Thanks vcasey. The juice is pure black cherry with nothing added.
Forgot to post how I decided on black cherry. The grocery store where I shop has a natural foods section that includes "Knudson's Just Juice" products. I always take a peak when I go shopping. Quart jars of various juices cost about $7.50, and they usually only stock four qts of each variety. But yesterday they had a whole shelf of black cherry, and it was only $4.50 per quart. I knew it had to be a sign.
Or maybe that was just my obsession talking...
Sometimes it's hard to sort out the voices in my head.
So I checked for honey on the jelly isle and found 5 lb bottles of "Desert Gold" for $16.00. I don't know much about honey, but 10 lbs for $32.00 sounded okay. At least that's what I told myself. (Those voices again) So $27 for juice and $32 for honey, and I'm looking at a $59 investment for what I thought would be a 3-gal batch of mead. (The voices told me that was just fine)
After mixing the ingredients together I came up with only 2-1/2 gal, but it was thick and dark and tasted heavenly so I was happy. I made my calculations for acid blend, yeast nutrient, campden tabs, etc. based on 2-1/2 gal and began adding ingredients.
But here's where I failed to make an important mental leap.
HONEY = SUGAR!!!
To be fair, those two 5-lb bottles of honey weren't near as big as a 10-lb bag of sugar. I guess that misguided volume comparison was the basis of my mistake. For some reason, I thought more honey would just mean more body. Okay, lesson learned there.
I'll head back to the store this morning and buy a few more jars of juice. Let's see, that's another $14. I plan to save one for back sweetening and topping up. But the other two are going to bring this batchup toalmost 5-1/2 gallons. Hopefully that'll lower the SG a bit more also. I've already recalculated most of the other ingredients, but I'm having trouble with the acid blend so I'll do another acid test after I add the rest of the juice.
Unless someone has a different recommendation, I plan to use Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.I'll use some of the cherry juice to make a starter solution.
So to recap, I'll wind up spending roughly $73 to make a 5-gal batch of something that may or may not turn out good enough to drink next year. That's worth it, right? Hmmm. Where are those voices when you need 'em? Somehow the only voice I can hear right now is my wife's telling me I ain't too bright.
Edited by: K&GB 
Ah well. Time to jump right in.
