Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

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I stumbled across this recipe a couple of months back and made a gallon of it. I had forgotten about it till I saw this thread again. I took a look at the bottle last night, and it looks like all the oranges are on the bottom of the jug now. I'll bottle and post some pics this weekend!

Still, has anyone tried carbing a bottle, or is it not worth even trying?:mug:
 
Three months and one week ago I started a five gallon batch Zero change in gravity since the first rack (at the 2 month mark) so I am sitting at 1.05 down from 1.12 so 12% alcohol.

At two months it was hot with a nice pumpkin spice flavor.

Today the color is noticiably darker. Aroma is that of honey and rubbing alcohol with a hit of rotten orange.

Flavor is no longer "hot" and the spice flavor is gone but it tastes better than it smells.

Today the flavor is sweet honey with green herbal overtones and a strong finish of toasted almonds. The sweetness is way lower than you would expect from 1.05 but a lot sweeter than bourbon or rum.
 
So i just made this recipe for the first time. Actually my first mead ever as well. I made it without the raisins and with 3# of clover honey.

My only problem is i forgot to take my OG reading before i set it to ferment. Its fermenting its ass off as we speak after only about 1-2 hours. Anyone have a good estimate for this recipe with 3# honey and about 2/3 water to fill it to 1 gallon mark?


EDIT: OK, after some searching i think i figured it out..It should be around 1.115
Does this sound correct?
 
This is my first post in the forums... I just started brewing my first brew was a double chocolate oatmeal stout and I saw this thread. This seems WAY easier. I am gonna make my first 1 gallon batch tomorrow night after I bottle my beer. The only variation is I am going to use clementines. Hope all goes well :) I will let you guys know.
 
Just over 2 weeks in and it is bubbleing nicely. I have airlock activity every 7 seconds. Unfortunately I can't tell how clear it it because i used a 1 gallon container that was not completely clear. I am keeping it in a cooler to keep it away from temp changes and light in my living room. So far so good.
 
Just got a 2 gal batch of this going. No raisins though, don't like the taste. Just doing normal staggered nutrient addition though.
 
I am planning on making this tomorrow, SWMBO has a crap ton of ground cinnamon so I don't want to buy sticks, any thoughts on how much to use? I was thinking of using just a pinch.
 
I bottled this a month ago, it cleared up, looks and tastes great BUT - I have a sediment of yeast on the bottom of the bottle. It's not sticking to the bottom but getting in the solution the moment I pour a second glass....

First glass (without the yeast) is delicious. But later when I get some yeast in the solution it's getting too yeasty and harsh....

what to do?
 
I bottled this a month ago, it cleared up, looks and tastes great BUT - I have a sediment of yeast on the bottom of the bottle. It's not sticking to the bottom but getting in the solution the moment I pour a second glass....

First glass (without the yeast) is delicious. But later when I get some yeast in the solution it's getting too yeasty and harsh....

what to do?

That sure is a problem with bread yeast.

Do you put it in the fridge before serving? A couple days in there can do wonders to compact the yeast.
 
If you have an infusion jar, like this:

san%20marino%20large.jpg


or something with a spigot, you can just let it settle out below the spigot and "rack" it, turning the spigot off when you start to get sediment coming out. If the level of sediment ends up below your spigot, you can tilt the jar forward so the clear liquid can still come out the spigot.
 
Just made up my first batch of JAOM today. I went by the recipe and so far so good, got a little foam at the top and its put away!
photo.php
 
Okay, here's a newbie question.... how do you clean out the orange pieces after you're done making the mead?
 
Just did my first one.. This stuff smells AMAZING!! Does it end up tasting as good as it smells?

I am also curious about the oranges coming back out?
 
Okay, here's a newbie question.... how do you clean out the orange pieces after you're done making the mead?

If you sliver them to where you can barely push them in there, they really soften up after a few months and pop right out. Even if you don't you cut them small you'll probably be able to stick your finger in a 1 gallon bottle and slide larger chunks out.

Just do it and see!
 
Worst case, cut up a coathanger for wire and bend a hook in one end, turn the bottle/carboy upside down and use your wire hook to yank the orange pieces out.
 
Yum! This one has been in the bottle for approx 15 months. Very nice color, sweet, and just enough of a kick from the alcohol. I think JOAM will be a staple in the pipeline...

joam001.jpg


Should have cleaned the glass first...

joam002.jpg
 
Just finished a sweet peach mead. The trick was to add extra peaches to the mix from the beginning. I used it in a recipe for peach cookies and they came out excellent! Sweet recipe!
 
After 2 days, I topped the water off and put it under the cabinet... Just checked and the airlock was filled with krausen.. It seems the fermentation is increasing.. It has a blow off tube for now..

5 days into fermentation, and it smells wonderful!

jaom.jpg
 
I justed racked it a second time because it is still not clear after four and a half months. This time there was residue at the bottom, but it was not yeast. It was dark brown almost black. I remembered that I used ground cloves and cinnamon. That was a mistake since it is still cloudy.

I can't taste the orange or the spice. The aroma is mostly that of alcohol with a hint of decayed orange. The flavor is sweet nutty honey with a slight alcohol burn. The honey flavor is "big" and it is too sweet for my tastes. My brain is a bit confused ... expecting something with honey flavor to be thick and sticky. I have never tasted mead of any kind before so maybe I just am not a fan.

I tweaked a small glass and found that adding some fresh squeezed lemon juice seemed to help take the edge off the sweetness and a few grains of ground clove made it more interested. I tried heating it but this made the alcohol burn more noticeable. It was better over ice.
 
Weenis, I would recommend letting it bulk age until it's clear and even then wait another 2 - 3 months before bottling, tasting at around 6 months.
 
I can't wait to try this. It looks like a lot of successful batches have come from this recipe. My only question is this part:

Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy

Does this mean the one gallon of water in the recipe? Do you mean heat up the one gallon of water and stir the 3.5 lbs of honey into it?
 
It means less than a gallon of water, basically enough to get the honey dissolved into it so you can put it in the carboy. In theory, you could probably pour the honey into the carboy, add some warm water, and shake it up to dissolve it, then add all the other ingredients and top off the water to the gallon level.
 
I checked it 4 times yesterday after making it, each time the krausen was hitting the airlock, lol. End of today I may have to attach a blowoff tube.
 
Made the JAOM recipe (4 gallons) for a Renaissance wedding. I followed the recipie exactly and it turned out awesome. Medium sweet, with a great aroma. And it was a hit! I figured no one would like it. But 20 bottles are gone! (well, 'cept 1 I kept for me.) But I tell ya, you have to be careful when drinking as this wine sneaks up on you. Before you know it you are 3 sheets to the wind. ;P
 
Yum! This one has been in the bottle for approx 15 months. Very nice color, sweet, and just enough of a kick from the alcohol. I think JOAM will be a staple in the pipeline...

joam001.jpg


Should have cleaned the glass first...

joam002.jpg

:off:, but what is that cup on the left made out of? wood or ceramic, either way, is it home made or purchased?


the mead looks great, btw.
 
Don't know what type of wood it is, but it's something native to Colorado. One of my friends from work was selling them at a craft fair for her dad. I use it for my fly tying scraps...it is pretty wood! Thx for the compliments on the JAOM!
 
I made a version of this with blueberries and vanilla extract instead of the other additions of fruits and spices. 8 months in so far and tasted it yesterday. tasty
 
Ok I am finally drinking it for the first time. It is much less syrupy than it was even a week ago. I can taste the oranges a tiny bit of the cinnamon and clove background and is smooth and all around pretty good chilled. Now I am going to make 5 gallons of it because my wife and my friends wife like it.
 
An observation:
I have just put this recipe together and after taking an initial gravity reading, I realized the raisins in this recipe had not fully hydrated thus not releasing any of their natural sugars yet (i threw in quite a few more about 50 for a gallon), so I let it sit overnight capped without pitching the yeast and sure enough the reading was higher. (1.100 at 9p.m. to 1.105 at 9 am) I think the ABV may be significantly higher due to the fact that the raisins will continue to release sugar throughout the fermentation process. Anyone have any thoughts or comments?
 
For those who used champagne yeast for this, how did it end up turning out? I used champagne yeast in a 5 gallon batch and was wondering if I went the right route with it.

Also, my mead has been fermenting for about 9 weeks now and I wanted to know if I should rack it over into a secondary to let it settle for a couple of days without the oranges and raisins before bottling. Or can I just remove the oranges and raisins? I used a food grade bucket for the mead so I can't really see how clear it is now. I figured it would be easier to remove the oranges.
 
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