GuldTuborg

Recipes 

I made a batch of JOAM that I apparently forgot about for a year. Yes, it's been sitting in a 1 gallon glass jug for a year. The airlock is still full (don't know how), but the oranges have sunk to the bottom and now have a dusty black appearance. Has anyone ever let their mead sit this long on yeast and fruit? I'd lift the airlock to give it a sniff, but I'm a bit scared of singeing my olfactory nerves away completely. Any advice as to whether I ought to keep or pitch this funky fermentation?

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beninan

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Don't toss it until you try it! you never know, it may be AWESOME.
I've got a gallon that's been whispering to me for the past month now...

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fatbloke

Recipes 

Joe's guidance about waiting until the fruit has dropped would be the earliest you should have thought about racking.

A lot of new mead makers are unaware just how much patience is needed.

The alcohol will have preserved the fruit, but there might have been some autolysis from the yeast, so the only way you're gonna be able to tell what it's like is to taste some.

I'd bet that it'll probably be fine and taste pretty good (could easily be wrong).

regards

fatbloke

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malkore

Recipes 

Take a small taste. If its horrible then there might have been some mold spores in the oranges or something.
And that much yeast cake could definitely make autolysis a problem (it does happen, just not terribly often like older brew books lead us to believe)

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

toolboxdiver

Recipes 

it should be fine I have racked JAOM on light toast oak and aged it for a year then bottled and it was very smooth

PJford15

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I just bottled 6 month old JAOM the other day. I had racked it off the fruit after about 6 weeks though so I can't vouch for blackened oranges... Mine was clear and sweet.

Dr_Gordon_Freeman

Recipes 

it's probably great.

Bush_84

Recipes 

Ya what's the update on this? Was it awesome or terrible?

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