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Sweet melomel (Rosehip Mead)

• If you wish to use rosehips as a flavouring to make melomel, a fruit-flavoured mead, use about 4 lb. of rosehips.
• Boil them in a gallon of water for 5 to 10 minutes.
• When cool, mash them with your hands or a piece of hardwood.
• Strain through butter muslin.
• Add 4 pounds of honey, 15 grams of citric acid, and yeast nutrient, and stir until the honey is completely dissolved.
• When lukewarm, add the yeast and ferment as usual.
• It is an improvement for this mead to use a Sherry yeast and ferment it in the Sherry manner, i.e., after the first racking, not before.
• Your fermenting container should be only 7/8 full.
• Use an empty airlock, lightly plugged with a small piece of cotton wool.
• This exposes the meat to air but prevents the entrance of any vinegar flies.
• It also allows a degree of oxidation.
• You can also use ordinary wine yeast and ferment and mature it in the usual way if you wish