Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead Yeast Starter: no Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: n/a Batch Size (Gallons): 2 Original Gravity: n/a Final Gravity: n/a IBU: n/a Boiling Time (Minutes): n/a Color: n/a Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 68F Additional Fermentation: n/a Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): n/a
This is an 'updated' version of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, updating a few things like the yeast used, and the orange flavor extraction. I've seen a few comments that JAOM was a little 'pithy' or bitter until it had aged 6-8 months.
Water used was store bought 'spring water'...sanitary, but still containing minerals and some hardness.
Process:
This is for a 2 gallon batch...easy enough to scale up or down. I started by washing an orange very thoroughly, and then zesting the exterior, stopping before I hit any white rind/pith. That got me about 2 tsp of zest.
Then I hand squeezed the rest of the juice out of the orange, and set it aside.
I used 5lbs of honey - just under 3 lbs of alfalfa and the rest was with Sam's Club clover honey.
I dissovled this in a gallon of 160F water, which caused it to drop to about 150F. I added the zest, 2 sticks of cinnamon, 2 whole cloves, and the squeezed juice, plus yeast nutrient and energizer (added per the label's instructions).
I let this steep 10 minutes, then used a water bath to cool it down.
(I used the 'light heat' method dictated by Schramm because half my honey was raw and unfiltered, so I wished to try to kill wild spores).
Added to carboy using a strainer to remove the spices, zest and pulp from the OJ, and topped off to two gallons.
This had me about 67F, and my yeast pack was swollen, so I aerated and pitched.
I expect this will take 3 weeks to ferment out. The yeast should stop around 12% ABV, leaving some residual sweetness without being cloying. If its too try or acidic, it can always be fed more mead or back-sweetened with a little splenda.
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Hopefully the 'better' mead yeast and the removal of orange bits will make this a little smoother and a little quicker to become drinkable. The must smelled amazing at least
I've made mead with bread yeast a few times, and it does work, but it always took longer to mellow out.
__________________ Malkore
On tap: Camelot Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Primary -
Secondary - Vanilla mead
Gal in 2009: 27
Gal in 2010: 34
Gal in 2011: 13
Gal in 2012: ~
Have you completed a batch of your not-so-ancient? I am curious to see how this differs. After just bottling a batch of JAOM, I can say, I intend to never use bread yeast again. Man is that a bitch to not rack, it never seems to settle and is so easy to disturb.
__________________ Meads: Leap Year, MAOM, Habanero/Serrano Capsicumel \m/ Oo \m/, Show Mead for Berry Melomel and Cinnamon Vanilla Metheglin Ciders:3 Ciders with differing additives TBD, Strawberry/Apple Cider Wine: Trader Joe's Triple Berry Wine for SWMBO, Cherry Port, planning my Black Currant Vanilla Wine, Banana Wine
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snuffalupagus
the idea of homebrew is to make something that tastes better, is better for you, and reflects your personal tastes better than a commercial brew... not to power your lawmower
I'm so glad this got popped to the top. I had a couple issues with Joe's that stopped me from making it but this sound like just the thing for the empty gallon jug and honey sitting on my table.
Thanks malkore! Have you sampled yours yet?
__________________
Batch 1 Brewing The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
I have tasted it once so far, when I took a hydro sample about 1 week ago. Its getting close to being done.
Its still a sweeter mead, bordering a dessert mead...but that means it takes less time to age. It was very mellow but still a bit sweet.
I agree that bread yeast is not very flocculent nor does it hold a firm yeast cake. My past experience with the wyeast sweet mead yeast have been favorable.
I'll post a photo and an updated gravity soon.
Thanks for the PM, I should subscribe to my own thread
__________________ Malkore
On tap: Camelot Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Primary -
Secondary - Vanilla mead
Gal in 2009: 27
Gal in 2010: 34
Gal in 2011: 13
Gal in 2012: ~
Hey Malkore, How did it come out? Was it still sweet, I really want to try my turn at a mead. Thanks for any input.
__________________ Verbal Brewery Co.
Drinking:Dark Copper Ale
Bottle conditioning: Dark Copper Ale,Cream of Wheat
Primary #1: EdWort's Apfelwein
Primary #2:Superior Strong Ale
Primary #3:Orange Kolsch
Secondary: none
planning:A stout of some sort(any ideas?) or AHB's Arrogant Bastard
Racked to secondary two days ago. This is definitely a sweet mead. Wyeast sweet mead yeast craps out at 13% ABV, very similar to bread yeast attenuation levels.
it should not need to age more than a month or two, but would be pretty drinkable out of secondary.
__________________ Malkore
On tap: Camelot Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Primary -
Secondary - Vanilla mead
Gal in 2009: 27
Gal in 2010: 34
Gal in 2011: 13
Gal in 2012: ~
Racked to secondary two days ago. This is definitely a sweet mead. Wyeast sweet mead yeast craps out at 13% ABV, very similar to bread yeast attenuation levels.
it should not need to age more than a month or two, but would be pretty drinkable out of secondary.
got any updates for us???
i know this is stupid, but what does it mean to zest an orange? to scrape the outer orange part off into shreds?
Zesting an orange is kind of like peeling. But in a traditional way, a zester peels very thin shallow strips out of the fruit's skin. You must be careful not to dig too deep as to start peeling the white of the orange, it will provide no orange flavor but only off-flavors.
__________________ Meads: Leap Year, MAOM, Habanero/Serrano Capsicumel \m/ Oo \m/, Show Mead for Berry Melomel and Cinnamon Vanilla Metheglin Ciders:3 Ciders with differing additives TBD, Strawberry/Apple Cider Wine: Trader Joe's Triple Berry Wine for SWMBO, Cherry Port, planning my Black Currant Vanilla Wine, Banana Wine
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snuffalupagus
the idea of homebrew is to make something that tastes better, is better for you, and reflects your personal tastes better than a commercial brew... not to power your lawmower
any place like Linens and Things, Bed Bath and Beyond...Pier 1...etc...will have a few zesters in their kitchen utensil isle. its like a REALLY sharp, very fine cheese grater looking thing, usually pretty narrow. careful using it, you can zest your fingerprints right off!
as far as updates, I'll be racking it this weekend, heck maybe tonite when i bottle my apfelwein.
i tend to make mead, and forget it...otherwise i lose my patience...which mead NEEDS
__________________ Malkore
On tap: Camelot Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Primary -
Secondary - Vanilla mead
Gal in 2009: 27
Gal in 2010: 34
Gal in 2011: 13
Gal in 2012: ~
Malkore's (not so) Ancient Orange Mead
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