Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Nice. I'm looking forward to trying it.

jak1010 said:

This is my Joe's but with Lemon rather than Orange.
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That stuff looks gloriously golden. I made mine exact to the recipe with oranges, but if mine looks as vivid when done, I will be hyped.

Tom128 said:

That stuff looks gloriously golden. I made mine exact to the recipe with oranges, but if mine looks as vivid when done, I will be hyped.

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Good stuff Tom. I'm sure you'll be fine. If you followed the recipe, you're in good shape. Please post a few pics if you can.

Just wanted to say that I can't wait for my two gallons of JAOM to finish!

They're looking clear after about 5-6 weeks in the gallon fermenters, but I'm hoping to be patient enough to wait for the fruit to drop to make racking a little easier.

We'll see just how patient I can be!

I'm a couple weeks from finishing my first batch of JOAM, and already thinking about my next batch. Forgive me, but I couldn't go through all previous posts to se if this has already been covered: Has anybody tried doing this with Agave Nectar? I'm thinking about adding lime and maybe a jalapeño or 2 to get something along the lines of margarita mead.

99Beers said:

I'm a couple weeks from finishing my first batch of JOAM, and already thinking about my next batch. Forgive me, but I couldn't go through all previous posts to se if this has already been covered: Has anybody tried doing this with Agave Nectar? I'm thinking about adding lime and maybe a jalapeño or 2 to get something along the lines of margarita mead.

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Be careful with lime. It is very overpowering.

I have to ask, as a newb. Is possible to NOT take a picture once it clears

Suzy_cream_cheez said:

I have to ask, as a newb. Is possible to NOT take a picture once it clears

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As another newb my answer is, "Probably not!"

Mine just cleared, though I'm waiting for the fruit to drop (if I can hold out that long) to make the siphoning of the golden nectar a bit easier.

I'm pretty sure I'll be taking a picture! First picture I'll have ever taken too as I didn't even take pictures of my first beer brews.

Then again, the JAOM in the one gallon clear glass carboy looks so much more appealing than a photo of my plastic fermenting bucket would.

6 weeks in on my first batch. It has cleared very nicely and a few pieces of fruit have started to fall. Couple more weeks until I get to try i out

hehawbrew said:

Be careful with lime. It is very overpowering.

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Thanks for the tip. I was thinking 2 limes, but maybe I'll do one lime and a mandarin orange instead.

99Beers said:

Thanks for the tip. I was thinking 2 limes, but maybe I'll do one lime and a mandarin orange instead.

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I'd go less. I made three gallons of cider back in February with one lime per gallon.....whoa!

Ive read if you use lime, just use the zest.....

My two cents tho!

1 month in. apple cinnamon on the left. blueberry vanilla on the right. sorry for the crappy cell phone pic. but you can kind of make out the gorgeous purple hue coming thru on the blueberry.

I made this back in January everything went good yeast got it up to right at 10%, don't have numbers in front on me. My question is does jaom always come out so thick? I have had several meads mostly red stone but they are closer to wine mouth feel and mine is way thicker. I followed original recipe and taste Is good just don't like the texture.

Made this recipe back in January , followed the recipe except I didn't have the clove and don't add nutmeg . Just bottled tuesday it in some beer bottles and used the oxygen absorbing caps . Poured this one today since it was cold in the fridge . Whewwwwwwwww I believe I have a buzz . Off a half glass , kinda sweet smooth , orangy flavor , orange rind aroma . Nice

Before you bottle it do you always wait for all the fruit to fall? I forgot about mine in a cabinet and just checked it and the majority of the fruit is still floating and I made it 4 months ago. Do I need to keep waiting?

If it's clear bottle it.

Dhinds10583 said:

Before you bottle it do you always wait for all the fruit to fall? I forgot about mine in a cabinet and just checked it and the majority of the fruit is still floating and I made it 4 months ago. Do I need to keep waiting?

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I'm not familiar with Meads, do I need to prime it before bottling like a normal brew or does it go directly into the bottles and capped???

Kozwald said:

I'm not familiar with Meads, do I need to prime it before bottling like a normal brew or does it go directly into the bottles and capped???

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Just bottle and cap it.

This mead will be uncarbonated as by the time it's finished, the yeast will have reached the upper end of their alcohol tolerance limit.

Dhinds10583 said:

Before you bottle it do you always wait for all the fruit to fall? I forgot about mine in a cabinet and just checked it and the majority of the fruit is still floating and I made it 4 months ago. Do I need to keep waiting?

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If you wait long enough the fruit will fall, then rise back up, then drop and the sink again. Depending on temp, I've had JAOM rotate several times. But so long as it's clear (you can read through it) you can bottle. Its just easier to do when it fruit is on the bottom and out of your way.

Anyone ever add anything to secondary to offset the sweetness to this? My batch using blackberries ejected a bunch of blackberries during primary and I tried it over the weekend and it is like liquid honey with very little other flavor (Made 9 months ago). I was thinking about adding some cranberry juice to balance it out. I could add fruit to it as the other option, but it is super sweet already. Cranberry juice seems like the best idea in my mind.

Considering the Joe's Quick grape mead backsweetening, I don't think adding juice should be an issue.

My current batch of Orange pineapple raspberry cinnamon JAOM smells fantastic also.

I'm planning a raspberry version next week. For a gallon batch how many pounds of berries should I add?

I tried mine last week after fermenting for 7 months. The taste is a little sharp. I'll let it age for another 4-5 months and try it around Christmas.

- Destin

I've made several gallon batches of JOAM with some fruit or yeast variations. I've found that if I use something like safale 95, it clears and taste better just a bit quicker than with bread yeast....

Made my batch, clearing after little over a month.. Gonna let it sit till September then bottle it up.

Cant wait to make more! oh and taste it of course

When bottling JAOM should u use k-meta?

GeorgiaMead said:

When bottling JAOM should u use k-meta?

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If you've followed the directions and allowed the mead time ferment out and did not backsweeten, there should be no reason to use k-meta, IMO.

Thanks, I had already had a few to many when I posted that lol, dumb question sorry

GeorgiaMead said:

Thanks, I had already had a few to many when I posted that lol, dumb question sorry

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I can relate to that. Did you sneak a taste while bottling?

GeorgiaMead said:

Thanks, I had already had a few to many when I posted that lol, dumb question sorry

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jak1010 said:

I can relate to that. Did you sneak a taste while bottling?

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I know this question wasn't directed to me, but i'd like to chime in and say that when I sampled my JAOM at bottling, I actually thought it was already pretty damn tastey and didn't think it tasted bad or overly "pithy" at all. But that's just my opinion. It's been really difficult to NOT open up 1 of my 4 aging bottles.. I'm trying hard to let it age in the bottle for 4-6 months before I crack one open.

Of course I sneaked a taste, It was delicious, I used 2 cloves cause I'm a big fan of clove. After its bottled ill start up another bottle... Or two...

Kdog22 said:

I know this question wasn't directed to me, but i'd like to chime in and say that when I sampled my JAOM at bottling, I actually thought it was already pretty damn tastey and didn't think it tasted bad or overly "pithy" at all. But that's just my opinion. It's been really difficult to NOT open up 1 of my 4 aging bottles.. I'm trying hard to let it age in the bottle for 4-6 months before I crack one open.

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Good stuff. I've got a gallon bulk ageing for about 3 months now. Going to leave it till December. It'll be the longest I've ever gone.

GeorgiaMead said:

Of course I sneaked a taste, It was delicious, I used 2 cloves cause I'm a big fan of clove. After its bottled ill start up another bottle... Or two...

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Excellent, I've always wanted to use more clove but come brewing time, I chicken out and go with one.

Newb question on JOAM, if I want to do a 5 gallon batch do I need to multiply yeast as well? Thanks!

Im in the UK and Just got this on the go so should be good and ready for crimbo. Just to make life a little easier..
Looking at the ingredients it sounded familiar so had a hunt around . For those in the UK ( not sure about any other country ) I come across a pack of MULLED WINE SPICE SACHETS !! 6 per pack about £1.25 ish from tescos and all the same ingredients but in handy little tea bags.
So I :
Simmered 2 bags for 10 mins then removed them from the water and stuffed them in the demijohns/cardoy.
Dissolved 4 pounds of honey in the water then transferred this to the demi.
Added nutrient and rehydrated ALLINSONS yeat ( 1tsp ). Topped up to 1gal ( all water is bottled )
Good old shake, bubbler and off we go.
Didnt add raisins
OG 1.120
Day 1 it looked like a sample from the river Thames on a bad day :s
Day 2 nice white foam, bubbles about every second. Looks like set honey now and smells like Christmas pudding .
Not so ancient but not so different, little bit easier..
No fruit to fight when racking or bottling and easier to get out the demi
Hope this helps all my fellow newbie brewers..

nsargent said:

Newb question on JOAM, if I want to do a 5 gallon batch do I need to multiply yeast as well? Thanks!

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Everything but the yeast.

There has been a few debates about multiplying the cloves also

Been wanting to brew my own mead for a while now, finally got some of the stuff together. Don't judge my setup I'm working on a poor college students budget. I followed the directions of this to the letter, other than one thing, I cut as much of the pith from the orange as i could and i squeezed the oranges and dropped the "guts" into the mix. its been close to ten minutes now and it just started bubbling. Super excited!

Gave my father in law a bottle of my first batch of JAOM this past weekend for his birthday. I bottled this batch late June. Told him he can open it whenever he wants but the longer he waits, the better it'll get. Fast forward 4 hours, the bottle was chilled in the fridge and opened up. lol.

The hot flavor seems to have already mellowed (I used premier cuvee yeast). The honey flavor seems to be more present at the beginning and end. Still has a strong orange pith taste. It also had a little bit of a yeasty taste. Mine still hasn't quite clarified completely. (I wasn't too worried out it when i decided to bottle). Overall it was very tastey already but I'll let mine set another 3-4 months before I try another bottle.

Decided to give this recipe a try, following it to the letter, other than I'm using my brand new fermentation chamber to control the temperature (hopefully to avoid some fusels). First mead ever!