First Mead - Please Help

Hello, first time brewer and second time poster here - a noob
Almost ten days ago I mixed me a 5 gallon batch of JAOM
Here's my recipe:

8kg Honey
5 Oranges
125-ish Raisins
5 Cinnamon Sticks
10 Cloves
5 Pinches Allspice
5 Pinches Nutmeg
2 Pinches Cinnamon
SAF Instant Yeast
Water

Now, I'm a bit worried about the thing and would like your advice. I have a few questions for you more experienced folk. You can find them (plus pictures and other information) on my Mead Diary here:
http://5galjaombatch.blogspot.com/

These questions are along the lines of:
Oh, no! What is that?
Do I add water or honey?
Is it too cold in here?

...and such.
I hope you can help me out and ease my worries
Thanks!

WOW..that's alot of oranges, and spices for a 5 gal batch...I would have used maybe 2 or 3 oranges..but 1 cinnamon stick would have been fine, as well as one clove, and a pinch of the other spices..rather than 5..spices have a profound affect, and you may have overspiced your mead. Time will tell. 68F is fine for a temp for fermenting....the white stuff is normal...just let it sit and ferment until it is so clear you can read a newspaper through the glass.

flyweed said:

WOW..that's alot of oranges, and spices for a 5 gal batch...I would have used maybe 2 or 3 oranges..but 1 cinnamon stick would have been fine, as well as one clove, and a pinch of the other spices..rather than 5..spices have a profound affect, and you may have overspiced your mead. Time will tell. 68F is fine for a temp for fermenting....the white stuff is normal...just let it sit and ferment until it is so clear you can read a newspaper through the glass.

Click to expand...

Hi, flyweed

I was under the impression that I had to multiply every ingredient by 5 when making a 5 gallon batch

Any idea what that cloudy gray/white stuff is anyway? You can see pictures of it on my brewblog now : http://5galjaombatch.blogspot.com/

Do you have any thoughts on my water adding problem you can read about here : http://5galjaombatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/100114-at-last.html

Thanks a lot flyweed

from the photos it looks like you have mold growing on the oranges that are floating on the surface. that's not good. yeast doesn't create mold...mold spores create mold.

I didn't notice any mold. I think the white Malkore was looking at is orange pith (inner skin). Everything looked fine to me.

Oh, no! What is that? I think your recipe looks fine and I always multiply ingredients like that too.
Do I add water or honey? Add water to get the 5 gallons you want.
Is it too cold in here? Depending upon the yeast (I'm not familiar with yours) you want to keep your primary fermentation around 18C-23C

Buy a hydrometer to test specific gravity. It's your best fried when making mead, wine or beer.

I don't see any mold either....just Krausen with lots of powdered spice in it, hence the odd color...and white pith of the oranges and some raisins here and there..but no mold.

just try and keep the temp around 68F or a bit less, and let it age until fruits drops out, or the mead is crystal clear.

After some trial and error the batch is now a 6 gallon batch (Just add water)
I also smelled the must, took an sg reading and tasted the sg sample
Please check it out and post your thoughts! Am I crazy?

http://5galjaombatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/six-gallon-batch.html
http://5galjaombatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/270110-rejection-acetone.html