and taste, and can always adjust up, but not down. My other damn challenge is to not keep taking nips of it cause it already tastes amazing.
 
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