TGreen588

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jaxn

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Do you want it to be pretty dry? It will be with that yeast. My first mead was similar: 12lbs clover honey, 4 gallons apple cider, and champagne yeast. It got down fairly low 1.008 and was amazing.

Just be sure you don't get a lot of the white part of the orange peel. That stuff it too bitter IMO.

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Primary:
Clover trad'l mead, Orange Blossom trad'l mead, Joe's Quick Gape Mead, Pliny the Bastid

Secondary: Basic Sparkling Cyser, Wildflower Mead, Habanero Mead, Strawberry Pizzazz

Keg: Amarillo Pale Ale, Bourbon Barrel Porter, Centennial Blonde Ale, Cider, Jalapeño Blonde Ale

Bottled: Joe's Ancient Orange

On deck: Prickly Pear Mead, Hefty Braggot, Pliny the Bastid, Chocolate Mead

jezter6

Recipes 

Like jaxn said - 12# of honey with no other fermentables and a champagne yeast will turn out with a dry mead of around 13-14% based on how dry it ends up.

Use Hightest's calculator spreadsheet (linked in the FAQ sticky here in the mead area) if you want to tweak that a bit.

You may find that you might want a little more honey to up the alcohol a bit, or you might want to find a lower tolerance yeast if you want to keep it sweet without much backsweetening.

Expect champagne yeast to take this under 1.000 (probably 0.996 or so) and you can look to backsweeten to taste if this is a little too dry for you (it certainly is for me).

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I am a member of the Maryland Brewday Group - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/md-brew-day/

MD/DC/Nova Mead Day - Argue about dates here - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-dc-nova-mead-day-argue-about-dates-here-162670/

MD Brewday- April 10, Joppa MD - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/md-spring-brew-day-157416/

MedsenFey

Recipes 

If you don't give it some nutrients you can expect a long, slow fermentation that may not finish dry (unless you plan on pitching a lot of yeast). 2 grams of DAP and 4 grams of energizer per gallon will give you a fermentation with more pep that will finish sooner (and probably drier).

Orange peels contain limonene which is a potent yeast inhibitor. The zest of 4 oranges isn't going to stop your fermentation, but all things being equal, I usually add orange zest after fermentation is complete.

Good luck!

Medsen

TGreen588

Recipes 

Thanks so much everyone