Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

This is way easy to make. To make 5 gallons, should be able to multiply most everything x5 to get what ya need with a couple exceptions. One, use the same amount of yeast from what I've read, do not up the amount. Two, don't up the whole cloves much, they are way powerful. I'm not sure about the cinnamon sticks, but I like cinnamon myself, so would probably up it as well. Good luck with this.

Oh the nutmeg and allspice, if you add those, remember that a little goes a long way with those spices.

Simple? Sure, it's easy as pie.

For 5 gallons, multiply everything x5 except for cloves and yeast. Use the same amount or at most x2 cloves, and the same amount of yeast would be enough.

Good luck :fro:

I started my first brewing/fermenting tuesday with 5 day sweet country cider and yesterday started a JAOM, following the directions to the letter. I hope it all works out!

Has anyone used Blood oranges for this? I just found some at the store last night and bought two and made this mead. I think it will have a nice red hue to it when it's done, or I hope so.

So why would I x5 the yeast as well? I mean if I'm making a larger batch wouldn't it need more yeast as well or would be adding more yeast ruin the taste of the mead? Sorry I just don't understand why more yeast would be a bad thing since I'm making a larger batch. Now since I'm making a larger batch will it cause the fermentation and aging time to be extended or will the times still remain the same. Thank you all for your advice though I will use it wisely and let yell know how my first batch turn out. I will also post pictures of the way things go and also turn out in the end.

Yeast is able to replicate and expand all over the must so it is not necessary to add more. You might get a quicker start from a bigger amount of yeast, but I have used always the same amount (1 little bag) for different capacities (1, 2, 3 gallons) and it works OK.

I'm going to make it sounds great!

I'm assuming all the same sanitary practices apply when making mead?

Daver77 said:

I'm going to make it sounds great!

I'm assuming all the same sanitary practices apply when making mead?

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Yes

I used blood oranges thinking the same but it turned out clear as day. Still delicious though

Does it matter what kind of bread yeast, I mean does it need to be active dry yeast or the rapid rise highly active yeast for this recipe?

I made this a while back and it tastes incredible! Wasn't sure how it would come out, so I did an experimental 1 gallon size. Definitely going to make more!

thumbs said:

Does it matter what kind of bread yeast, I mean does it need to be active dry yeast or the rapid rise highly active yeast for this recipe?

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Only the active dry yeast. The highly active yeast will produce off flavors.

My attempt at JOAM. The 1 Gal glass jug on the right was started 6/11, crystal clear but so sweet it's almost not drinakble. Don't know if I should add some water or save it and use it to blend with the other 2 batches.

Made 30 minutes ago:
Center batch is a 1.5 gal blueberry, raisins, cinnamon and vanilla Ancient Mead using S-05.

Left side batch is also 1.5 gal pretty close to original recipe but w/o cloves, added AllSpice. Also used S-05.

Bottom pic just to show the clarity... picture doesn't do it justice

hmmm since we have JOAM and MOAM. why cant we also have PMP? or Poor Man's Pyment its basically the same as JOAM but don't add oranges, but use a ton of raisins cut up or made in the food processor, boil, cool, add honey and ferment!

Here's my version of JAOM. Left it to cool overnight and it got down to 65*. According to the recipe, temp range is 70* - 80*. I have it on my counter warming up. Should I wait or go ahead and pitch? Is that too cool for bread yeast? I'm using Red Star yeast (no Flieshman's on hand).

*EDIT* Ended up pitching anyway. After a day it's fermenting away nicely!

Made this last night. Had clementines and a pomegranate, so that's what I used. Used 3 clementines and the juice of the pomegranate. Clementine doesn't zest nearly as well as an orange. And my cinnamon stick was kinda long, probably should have used half of it. I think I'm under-zested and over-cinnamoned. Guess I'll know in 6 months. Anyway, a fun project, thanks, Yooper.

So I made this exactly 33 days ago and it has been clear for about 6 days. I noticed when I shine a light behind the carboy I see very fine bubbles rising up from the yeast cake.

The airlock shows no activity over 5 minutes but I noticed that overnight it is expelling some gas.

Should I let this go longer or is this done?

Is there any benefit to cold crashing it at all?

bellinmi88 said:

So I made this exactly 33 days ago and it has been clear for about 6 days. I noticed when I shine a light behind the carboy I see very fine bubbles rising up from the yeast cake.

The airlock shows no activity over 5 minutes but I noticed that overnight it is expelling some gas.

Should I let this go longer or is this done?

Is there any benefit to cold crashing it at all?

<img src="https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=45703"/>

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Let it ride, it won't hurt anything to let it sit and do its thing. There are magical things that happen to this brew as it ages, I'm pretty sure the directions say to not touch it until the 2 month mark. My last batch made it 8 months, sadly it is gone but I have a 5 gallon batch that is at day 40 with no signs of clearing.

I've noticed with the batch I have made that it is very sweet, almost sickly sweet. Does that ever subside?

kevokie said:

I've noticed with the batch I have made that it is very sweet, almost sickly sweet. Does that ever subside?

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Not really. I entered mine in a completion and all 3 judges wrote the same thing in my remarks. They also said to add some acid to balance the sweetness.

This was too easy to make to not try it... I put together a 1 gallon batch using Orange Blossom Honey that smelled amazing. I couldn't stop myself from modifying the original recipe by zesting the orange and chopping up the orange segments to avoid the possible pith issue though. We'll see in a few months how it turns out, but the must punched me in the face with orange and cinnamon so I'm interested in the results.

Thanks for the easy step into adding small batches of mead into my pipeline. Excited that my gluten sensitive mother will be able to try one if my products!

just made a two gal. batch with grapefruit and lime.i prefer the sour citrus fruits to offset the sweetness of the honey.my fifth batch in the last couple years,ive found it best to just leave it be as long as you can stand it

first time making this changed some things on it like the yeast. bread yeast really yuk

3 lbs orange blossom honey
1 tsp yeast nurt
1 gallon water
1 ec-1118 yeast packet
24 Raisins

skiped the orange not a big fan
will see how it is in 2 months

dougen said:

first time making this changed some things on it like the yeast. bread yeast really yuk

3 lbs orange blossom honey
1 tsp yeast nurt
1 gallon water
1 ec-1118 yeast packet
24 Raisins

skiped the orange not a big fan
will see how it is in 2 months

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Don't knock it till you try it . It is S cervasae after all.

dougen said:

first time making this changed some things on it like the yeast. bread yeast really yuk

3 lbs orange blossom honey
1 tsp yeast nurt
1 gallon water
1 ec-1118 yeast packet
24 Raisins

skiped the orange not a big fan
will see how it is in 2 months

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Which will probably just give you a dry mead. After all, that's nothing like the JAO recipe, it's more of a dry traditional, that just happens to have some raisins (not necessarily a bad thing, they can help with nutrition some and with body/mouth feel).

The whole point of JAO is that the orange gives a bit of extra acid, plus flavour, yet the use of bread yeast is to allow for a lower alcohol product that poops out earlier leaving some residual sugars, that help off set any bitterness that might come from the pith of the orange. Plus the lower alcohol level and residual sweetness helps with it being ready to drink sooner than a traditional might be.......

I have another batch of this going right now, made with blood oranges. Maybe a dumb question, but when it's time to bottle will I be able to make this thing carbonated? Say adding 1 oz of priming sugar? I ask this because they say the yeast "poop out". So not sure that they would fire back up to carbonate it or not. I like things fizzy, and I think this would be better if it had a fizzy bite to it. It's very sweet.

kevokie said:

I have another batch of this going right now, made with blood oranges. Maybe a dumb question, but when it's time to bottle will I be able to make this thing carbonated? Say adding 1 oz of priming sugar? I ask this because they say the yeast "poop out". So not sure that they would fire back up to carbonate it or not. I like things fizzy, and I think this would be better if it had a fizzy bite to it. It's very sweet.

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I don't see how you could safely in a bottle. The bread yeast wont carbonate it and if you add a more alochol tolerant yeast you may end up with bottle bombs.

Just started my batch this weekend. Reading the comments I'm a bit worried as I used the full orange; pith, zest, and all. Should I rack it after a month to prevent bitterness?

sgtaxt said:

Just started my batch this weekend. Reading the comments I'm a bit worried as I used the full orange; pith, zest, and all. Should I rack it after a month to prevent bitterness?

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I've made several batches of this. The ones that I used the entire orange in is better than the ones without the orange peel, or substituting orange juice for the orange. I feel this mead really benefits from the orange peel. Its a very mild and subtle bitterness, but I think its way better than no bitterness at all.

ive just made my first ever batch of Mead following this recipe. Its currently fermenting away. After 2 months of fermenting and i take it out of the demijon and bottle it. Do i need to leave it for 6 months to let it age or can i drink it straight away?

Chevey0 said:

ive just made my first ever batch of Mead following this recipe. Its currently fermenting away. After 2 months of fermenting and i take it out of the demijon and bottle it. Do i need to leave it for 6 months to let it age or can i drink it straight away?

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You can drink it if you would like, but it is much better after about 6 months and it only gets better after that. Mine only made it to 8 months before it was all gone.

cheers, i will see how long i can last then, does it matter what colour the glass bottle is for ageing?

Chevey0 said:

cheers, i will see how long i can last then, does it matter what colour the glass bottle is for ageing?

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If you keep them in a dark place no. But you should normally keep them in the dark anyway. I use clear so when I take one out to share with my friends it gets ooohs and awwws for the color.

didnt know it should be kept in the dark, cheers for that

its been bubbling for the last week now which is great but now its turned a little milky, is that normal?

Chevey0 said:

didnt know it should be kept in the dark, cheers for that

its been bubbling for the last week now which is great but now its turned a little milky, is that normal?

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It won't get clear until it is almost 1 1/2 months old. Could be more, I have a 5 gallon batch going that is almost 3 months old and still has a haze to it. I'm going to let it set for a few more weeks and then rack it to help it clear.

Starting a 1 gallon batch this weekend!

I keep reading how cheap this recipe.is, how much are you guys paying for honey? I just went to the organic food store and a 5 lb tub of honey was $37... went to Walmart and bought 7 24 oz (3 gallon batch) bottles for $48.... effing hawaii prices.

veritas524 said:

I keep reading how cheap this recipe.is, how much are you guys paying for honey? I just went to the organic food store and a 5 lb tub of honey was $37... went to Walmart and bought 7 24 oz (3 gallon batch) bottles for $48.... effing hawaii prices.

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Holy crap!!! Its $2-$5/lb over here depending on what you get

I'm paying around $4 a pound for good local honey

Yeah, I love getting slapped upside the head with the luxury tax... Waiting for my JAOM to cool, only thing I varied on was the oranges. Used 3 naval oranges; one full orange, one peeled and meet (no pith), and one just the meat. I also went down to my liquor store and picked up the only bottle of mead they carry.... Holy crap is it sweet! If I would have made it I would have thought it hadn't finished fermenting type sweet.... hrmm