confused about JAOM

Hi there,
Sorry for what is probably a stupid question (and I've looked as much as I can through the forum but can't find the answer) - I'm starting my first batch tonight using JAOM's recipe. However, I'm a little confused about how much yeast I'm supposed to use. I watched a video on www.stormthecastle.com that is essentially the same recipe for one gallon. He says use 1 Tbs of yeast. Then I read some versions of the recipe that say use 1 pkt an some say 1 tsp. I have 1 packet of Lavlin D 47. So... do I use the whole packet?

Thanks in advance for your help.

miagolano said:

Hi there,
Sorry for what is probably a stupid question (and I've looked as much as I can through the forum but can't find the answer) - I'm starting my first batch tonight using JAOM's recipe. However, I'm a little confused about how much yeast I'm supposed to use. I watched a video on www.stormthecastle.com that is essentially the same recipe for one gallon. He says use 1 Tbs of yeast. Then I read some versions of the recipe that say use 1 pkt an some say 1 tsp. I have 1 packet of Lavlin D 47. So... do I use the whole packet?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Click to expand...

The measure should be 1 teaspoon - and don't use the D47 either - well not to start with.

Why ? well because a wine yeast will ferment it very dry. It's supposed to finish sweet, hence the use of bread yeast with it's lower tolerance to alcohol.

The idea would appear to be to get a slightly orange/spiced hint to it and I'm presuming that the use of the entire orange, pith, skin and all, is to give it a hint of bitterness (from the white pith) to counter act the sweetness some.

giving a faint idea of something like "English marmalade" to it.

If you make it exactly as per the recipe, then you will have a bench mark flavour to work from.

It really is a case of sanitising the glassware (or plastic fermenter), putting all the ingredients in so that there's a bit of air space at the top (couple of inches) then shaking the hell out of it. Fit the airlock and leave it alone.

The only time you might need to think about touching it is if it foamed enough to come out the airlock - then a bit of a stir to knock the foam down should do the job (and clean up any mess and the airlock and refit it).

If you haven't tried a bench mark JAO, then you might be very disappointed as IMO, it's not a good recipe to make as a dry mead - hence my suggestion of sticking to bread yeast, not the D47.

If you can't get the fleischmanns that Joe recommends then any bread yeast will do (I use the UK equivalent, which is Allinsons brand - works a treat).

Yes, it does mean that you have to be careful when racking it off the yeast as bread yeast doesn't flocculate (pack down) very well but that helps with the learning curve.......

regards

fatbloke

thanks for your help