Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

CreamyGoodness said:

Fatbloke, I believe it was, said that d47 will make this recipe very dry. FYI.

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Now I do trust Fatbloke's experience, but I made side by side one gallon batches, one with Fliechmans and one with D47. The bread yeast was sweeter and the D47 was drier, but I don't think you would call it very dry. There was a very nice residual sweetness and I would use D47 again. You do need to pay attention to the ferm temps with D47 and try to keep them below 68F.

CreamyGoodness said:

For the record, none of your pictures show anything visibly out of the ordinary at all.

Aside from prayer and/or superstition, I would avoid "doing" anything at all with this for the next couple months. Just let God, the faeries, and science do its thing.

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Lol ok.

I made this about 2 months ago and ran a blow off tube. I only get slight bubbles. No kraousin (sp). Pitched WL sweet mead yeast. WLP720. Just pulled a sample. It's good, really sweet. Any thoughts? The fruit is all still floating too..........?

The fruit doesn't always sink. Just leave it alone until it clears then bottle.

What is the typical serving temperature?

Been almost 5 months, the fruit is falling and it's still not clear....thoughts?

tulsabrewdaddy said:

View attachment 73088

Been almost 5 months, the fruit is falling and it's still not clear....thoughts?

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Have you jostled it perhaps?

In any event, I would give it more time. Who knows what variable might be at play here.

CreamyGoodness said:

Have you jostled it perhaps?

In any event, I would give it more time. Who knows what variable might be at play here.

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No it has been in a temperature controlled fridge the whole time. I'm thinking about moving it to a secondary to see if that helps.

Hey all first time poster.

I decided to try the recipe and everything was great, until I went to check it today and saw some brown... stuff on top.

Any idea what it is? Should I be worried?

Fear not the yeast goo. When the mead clears, you can rack the mead away from the goo using a rubber hose. Seriously, I get it all the time.

So, my last post was n 8/26/2010, and I've been aging the mead out since then. In truth, I stuck a few jars of it on the back of my closet and forgot about it. Happy day? I may rack it one last time to completely eliminate all of the leftover lees on the bottom of the jars, as there is still a fine dusting of it there, and I may be willing to do a local trade or tasting with a person or persons in the Los Angeles area who want to know what JAOM tastes like aged out a few years.

CreamyGoodness said:

Fear not the yeast goo. When the mead clears, you can rack the mead away from the goo using a rubber hose. Seriously, I get it all the time.

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Hah thanks, that's made me feel better.

I just made my first mead ever! I followed the recipe exactly except that i used a peach instead of an orange. I put the yeast in about 12 hours ago and there is no major foaming like described. It bubbling like crazy and looks good, but should i be worried at all? I plan on adding more water in a day or so too.

hubblyGoz said:

I just made my first mead ever! I followed the recipe exactly except that i used a peach instead of an orange. I put the yeast in about 12 hours ago and there is no major foaming like described. It bubbling like crazy and looks good, but should i be worried at all? I plan on adding more water in a day or so too.

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Nah. Different fruits will have different amounts of foam/bubbles/yeast goo, sometimes the same being true from orange to orange etc. Best thing you can do with JAOM is just leave it alone until its done. Or, if you are like me, watch it bubble like a cat watching an aquarium .

I've read not to double or triple spices when making more from a 1 gallon recipe.
If I want to make a 5 gallon batch, how should I proceed?
Spices and oranges etc?

luda007 said:

I've read not to double or triple spices when making more from a 1 gallon recipe.
If I want to make a 5 gallon batch, how should I proceed?
Spices and oranges etc?

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I think the main thing is not too many cloves. They're powerful mofo's

luda007 said:

I've read not to double or triple spices when making more from a 1 gallon recipe.
If I want to make a 5 gallon batch, how should I proceed?
Spices and oranges etc?

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For a 5 gallon batch I use 2 cloves & 3 cinnamon sticks.

Yikes. Five gallons would be expensive for me. Hope you have cheaper honey.

My buddy is in food distribution and gives me gallon jugs.
Thanks for the spice clarification!
5 oranges?

luda007 said:

My buddy is in food distribution and gives me gallon jugs.
Thanks for the spice clarification!
5 oranges?

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Yes !

Thanks!

I was just getting ready to make a gallon of this, but I don't have any raisins. I do have Craisins, however. I didn't read all 900 pages and the search didn't bring up any hits for Craisins in this thread so...

Has anyone used Craisins in this recipe? I imagine they wouldn't hurt it, but I don't know.

CGVT said:

I was just getting ready to make a gallon of this, but I don't have any raisins. I do have Craisins, however. I didn't read all 900 pages and the search didn't bring up any hits for Craisins in this thread so...

Has anyone used Craisins in this recipe? I imagine they wouldn't hurt it, but I don't know.

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Use the "Search this Thread". There are multiple posts relating to craisins in this thread.

**sigh**

OK. So, for the people that used craisins instead of raisin or tried both. How did it turn out?

I guess not.

I'll let you all know how it comes out in a few months

I havent, but I'd think they would work just as well as raisins as far as yeast food goes, while adding flavor of their own.

That's kind of what I figure. I did read one post where it was mentioned that the raisins were to add tannin. I don't know squat about mead or raisins but I figured this looked pretty easy and I had about 3.5 lbs of honey left over from making a Saisson, so why not?

I'm pretty sure it will be fine, was just looking for some reassurance...

I have been playing around with JAOM almost exclusively, and one thing I have to say is that the recipe (even with some tweaks and downright mistakes) seems to WANT to make mead. Heck, I made one with no fruit and tablespoon of celery seeds to a liter batch and even that came out palatable.

Vox said:

Yikes. Five gallons would be expensive for me. Hope you have cheaper honey.

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I make all of my mead in 5 gallon batches ! Stop buying honey at the grocery store!
Farmers markets, local bee keepers and flea markets are your friend!

Ive got two gallons both a'bubbling now! Both are stored in a dark cabnit in my kitchen at about 76 degrees. Is this an ok temp or should they be placed in a fridge or someplace cool for the primary fermentation?

6 gallon Carboy

1.154
17 lbs honey
-10 wild flower
-7 clover
5 oranges (sliced in 1/8
1lb raisins
4 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
1/2 t energizer
5 t nutrient
5 t yeast

luda007 said:

6 gallon Carboy

1.154
17 lbs honey
-10 wild flower
-7 clover
5 oranges (sliced in 1/8
1lb raisins
4 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
1/2 t energizer
5 t nutrient
5 t yeast

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Wow. Cheapest honey I can find is Mrs. Crocketts 12 bucks for @4 lbs at sams club or 35 a gallon (which is 12lbs?) for local honey. That's an expensive batch. I only made a gallon a few weeks ago. Thinking of trying to make a ceyser soon. Never had one so I don't know if I will like it.

I had 7lbs from Costco. (clover)
I did have 10lbs but I used 3lbs on a maple mead last night
My buddy gave me 10lbs of wild flower from his work.
Wasn't to expensive at all.
I can't wait!

luda007 said:

I had 7lbs from Costco. (clover)
I did have 10lbs but I used 3lbs on a maple mead last night
My buddy gave me 10lbs of wild flower from his work.
Wasn't to expensive at all.
I can't wait!

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Lucky. The Mrs. Crockett honey at sams club just says honey. Doesn't say if it is clover.

where have people been finding relatively cheaper honey? most of the places i've been to it's around $4/pound. is that about the standard price? granted this was minnesota clover honey. i'm sure it'd be much more for orange blossom and the like. I'd like to do 5 gallons worth

Is a gallon of honey 12 pounds?

Approximately 12lbs.

Vox said:

Wow. Cheapest honey I can find is Mrs. Crocketts 12 bucks for @4 lbs at sams club or 35 a gallon (which is 12lbs?) for local

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honey is roughly 12# per gallon.

I see some people have been scaling back the spices for larger batches. I used 6 cloves in a 6 gallon batch, should I be worried or has 1 clove per gallon worked well for anyone?

Cheers.

As long as you didn't crush the cloves you will be fine.