New to Mead - Recipe Question

dndlyon · 06-04-2010, 02:28 AM

Hi All,

I've made beer, and a bit of wine, but never mead. I'm learning what I can and thinking about trying a batch on one of my next brew nights. I found an interesting recipe at www.stormthecastle.com (see below).

My question - is this a bit too simple? As a microbiologist it seems like there is a lot of room for contamination and resulting off flavors or inconsistent flavors across batches. However, this may just be that I'm unfamiliar with mead.

It seems like there are almost 2 categories of mead - what I would consider "organic" (like the recipe below) and the "not so organic" (lots of sanitizing and boiling). Is this just because I'm new to it, or have I found a questionable recipe?

Thanks in advance!

•1 gallon of Spring Water
•Yeast: Fleishcmanns (1 packet)
•25 Raisins
•1 Cinnamon stick
•1 whole orange, sliced and peels included
•1 pinch of allspice
•1 pinch of nutmeg
•3 1/2 pounds of clover honey
•1 whole clove
Simply mix all the ingredients then pitch your yeast. Caring for this mead? The beautiful thing about this mead is that you can rack it off of all the oranges and raisins any time you want to, or you can just leave it all in there. When the oranges sink to the bottom you are ready to drink it or bottle it.. Simple as that. I recommend you bottle it and let it age for a couple more months. This recipe is just simply delicious.

MedsenFey · 06-04-2010, 01:24 PM

What you have there is essentially a version of Joe's Ancient Orange and Spice Mead (JAOM for short around here). It is a tried and true, easy to follow recipe that will produce a sweet orange mead reliably if you follow the directions. It can be consumed as soon as it clears, but it does improve quite a bit with aging for 6 months or more. It is a great recipe for first time mead makers and requires minimal equipment, and is certainly a good way to stick your toe in the water.

Meads are much less prone to contamination than beers due to several factors including higher levels of alcohol (this recipe usually gets 13-14%), and low levels of nutrients in the must. You can make mead using much more complicated processes than this, and I certainly do, but the simplicity and consistency of results has made this the most popular mead recipe by far.

Just use the best, freshest, and least-processed honey you can get, as good honey will improve the results of the recipe (even JAOM).

Good luck with it.

dndlyon · 06-04-2010, 02:43 PM

Thanks so much for the info! This is one of those smack yourself in the forhead moments...should have stopped and thought about the nutrient thing for a minute

I'm hoping to have enough self control to let this one sit for at least 6 months next to the Apfelwein. You've convinced me that this is a bit easier than I expected - on my way to find some good quality honey! Thanks again!

BadKarma · 06-04-2010, 06:23 PM

bwaahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

SUCKER!!!!!!

Looks like we got us another one. Welcome to the Honey Hole. There are many of us here.

chode720 · 06-04-2010, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadKarma

bwaahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

SUCKER!!!!!!

Looks like we got us another one. Welcome to the Honey Hole. There are many of us here.

Yes, Welcome

Just like beer, this hobby really sinks it teeth into you. Right now, I have 4 carboys of mead aging and several 1 gallon bottles of various test batches. Oh, and another 3 gallons fermenting and about 12 more gallons planned

Make sure you have plenty of freezer space once you start....its a great place to store your honey.

dndlyon · 06-04-2010, 08:54 PM

Yup...suckered in...at least I'm in good company

I started with the beer and wine, but have always wondered about different variations of mead. I tried it once and it really (REALLY) sucked (too sweet, too warm, too thick). The more I read, the more I'm convinced that the people making it really (I mean, REALLY) didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Glad to be welcomed to the crowd! I'll let you know how the first batch goes!