JOAM tanginess

I'm pretty new to mead, and brewing in general. I don't have an ideal situation for brewing, either: I live in an RV, moving from place to place for my job every 2-4 weeks. Still, I did two separate gallons of JOAM last fall (substituting half a grapefruit for the orange in the second gallon) and they came out very delicious. I was excited to get started again, so did the same (2 one gallon batches of JOAM, one with grapefruit instead of orange) but used EC1118 instead of bread yeast. I finally bottled them last night (have been pretty busy lately, so they ended up in fermentation for 4 months rather than the 3 months the last set femented). These past four months have been very cold, resulting in a chilly interior at home. I also took the recipe a little too seriously when it said to forget about them: when I pulled them out, the airlocks weren't completely air-locking. Nonetheless, the result is tasty. I realize they need to sit in the bottle for several months before reaching their peak, but I had some excess beyond what would fit in the bottle, so tried it. Seems to have a bit more of a bite to it than the first batch, and maybe even a very slight sense of carbonation-esque tingliness. These are my thoughts in comparison to the first taste I had from the first batch. Any thoughts on what might have made these differences...longer fermentation...colder fermentation...potential contamination...?

Next up, I'm hoping to set up two 2.5-gallon batches of something...haven't decided yet, but I'd like to step it up a notch and do something more interesting, but that keeps within the limits of my environment.

--R

The bite could be that these are relativley young batches.

The light carbonation could be from the lower temps. Yeast give off co2, that usually comes out of solution when fermenting. But at lower temps, the liquid can absorb more co2 instead of releasing it.

Good to know about the carbonation. It really is hardly noticeable, but seems to be there. I look forward to savoring these in a few months and seeing how they change.

--R

At the lower temps, they would take longer to ferment, so the time wouldn't have made a difference. Also, larger batches take longer than smaller batches. So both of those support the idea that it is still young.

One other thought I had... Did you rack them at all? Allowing batches to sit on the lees can cause off flavors. Not sure that would be the "bite" you are talking about, so others would have to confirm or deny my thoughts on this.

Going from bread yeast to champagne is a huuuge difference, as I'm sure you know. About 10% abv give or take, depending on your measurements and conditions. And JAOM, although I've never made it (I love dry booze too much!) I've always seen to be made with plenty of unfermented honey leftover. Unless you had enough cold to stunt the yeast, those bad boys probably went to town on everything you gave them, which is what that bite is. And since you're not dead or sick already, I'd say you've got yourself some fine bottles of real melomel on your hands!

CandleWineProject said:

One other thought I had... Did you rack them at all? Allowing batches to sit on the lees can cause off flavors. Not sure that would be the "bite" you are talking about, so others would have to confirm or deny my thoughts on this.

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Nope, didn't do any racking. Went with JOAM because it was soooo simple and I'm just getting my feet wet so far. I'll work into the stuff that requires more attention as I go, but I've really enjoyed the flavors just in the super basic stuff so far. We'll see how it goes as it mellows in the bottle. Have you made a JOAM? ...and if so, how long before you usually rack it? Thanks for the comments!

Reverie said:

Going from bread yeast to champagne is a huuuge difference, as I'm sure you know. About 10% abv give or take, depending on your measurements and conditions. And JAOM, although I've never made it (I love dry booze too much!) I've always seen to be made with plenty of unfermented honey leftover. Unless you had enough cold to stunt the yeast, those bad boys probably went to town on everything you gave them, which is what that bite is. And since you're not dead or sick already, I'd say you've got yourself some fine bottles of real melomel on your hands!

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There's a fair chance that the cold stunted the yeast at least a little bit, but they also had 4 months to do their thing, so I would think they did a complete job. It's clear, anyway. With any luck, I will not only remain undead and unsick, but also in a pleasant mead-y haze.

Nepsis said:

There's a fair chance that the cold stunted the yeast at least a little bit, but they also had 4 months to do their thing, so I would think they did a complete job. It's clear, anyway. With any luck, I will not only remain undead and unsick, but also in a pleasant mead-y haze.

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My JAO was exactly according to the recipe and sat for exactly 60 days undisturbed with a temp of 72-74 degrees. Final gravity was 1.010

So it wouldn't surprise me at all for 4 months with cool temps that you could still get carbonation, or even bombs out of them.

Fletch78 said:

My JAO was exactly according to the recipe and sat for exactly 60 days undisturbed with a temp of 72-74 degrees. Final gravity was 1.010

So it wouldn't surprise me at all for 4 months with cool temps that you could still get carbonation, or even bombs out of them.

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That'll be good to keep in mind. Anything to do but re-bottle in a couple weeks/month?