Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

ohhh.....

I think I killed them. I added the yeast and then shook the crap out of it to mix it up. A couple of times to dissolve the honey.

I just tested the yeast in a cup of warm water and sugar and in 10 minutes the foam was thicker than the water and it's still rising.

Im assuming it would be ok to add more yeast since the I murdered the first ones.

I dont think you murdered them. Shaking aerates the must, which is actually a good thing. My vote is you wait longer. Dont forget the Creamy mantra, "honey and yeast WANT to make mead". With JAOM you really really have to screw things up to fail, and that doesnt include shaking. Yeast are tougher than any shaking we weakling brewers can throw at them.

Do nothing, relax, and freak out again in a week.

flb_78 said:

I think my yeasties are dead. 12 hours now and almost no foam on top and no activity in the air lock.

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That thing is fermenting dawg. Look at all the bubbles in the must. Unless you just shook it before the picture was taken its starting to take off. Instead of looking at the airlock look at the liquid for signs of activity. You should see small bubbles.

Ive watched the liquid. Nothing moving, no bubbles, nada.

I read all 104 pages last night and watched a video on youtube, so I consider myself an expert now... :fro:

I went ahead and threw in another teaspoon of yeast about an hour ago and gently rolled the bottle to mix it in. Now the airlock is bubbling quite regularly.

Question, I currently have a 1 gallon batch going into its 2nd week of fermentation....currently it has a balloon for an airlock. I have a couple of S-lock airlocks coming in the mail this week, will it hurt anything to switch from the balloon to the airlock?

bsjracing said:

Question, I currently have a 1 gallon batch going into its 2nd week of fermentation....currently it has a balloon for an airlock. I have a couple of S-lock airlocks coming in the mail this week, will it hurt anything to switch from the balloon to the airlock?

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Nope. Don't tell anyone I said this, but if the balloon popped or tore between now and then and you didnt know it, you are most likely fine as well.

Remember, honey and bread yeast want to make mead, not toxic sludge.

Thanks!

If there is ANY homebrew advice I am qualified to give (and thats debatable) its all the ways to mess up making JAOM and still come out with something drinkable. hehe.

Just made my first Jaom...made mead before but first this way

threw this one together for my batch that i started in august, should be ready to bottle this weekend i hope.

rawr

One way to ensure you have enough patience to allow your mead to clear is to read every page of this thread. I just finished page 83. My favorite part was when people on page 11 were saying, WOW This thread is up to 11 pages already!!!

CreamyGoodness said:

Nope. Don't tell anyone I said this, but if the balloon popped or tore between now and then and you didnt know it, you are most likely fine as well.

Remember, honey and bread yeast want to make mead, not toxic sludge.

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For the record, the balloon didn't have any breakdowns, and the S-style airlock is now attached, and has activity so all seems to be well. Thanks again

CsaintG said:

One way to ensure you have enough patience to allow your mead to clear is to read every page of this thread. I just finished page 83. My favorite part was when people on page 11 were saying, WOW This thread is up to 11 pages already!!!

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I would say my favorite part is LoneTreeFarms wine label on the previous page

After 1 week.

I already have the ingredients for Joe's Grape Mead. Waiting on a jug and airlock to show up.

Ok, I modified the recipe tonight for another batch....basically went with a peeled orange and Lalvin EC-1118, I pitched the yeast at 8pm and by 8:21 had airlock activity...is this normal?

I used the bread yeast and mine was bubbling pretty good in about 10-15 minutes.

The original recipe states the mead should start to clear at two months. It also states if you wait long enough the oranges will sink. Before racking or bottling should I wait till the oranges sink and about how long does that take?

8 weeks, or 2 months, whichever comes first...

I just made my first batch of this. My question is why does it say to keep it dark? The only reason for keeping it in the dark that I know of is to keep the uv light from skunking the hop oils and I'm pretty sure I left out hops.

RJ15092 said:

The original recipe states the mead should start to clear at two months. It also states if you wait long enough the oranges will sink. Before racking or bottling should I wait till the oranges sink and about how long does that take?

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On my original batch, it's starting to clear at 3.5 weeks, but I used a little less honey hoping for a bit dryer finish.

I've read over and over on here to NOT modify the recipe, especially in terms of yeast. What if I switched out the bread yeast for WLP720. It's supposed to ferment out pretty clean and sweet. Would this alter the final product too much?

I'm a sucker for punishment and did a few modifications anyway. My mead will be two months old on the 24th.

This is after it's second racking. I was trying to be very cautious about leaving lees and and fruit pulp behind so i've lost more than I originally intended. I tested a sample of the stuff near the bottom which was separately racked into a 750 ml wine bottle. The sg was 1.03 and it's still pretty sweet.

Will this benefit from aging? I followed the recipe just as it was written, today I bottled it. The last bit I put in a glass and it didn't taste great. I think I sucked up some of the junk on the bottom though. Would that give an off taste? If the rest of the bottles have that taste will aging help? It has been just over two months since I made it and the fruit had sunk to the bottom. Later on I think I will open a bottle and try it. I don't think I am ready to start drinking quite yet .

BWN said:

Will this benefit from aging? I followed the recipe just as it was written, today I bottled it. The last bit I put in a glass and it didn't taste great. I think I sucked up some of the junk on the bottom though. Would that give an off taste? If the rest of the bottles have that taste will aging help? It has been just over two months since I made it and the fruit had sunk to the bottom. Later on I think I will open a bottle and try it. I don't think I am ready to start drinking quite yet .

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Definitely, it keeps getting better and better. Try to avoid the gunk at the bottom as best you can, and it can give a yucky yeasty taste. After a few glasses of JAOM however, you wont care too much .

Smelled mine this past weekend, and forgot to grab it and take it home with me. It's been in a bottle for 6 months. I have another one that still has the air lock on it, thats been in that primary for 5 months? I need to go back and get those and taste them. The first one has a strong winey small to it.

It was just the one glass that had stuff from her bottom. All the bottles should be clear. I wouldn't say it is a yeasty taste but more of a hot alcohol mediciny taste.

BWN said:

It was just the one glass that had stuff from her bottom. All the bottles should be clear. I wouldn't say it is a yeasty taste but more of a hot alcohol mediciny taste.

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Gotcha. My advice is to put it in a closet and forget about it. I have some from my wedding in June that I started making last November, and its amazing now at more than a year old. It was just ok when I bottled it in June.

I have one bottle left that I made 3 years ago. ... I dont want it to go away

I finally got to bottle and taste my first batch that i made at the beginning of September.

Surprisingly good, but a lot drier than I expected. I think the bread yeast that I used may attenuate a bit further than Fleishmann’s. I'm now on a mission to find Fleishmann’s here in South Africa.

I've also tracked down a better source for honey, so the next batch will be 5 or 6 gallons

Two gallons whipped up and ready to age. I am terrible at following directions, so I had to tweak it.

One has the recipe to a tee...except that I used a dry Mead yeast. I can't stand sweet drinks, so I wanted a dry finish (I would prefer to backsweeten if needed)

The other one has some fresh blackberries added to it.

OG at 1.112, and that's not even counting the sugars from the fruit yet. Will be interesting, and I don't think I am in for a short process on this one.

Thanks for sharing Yooper!

twalte said:

OG at 1.112, and that's not even counting the sugars from the fruit yet. Will be interesting, and I don't think I am in for a short process on this one.

Thanks for sharing Yooper!

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The sugars from the fruit will contribute 0 to the alcohol because the specific gravity of the fruit is less than the specific gravity of the must. In fact the blackberries will actually lower the overall SG of the concoction but not that significantly.

bottlebomber said:

The sugars from the fruit will contribute 0 to the alcohol because the specific gravity of the fruit is less than the specific gravity of the must. In fact the blackberries will actually lower the overall SG of the concoction but not that significantly.

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IE fruit is for flavor not booze in this particular application

I made a 1 gallon batch of this 7 weeks ago. I'm probably reacting to quickly as this is my first attempt, but it has not started to clear and all my fruits are still at the top. I did go out of town for a couple days and did the unthinkable and turned the thermostat to 56F. Could this be my problem that temps dropped and my yeast went dormant? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks

bottlebomber said:

The sugars from the fruit will contribute 0 to the alcohol because the specific gravity of the fruit is less than the specific gravity of the must. In fact the blackberries will actually lower the overall SG of the concoction but not that significantly.

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Wow...lesson learned. I wanted the fruit flavor, but learned a lot from this. Good point...that liquid is definitely dense with sugar, so I see your point. Excited to see how this tastes in a year. Never had a mead.

Hi folks, new user here

I just started my JAOM on Jan 2 (wanted to start it on Jan 1, but didn't have the cinnamon stick or cloves yet). It is currently bubbling away nicely in my linen closet, the only place I had room enough for the jug.

I had a few questions I didn't see answered in all 108 pages (so I created an account just to ask them . When the rapid bubbling and foaming subside, and I go to add water to top up, how far up do I fill it?

When it comes time for bottling or racking, is it a giant no-no to pour it from the primary through a funnel with several coffee filters to catch the lees and fruit? It seems to me that would be a good way to get all the good stuff and avoid most of the unwanted stuff. I've not seen anyone mention doing this.

Attached are some pics of my first gallon attempt, and the home-made s-bend airlock I bodged together. The cup and bin lid were precautions against overeager fermentation, as I've seen several people mention, to try to keep any overflow contained and off the closet walls.

I am no expert on Mead, but I would propose using a small autosiphon to transfer. You can sanitize a small bag (like a paint strainer bag from Lowes) and put it over the end of the autosiphon before you put it into your gallon. That will minimize aeration and allow you to filter the liquid before it enters your autosiphon.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/mini-auto-siphon.html

Not sure if oxidiation is an isssue with Mead yet, but this is how I am handling small batch beers.

FYI - I started my first Mead at the end of December and you are definitely getting more kreusen than I am.

Thanks for the advice. I'd like to try to keep purchases of specialized equipment to a minimum, at least until I find out if I like this hobby or not.

The yeast appear to be very happy. It's currently bubbling away, as if I had an aeration stone in there. I can hear the tiny bubbles popping on the surface, like with a Coke, and the airlock has a large bubble go through every 10 seconds or so.

AbuMaia said:

Thanks for the advice. I'd like to try to keep purchases of specialized equipment to a minimum, at least until I find out if I like this hobby or not.

The yeast appear to be very happy. It's currently bubbling away, as if I had an aeration stone in there. I can hear the tiny bubbles popping on the surface, like with a Coke, and the airlock has a large bubble go through every 10 seconds or so.

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You can also just use some clear ice maker hose and the paint strainer bag. Both are available at Lowes.

I've got a few more questions, now that my first question is mooted (topped up the water this morning).

I live about a football-field's distance from some train tracks. Whenever a train goes by, I can feel it shaking the house slightly. Might this disturb the lees enough that it doesn't really clear up properly?

I can see that the yeast is still bubbling pretty actively, though the foam isn't as thick as it once was. I can see the little bubbles, and hear them popping on the surface. However, all activity in the airlock seems to have stopped. I've seen no change in the water level in the airlock for the past few hours now. Does this mean that the CO2 is being absorbed into the mead? It doesn't seem to be leaving by the airlock, even though it's still being produced by the yeast. Do I have a leak somewhere else? Will that let in O2 and oxidise the batch? Or does it have something to do with the outside air pressure? It's been going up recently. Would that affect it?