Joe's Quick Grape Mead

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Had a bad experience with Joe's Ancient Orange Mead,but I'm thinking I was to blame...I left everything in primary for maybe 8 months :eek: Oranges didn't look to healthy when I finally decided to rack.After a night of drinking with my buddy,we broke it out and my wife quickly snatched it up and down the drain it went,said we would end up dead...it was horrendous...anyways,I've decided to try again.
Made this one today but only variation was I used Welchs black cherry grape,and no buckwheat(was allergic to as a kid-not taking chance) OG was 1.100 so hopefully good to go..will update
 
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Started this last night, my first "mead"....used Welch's Black Cherry/Concord Grape juice instead. Bubbling away nicely.
 
I just racked my first 1-gal. batch of JQGM onto the Campden and sorbate after having it sit in primary for 5 weeks. Clear with very compact lees. It had a decent perceived sweetness (definitely on the dry side, which I'm happy with) so I didn't backsweeten. It definitely tastes very rough around the edges. Welchiness factor is through the roof. Has anyone made a "pretty-dry" to "dry" JQGM? What's their experience regarding aging and getting this thing to mellow a bit?
 
Hello. I just read the entire thread and have just have a couple of questions left. When doing a 5 gallon batch of this does it taker longer than the 4 - 6 weeks to ferment or is it the same as a 1 gallon batch? Is the target finishing gravity 1.000? I am new to brewing and have only got one beer under my belt and some apfelwein fermenting. This look different and easy so I want to try. Thanks in advance.
 
TunaTarTar said:
Hello. I just read the entire thread and have just have a couple of questions left. When doing a 5 gallon batch of this does it taker longer than the 4 - 6 weeks to ferment or is it the same as a 1 gallon batch? Is the target finishing gravity 1.000? I am new to brewing and have only got one beer under my belt and some apfelwein fermenting. This look different and easy so I want to try. Thanks in advance.

Probably be a bit longer but not by any significant time. Mine finished at about 1.002 but then you back sweeten it. I'm about to pop open my first one tomorrow that's been in the bottle since December. Will post tasting notes tomorrow
 
I started a 1gal. batch of JOGM on 3-1-13. I racked it this evening it finished at .996 back sweetened it to the recipe specs. it turned out fanfreakintastic hopefully the same way in the next month then will bottle.here is a pic

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Just popped open my first bottle of a batch I bottled December 12. It's pretty darn good! Needs to mellow a bit more to tone down the alcohol bite and the welchs taste but its still tasty

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As a substitute for Welch, i will try it with Welch to produce a bigger batcht. I did take 4 weeks to ferment, but it is already very tasty after 6 weeks. Very nice mead, thanks
 
Mine fermented all the way in just under a week. Should be fun trying this in a few months. Right now its certainly an interesting experience.
 
Has anyone tried this with white grape cherry welchs. All i have is lalvin 71b. Thoughts around this.
 
I made mine in september and still need to bottle it. I am wondering if I could have got renewed fermentation with that much time. Need to find out sometime, I don't know much about back sweetening yet. I do recall it giving off occasional bubbles since I tried to stop the yeast. Need to check the gravity.
 
Ended up bottling mine last night that I made in September. It finished at 1.012 and tastes ready to go. The Welch's grape flavor is barely discernible and tastes more like a wine than that. The honey flavor is very prominent and I liked it better chilled. Still have my 2nd batch to bottle soon, then I am making more. It's quick and easy, but also no problems bulk aging if you want to let it sit for a while.
 
Made a batch of this and followed the exact original recipe but used Ocean Spray cranberry, blueberry, blackberry juice mix. Wow!!! Really good wit no back sweetening.
 
I made this last year and it was a hit! Be cautious as there is a reason Vikings are well known for making/drinking mead. This stuff is STRONG.

Drink a glass and wait. It does not hit you right off but sneaks in. I would drink a glass and say, "Mmm, that was good! Im going to have another glass." I pour another take a sip and the first glass kicks in full force and the freshly poured glass sits unfettered. Then when I wake up (lol), I must pour it out and waste it.

Im going to get another batch going. Prob follow the recipe loosely. Ill let you know what I end up doing and how it turns out.
 
Nice!

I've done many variations of this but the only change I've made is with the types of juice.

Everything else, honey, yeast etc and the volumes of each remained the same.

So far, all of them have turned out great.

Other changes I want to try are with back sweetening but I prefer dry so I may just do it by the glass.
 
Backsweetened last night and had yeasty smell and taste. How can I get rid of the smell and taste?
 
Backsweetened last night and had yeasty smell and taste. How can I get rid of the smell and taste?

Did you do a secondary? You can also do a cold crash. That will help the yeast settle. But if its bottled already you might be hosed :-(

Perhaps some aging will do some good in mellowing the unwanted flavors.
 
Made a batch of this and followed the exact original recipe but used Ocean Spray cranberry, blueberry, blackberry juice mix. Wow!!! Really good wit no back sweetening.

Cracked open a bottle last night....wow this does get better with age.
 
I just started a batch with the cherry white grape juice but also added a dozen cherries that I soaked in campden a few days after fermentation started. I figure the cherries should add a little more depth, but will just see what happens. I love the mad scientist aspect of meadmaking especially with the easy basic recipes. My larger mead batches will need a lot of time to mature since they are all well above 12% alcohol. These are good for holdover batches until those are developed and matured.
 
I started a batch of this on7-2, and racked it onto 4 oz of honey, the sorbate and the tablet per instruction yesterday. But now, about 12 hrs later, that honey is still sitting at the bottom. Should I try to shake it up, or just let be? thanks
 
I started a batch of this on7-2, and racked it onto 4 oz of honey, the sorbate and the tablet per instruction yesterday. But now, about 12 hrs later, that honey is still sitting at the bottom. Should I try to shake it up, or just let be? thanks

If you're not seeing bubbling with this then sanitize something and mix the honey in. I personally like to mix well to speed fermentation. Some say the yeast will work through unmixed honey eventually but that's when you start with an active primary fermentation. But you racked onto more honey in a secondary (which I wouldn't have done). You racked a now higher alcohol mead onto a new sugar source with the yeast not working at full efficiency due to the high alcohol environment. Unless you're using a highly alcohol tolerant yeast like a Champagne yeast, it may not be able to fully metabolize the new sugar source and you end up with a finished mead with honey mixed in. I'd just go ahead and mix it all together and let it continue to ferment. You may have lengthened the whole fermentation for this mead but the worst that will happen is you get a slightly sweeter mead. Depending on the yeast and the current alcohol content of the mead at present, it'll still be fine. You're only talking about 4 oz. of honey which is not much.
 
Just bottled a batch made with grape juice and ocean spray cranberry juice, and I don't see it lasting long. This stuff is great. I bought some more juice blends yesterday, going to experiment with different blends of juice. I think I'll always want at least one batch of this going
 
just bottled my 1st batch that had a 6oz/6oz back sweeten. it tasted great, think i'll open my 1st bottle at xmas for first real sample. 2nd batch will be back sweetened 4oz/4oz and racked later today. have to go beekeeping and see if my bee's have any more honey ready to take.
 
aghhh, well had a 1/2 bottle left over after bottling, so opened it up and offer the wife and 2 neighbors a sample telling them it was just bottled and will get much better with aging. i think its amazing, even though i know it young and needs aging. wife hated it made bad faces, neighbor said it smelled horrible and waste of time. lol i think its great and after 6 months to a year in bottle, they wont be included when i start cracking them open
 
aghhh, well had a 1/2 bottle left over after bottling, so opened it up and offer the wife and 2 neighbors a sample telling them it was just bottled and will get much better with aging. i think its amazing, even though i know it young and needs aging. wife hated it made bad faces, neighbor said it smelled horrible and waste of time. lol i think its great and after 6 months to a year in bottle, they wont be included when i start cracking them open

Try 6 weeks. Unless something went wrong, it should be perfect. It ages really fast. Unless you tried to up the gravity.
 
ok 5 days in bottle and i have my new degassing set up, so 1st degassed the 2nd batch thats got another week until bottling and took a 5 day old bottle and degassed it, thinking i should wait, but think i might pop that bottle open and try her.
 
lol i left it to age and instead had some of a great port i have. but i'm thinking of trying it this weekend. i'll post about it then
 
I am a beginner with mead. Does this recipe age well? Or is it meant to be drank right away?
 
ok let it sit in bottle for a week, then degassed the heck out of it, i really enjoyed it, will age the rest but it was very good
 
Definetely need to make this up... will go for the 6 gallon carboy when i get it emptied from the cherry berry mead.
 
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