Orange Creamsicle Mead

Ok I decided to do a sweet and creamy Orange vanilla, reminicient of Orange Creamcyles. I have the primary sweet show mead going now. Here is what I got:

18-20 lbs of Alfalpha honey
2 teaspoons of Yeast energizer
2 teaspoons of yeast Nutreint
2 packets of Lavin D-47 yeast
Water to 5 gallons, may increase water to 6 gallons in topping off after racking from primary.

In secondary:

1 or 2 cans of Organic Orange Juice concentrate.
Water to 6 gallons.
Not sure how much to use.

In tetriary:

2-3 Vanilla beans (7 inch split and scraped in to a hops bag and into the must)
6 oz of Lactose (not sure of amount, basically to sweeten it up AND to add the creamyness I want)

Top off to 6 gallons again.

Main questions here is:

1. 1 or 2 cans of orange juice concentrate?
Going for a smooth sweet orange type flavor with no citrus sharpness but still want really good orange flavor.

2. Is the vanila beans enough? 2 or 3 or more? I want the vanilla flavor to comethrough a bit to complement the orange. Not to overpower it.

3. Is 6 oz enough Lactose? More or less for that nice creamy milky mouth texture and taste.


I realize that this is going to be very sweet. I like desert meads. Should I thin out the sweetness more by adding more water? Hmm.

So any ideas or experience?

I believe the readings of OG are 1.83 or so as I am reading with my hydromitor. Now the priamry IS fermenting fine, about a 2-3 bubbles ever second for the past 2 days, so I don't think that I will have problems fermenting this to 14% AND having it be very sweet.

i can tell you for sure that you need WAYYY more vanilla beans. I used 1 per gallon when I attempted a creamsicle mead and it doesnt have nearly enough vanilla. you are going to want 15-20 beans in my opinion. I know it seems like a lot, but the vanilla flavor is a key part of the flavor profile you're going for, not a subtle nuance.

Hmm, I did a Vanilla Almond that seemed fine and that had 6 beans in a 5 gallon batch. Still aging it but it has real good promise. Ofcourse that is also why I am putting it in last to layer the flavors in a bit. So the vanilla can come more to the fore after all the other flavors are integrated. Hmm, I think that I might go to 4 then.

Unless the intent is for the vanilla to completely dominate, I too would be reluctant to use more that one bean per gallon, and that, I think, would be at the top end.

I used 1.5 vanilla beans in my cherry/vanilla mead (1 gallon) pitched in the primary over a month and the flavor was near over powering when sampled at the bottling..(2 months) ...

summersolstice said:

Unless the intent is for the vanilla to completely dominate, I too would be reluctant to use more that one bean per gallon, and that, I think, would be at the top end.

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So I have been told. This is why my original plan was to do 2-3 in a 6 gallon batch. Possibly 4. 4 is 2/3 a bean per gallon and 3 would be 1/2 a bean per gallon. I may start out with 3 given the fact that I am oaking it first.

Has anyone oaked a vanilla batch? If so how did it turn out?

How did the orange creamsicle turn out? Seems interesting to me. Thinking about using 4-6 fresh oranges and a can of orange juice concentrate. Then using vanilla extract and 8-10 ounces of lactose prior to bottling. Any idea how much vanilla extract I should use?

Perhaps I'm missing the boat here since this is an older thread, but have you considered adding a small amount of almond flavoring? Believe it or not, a mix of OJ and amaretto almost exactly approximates the flavor of orange creamsicles...since you want a sweet mead anyway perhaps you could even flavor/fortify directly with amaretto. I believe there's a section in Schramm's book on doing this.

Believe it or not, a mix of OJ and amaretto almost exactly approximates the flavor of orange creamsicles...since you want a sweet mead anyway perhaps you could even flavor/fortify directly with amaretto.

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That is an interesting thought. I wonder how much amaretto in 5 gallons? Thanks!

actually I haven't bottled the Orange Creamcycle yet. That happens very soon. Aging has also yet to happen. When using orange juice concentrate be prepared for the pulp to drop strait out of the must to the bottom. It tastes wonderful but I may try a touch of almond per your sugestion here. I have a little almond extract. I also need to add a touch of vanilla concentrate and some orange zest because I accidently left the oak in the must for 3 weeks when one week should have been fine. Over oaked. I have not tasted it since I oaked it but did so before I tasted it. Turned out almost exactly as I wanted it to.

Next time I will also put in some acid adjustment to make it less acidic as I think I killed off most of the yeast in the secondary with the orange juice concentrate. To much citrus acid. Gravity readings hardly changed.

Thats all for now.

Matrix

I realize this is quite an old thread, and I apologize for reviving it, but I just pitched yeast for a 5 gallon batch of this recipe, and I was curious how it turned out, and how many vanilla beans you ended up using?

Thanks,
Eric

I ended up using 5 vanilla beans and I should have doubled it. Also, I did not use any zest so it didn't turn out as good as I wanted. But it was still good.

I read that someone did this type of mead using orange oil and it turended out good but they also put a bit of acid blend in to punch up the acidity in the secondary. If I revisit this I plan on using some zest and orange oil. Also, switching to homemade vanilla extract. This did work out good though. It was a wonderful vanilla orange flavor but not quite the Orange Dreamcicle flavor I wanted.

Matrix

Matrix4b said:

In tetriary:

2-3 Vanilla beans (7 inch split and scraped in to a hops bag and into the must)
6 oz of Lactose (not sure of amount, basically to sweeten it up AND to add the creamyness I want)

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Can I ask what you mean by Tetriary? I am thinking about trying this but in a 3 gallons recipe. Well probably 4 gallon and rack off into a 3 gallon carboy. Did you use the full 6oz of lactose? And how many vanilla beans would you suggest for 3 gallons. How much acid should I add to this for 3 gallons as well.

Thanks!

By tertiary, he's referring to the first racking after secondary (ie, primary --> secondary --> tertiary --> quarternary....)

I generally just refer to first racking, second racking, etc...

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Thanks for clearing that up!

newbiewinemaker said:

Can I ask what you mean by Tetriary? I am thinking about trying this but in a 3 gallons recipe. Well probably 4 gallon and rack off into a 3 gallon carboy. Did you use the full 6oz of lactose? And how many vanilla beans would you suggest for 3 gallons. How much acid should I add to this for 3 gallons as well.

Thanks!

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Well for a 5 gal batch, I used 1 full pound of Lactose, prior to oaking. I think that I should have let it clear fully before adding it though, just prior to bottling. So for a 3 gal batch, hmm, after going through this once, I think that I would use 8 oz of Lactose. Also, the vanilla beans you use put in the secondary or later. For a 3 gal batch, I still would use 6 beans, split open but not neccessarily scraped. I also would put them in a hops bag for easy removal. Just put a marble in the hops bag too so that it sinks.

Now, how much acid? I don't know. I would start small, like 1/4 teaspoon size for a 3 gal batch and see how it is at bottling time.

Matrix

Matrix4b said:

So for a 3 gal batch, hmm, after going through this once, I think that I would use 8 oz of Lactose.
Matrix

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So your saying you would use 8oz for your 5 gallon batch or I should use 8oz for my 3 gallon batch?


Thanks

newbiewinemaker said:

So your saying you would use 8oz for your 5 gallon batch or I should use 8oz for my 3 gallon batch?


Thanks

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I used 1 pound in a 5 gallon. For a 3 gallon I recomend the 8 oz. You should end up with a decent mouth feel. Maybe a few oz of maltodextrin too.

Matrix