Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Cheesy_Goodness said:

My fruit has pretty much all fallen and I'm ready to bottle this weekend. Quick question though, how much does a usual batch yield? I figured one (full) gallon would yield about 5 750ml wine bottles, but taking sediment into account how much do you guys usually get from a one gallon batch? Also, do you rack to a bottling bucket first or is it ok to rack straight from the carboy?

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I yielded 3L (4 x 750ml bottles) from my gallon batch. I probably could've gotten a bit more, but I was trying real hard not to pick up any sediment with my siphon.

I actually ended up transferring to secondary (3 L soda bottle) for a bit and bottling from there. I'm glad I did, because I did pick up a small amount of yeast on the transfer, which I was able to leave in the secondary.

Assuming you are using one of those glass gallon jugs, if you topped it to about 2 to 3 inches from the lip, then you probably have one gallon plus 8 ounces. The trubb in the bottom is about one inch, so I guess you are going to lose about one tenth gallon, or 13 ounces. I have just let it settle an pump siphon directly out of fermenter, lowering as it empties, stopping short of trub. You could pour off trubb into yet another mason jar or small container and let that settle, giving you a little more.

I did a Jaom earlier this month as my first mead ever. Since I am quite impatient, I opted the 5 gallon route. Heh, if I have to wait and age , I may as well have a full batch waiting!

I ended up using some yeast energizer and yeast nutrients. Also, I subbed for sweet mead yeast. Got a little too happy with the honey mabe.. About 18 lbs for 5 gallon batch. This is more like joes modern orange mead.

I'm hoping for something super sweet! Maybe drinkable in 2 months? I'm hoping the yeast poops out at 10 percentish and leave a lot of residual honey. If not, I suppose I will back sweeten.

I plan on bottling half in beer bottles. I'll make a sparkled/carbonated version with the other half in a keg.

I've heard a lot about staying away from wine yeasts and subbing for something easy and crisp like white labs california ale strain.. Any thoughts?

thedirtychemist said:

I did a Jaom earlier this month as my first mead ever. Since I am quite impatient, I opted the 5 gallon route. Heh, if I have to wait and age , I may as well have a full batch waiting!

I ended up using some yeast energizer and yeast nutrients. Also, I subbed for sweet mead yeast. Got a little too happy with the honey mabe.. About 18 lbs for 5 gallon batch. This is more like joes modern orange mead.

I'm hoping for something super sweet! Maybe drinkable in 2 months? I'm hoping the yeast poops out at 10 percentish and leave a lot of residual honey. If not, I suppose I will back sweeten.

I plan on bottling half in beer bottles. I'll make a sparkled/carbonated version with the other half in a keg.

I've heard a lot about staying away from wine yeasts and subbing for something easy and crisp like white labs california ale strain.. Any thoughts?

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I would stay away from the hardier yeasts, part of the JAO recipe is that you're using something that will die at about 8% ABV, thus leaving it nice and sweet, plus removing the need to age the heck out of it. I personally remove the pith and seeds (just use zest and actual edible part pureed in a food processor) when making JAO because I don't like the bitterness that they can impart and I hate trying to fish quarters of oranges out of a carboy. I've never had a batch go south.

I have also tried swapping for other citrus fruit and it's always been good, I've made it with blood oranges, clementines, grapefruit, and kumquats (which came out kind of bitter) and none have been bad. I think clementines make my favorite JAO.

Come on fruit, fall!!!!!!!!

Looking good...when did you start it? I'd estimate about 7 weeks or so ago?

I've got a steady rotation going myself.

Sept 21, nailed it lol

Nice! I made a batch on 3/7/13. See my post on page 133. Racked it to a clean 1 gallon carboy on 5/8/13 and bulk aged it till tonight. I just got 4 bottles and some left over (which I'm drinking now). I've never had any that have been aged this long. It's very tasty. Plan on bringing 2 bottles to a family gathering in December, drink one and stash the 4th for a year. Fingers crossed.

Aceandover said:

Come on fruit, fall!!!!!!!!

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Holy crap that is clear. At first I thought the foldgers singles was a label on the carboy!

Aceandover said:

Come on fruit, fall!!!!!!!!

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Super clear. Sorta looks like you put grapes in it rather than raisins. What's that stem looking thing?

bottlebomber said:

Super clear. Sorta looks like you put grapes in it rather than raisins. What's that stem looking thing?

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Looks like a clove to me.

That would be a clover, I read afterwards that u should smash the raisins a bit so that's why they expanded

Being the eager beaver I am, I bottled this after sitting in secondary for a week. A buddy of mine brought over a store bought commercial mead(Texas Renaissance Festival Traditional Mead) and we gave mine a side by side comparison. The color was almost identical to what was purchased, and the only taste difference was in mine you could taste the alcohol...Along with everything else in the mead, but 100 acceptable for a two month fermentation! I bottled it to age off the alcohol burn and plan on enjoying this immensely when the time comes. I did not take a before and after hydrometer reading, only an after...But, the tube gave my wife and I a buzz!

Quokimbo said:

Being the eager beaver I am, I bottled this after sitting in secondary for a week. A buddy of mine brought over a store bought commercial mead(Texas Renaissance Festival Traditional Mead) and we gave mine a side by side comparison. The color was almost identical to what was purchased, and the only taste difference was in mine you could taste the alcohol...Along with everything else in the mead, but 100 acceptable for a two month fermentation! I bottled it to age off the alcohol burn and plan on enjoying this immensely when the time comes. I did not take a before and after hydrometer reading, only an after...But, the tube gave my wife and I a buzz!

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I love the bottles. Are they labels?

Um, kind of...They are vinyl decals I cut using my plotter. I make signs, vehicle lettering and junk and thought this would look much more awesome than printed labels. If anyone would like some labels like this let me know lol It is what I do and we can knock some out!

TheHumbleConundrum.com

Quokimbo said:

Um, kind of...They are vinyl decals I cut using my plotter. I make signs, vehicle lettering and junk and thought this would look much more awesome than printed labels. If anyone would like some labels like this let me know lol It is what I do and we can knock some out! TheHumbleConundrum.com

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I sent you an email from the contact page of your site.

jstampler said:

I sent you an email from the contact page of your site.

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It never came through? I sent you a PM here...Maybe it is lost in the tubes? I have not finished updating my site with and you can not directly email me from the site. Maybe there was a typo? Either way, just let me know what you were wondering about...Thanks and later!

It finally showed up some 5 hours later...Just an FYI lol

Quokimbo said:

Being the eager beaver I am, I bottled this after sitting in secondary for a week. A buddy of mine brought over a store bought commercial mead(Texas Renaissance Festival Traditional Mead) and we gave mine a side by side comparison. The color was almost identical to what was purchased, and the only taste difference was in mine you could taste the alcohol...Along with everything else in the mead, but 100 acceptable for a two month fermentation! I bottled it to age off the alcohol burn and plan on enjoying this immensely when the time comes. I did not take a before and after hydrometer reading, only an after...But, the tube gave my wife and I a buzz!

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My og was about 1150, so assuming we both did it the same you have about 17.6%. Nice!

BigGoat said:

My og was about 1150, so assuming we both did it the same you have about 17.6%. Nice!

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That is a nice amount! I changed the yeast, but used same amount of honey, and everything. Thanks for this! I thought about doing one of those web mead calculators to see what I got...but this works just as well! Hahaha

No problem. I'm just waiting for mine to clear a bit more and for my fruit to drop. Hopefully just in time for the holidays

I was way too eager. Only about half my fruit had fallen when I racked it into secondary...Being my first time to ferment, I think next I will be able to put off my anticipation for the next three(Cherry Vanilla JAOM, Strict JAOM, and a Blueberry JAOM). lol

Yours look good also!!

BigGoat said:

No problem. I'm just waiting for mine to clear a bit more and for my fruit to drop. Hopefully just in time for the holidays

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I gotta ask, is that a Captain Morgan bottle on the right? How did you scale down the recipe?
I've got a few bottles I've been keeping around for just such an occasion

I just made the gallon recipe and put half in each 1.75L bottle

So, with that last gallon I bottled, to avoid further fermentation I have placed it in the refrigerator. I did not want to add anything to it to stop that and was wondering if I brought it out after a week or so would it still ferment? I know I bottled way early and do not want explosions anywhere? Is this a good practice or would I be better off just waiting in the big jug with an airlock?

Other than that, I lifted the lids on my three gallons and let me say...My 71b Dark Cherry is looking fantastic!

That is some weird looking stuff in the cherry batch. I think it was featured in a episode of Dr. Who.

Epimetheus said:

That is some weird looking stuff in the cherry batch. I think it was featured in a episode of Dr. Who.

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Never watched Dr. Who but what looks so odd?

I made two batches yesterday of this. But I think I messed up. I did not dissolve the honey prior to putting in the carboy. It has all settled at the bottom. I have shaken it like a crying baby, but it will not mix with the water. Should I heat it up? Then re pitch yeast? Or just leave it alone? It is bubbling pretty good starting about an hour after pitching yeast originally.

JOHN51277 said:

I made two batches yesterday of this. But I think I messed up. I did not dissolve the honey prior to putting in the carboy. It has all settled at the bottom. I have shaken it like a crying baby, but it will not mix with the water. Should I heat it up? Then re pitch yeast? Or just leave it alone? It is bubbling pretty good starting about an hour after pitching yeast originally.

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From what I understand it will still work fine and the yeast will still consume all that honey. I'd just leave it alone.

Agreed. You'll actually get to see that line between water and honey go down and down as the yeast munch away. It's actually pretty cool to watch and I sometimes intentionality don't mix too well just so I can see this.

There's no effect on the final product.

Good luck with the non-mixed batch. It's not ideal, but should be ok.

made a batch two days ago, voided the warranty.

Clementines. Zante Currants. Wildflower honey.

everything else by the book.

a tad on the cold side though in my house, making for a slow ferment.

Had to show mine off today I just bottled. OG 1.113 FG 1.040. Tastes delicious,made my kitchen smell delicious. Particularly had a nice prominant but subtle cinnamon aroma with a complex floral. Very balanced with the citrus and a very very slight breadyness on the finish wich I found pleasant nothing you would think of as bread yeast-all the flavors dominate complexly. Doesnt come off too sweet but lets you know its honey which is what lacked about my in dry mead I made before-that and I think the 1.09 gravity didnt do well with a completly dry mead. Honestly this is the same gravity finish of a Chaucers mead but this JAO mead is way better.

This tastes good to go to me right now and will be confident in giveing a few away this holiday. Clear and noticed a very slight citrus pulp if you look hard. Very happy how this turned out,this will wow some of my family that has never had mead. Im not mead expert but this tastes pretty flawless to me and as good if not better than alot of commercial meads Ive tried which is about a dozen maybe.

This was the best pic I could get out of my outdated phone. Got about 1.4 gallons,didnt have a problem with the yeast,it formed a nice tight cake which was not disturbed when I slid it around on the counter to bottle. I even slurped up about every oz of this out of the fermenter! Ended up putting pvc sleves on the front row and that little 7 oz rogue bottle will be my tester before the holidays. Gonna make some labels for these.

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think I went over a tad on the honey and I only did one orange per 1.5 gallon not shure if I should have went 1.5 oranges but did use about 50 raisons 1 cinnomon stick and 1 clove,same amout of yeast. Its perfect. I was worried about oxidation because of the bad seals- (I have to reinforce and tape them up) I get on my wide mouth jars but this appears to be fine so far. Bottom pic is first day of fermentation.

Why do I ever read this site? So many amazingly easy fermentibles. Now I'm gonna have to buy several kilos of honey and a handful of extra airlocks and try out a few one-gallon batches with different adjuncts - I foresee ancient pomelo mead in my future, and a chagrined fiancee.

I have two batches going. One was by the book and the other used D47 rather than bread yeast. It has been two months and both still have floating fruit and are cloudy. I have had them in the basement where the temp has been 64 to 62 the entire time. It the lower temp causing the slow clearing? Would bring them up to 70 degrees help? Both have had steady gravity readings for a month with no airlock activity so I am fairly sure fermentation has been complete for at least 4 weeks. Suggestions?

Looks delicious! Looking forward to try this!

rlmiller10 said:

I have two batches going. One was by the book and the other used D47 rather than bread yeast. It has been two months and both still have floating fruit and are cloudy. I have had them in the basement where the temp has been 64 to 62 the entire time. It the lower temp causing the slow clearing? Would bring them up to 70 degrees help? Both have had steady gravity readings for a month with no airlock activity so I am fairly sure fermentation has been complete for at least 4 weeks. Suggestions?

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Yes both JAOM and D47 like the warmer temps close to or in the 70's. I am working on my second attempt of Cider with D47, it fermented much faster and cleaner in the 70's compared to last year in the low 60's.

Had to sneak a sample after 1 month in the fermenter. Good lord, this stuff tastes like rocket fuel. Me thinks it'll definitely be awhile before we have a drinkable product.

Mine has been sitting for 2 months now. I'm thinking about racking and topping up but I'm afraid with all the fruit that I'll only get about 3/4 of the gallon and I don't want to add that much water. How long do you guys usually let it sit before bottling?

I just bottled mine this weekend, pitched in mid July. It took a while to clear but I think that's because it kept getting moved/bumped and stirring up the yeast. I racked to a bottling bucket and when I got to the bottom I racked directly into a wine bottle for immediate consumption (I only want to give away stuff that's clear as a bell). I ended up getting 3 clear bottles and one almost full somewhat cloudy bottle. Hope that helps.

I wouldn't worry about the taste at one month, it should mellow.

This stuff tastes amazing, I'll be picking up the stuff to make this again tonight.

I'm sure this has been answered a million times, but what's the suggestion for temp control for the winter? As an "ancient" mead, should I just let it sit whatever the temp, or should I go for a water bath with an aquarium heater to try to keep it in the seventies? This is purely theoretical until I actually make the stuff, but that's coming in the near future, so I might as well get a jump start on the research.