Update: Joes Ancient Orange

I havent posted since around Sept.. We planned to wait until Feb.28 (9 months since bottling) to open our next bottle but Valentines Day came and I was asked (forced) by Red to open a bottle that night. I did the opening and she did the pouring. I regret that I didnt get a chance to check the gravity but I can say its greatly improved since Sept.

The nose is much nicer with all the aromas blending into something that can only be called a spiced orange treat. The mead has a much fuller mouth and the alcohol taste has subsided to a very pleasurable level.

My only negative at this point is the sediment in the bottom of each bottle. I plan to hook a piece of tubing to my baster and try to suction off the sediment when we try our next bottle, hopefully March 28 at the one year since bottling date. We will give another update at that time if we can wait!!!! There seems to be a shortage of mead in our closet for some reason we just cant seem to stay out of it.

We plan to start another mead soon, the Vanilla a friend from this board shared with us. We know it will be different but cant wait to get it going now that the weather is finally starting to warm up here a bit, it was 81F here today and beautiful blue skies.
Cheers
Redhawke & Red
This mead sure makes her giggle

mine is still conditioning - i tried a bottle after 1 month and it tasted strongly of orange peel .
i hope it improves like yours did

Rod, the orange peel was very strong in ours until this almost 9 month sampling. Now the flavors are more subdued and very well blended into a pleasurable brew that goes down way too easy. If I ever make this one again I will just sit it in the dark and forget it for at least 9 months and then enjoy. :rockin:

I started a JAO in Nov. 06. I believe it's done fermenting and the fruit has sunk, but it's still quite cloudy. I haven't tasted it yet or even smelled it. I'm tempted to rack it but the instructions specifically said not to. Oh well, I guess it just needs more time.

Ours fermented very fast and then seemed to stop also, which caused us(me) much worry. Hang in there and let it have the time the recipe calls for before you rack. Due to my life long habit of constantly tinkering with things it was very hard for me not to WAIT but the steady hand of my beloved spouse Red held me in check when I was having nightmares of, it's dead and needs something. She continued to tell me,"Lets just leave it alone like the recipe calls for and see what happens." Well, she was right (dont let her know I said that) it turned out fine and we now cant wait for March 28 to get here so we can try it at one full year in the bottle.

I think if I had it to do over again I might rack it again at the end of the specified time in secondary to bulk age and give it more time to clear before bottling.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you.
Cheers