First attempt at making mead - JAOM

Day 1:



Day 7:

MIA

Day 14:



Day 21:



Will continue to update.

Looks good. JAOM is a great mead. I really need to start a new batch.

I made a batch a long time ago. Had to throw out most of the rocket fuel after about 2 years.

Joam, your mead looks awfully familiar. Now where did I see that. Oh yeah my cellar. If it works why change it.

Looks nice.

Day 28 - Clearing has started.

Day 35:



Fermentation has slowed to a crawl. At least a minute in between bubbles.

So, fermentation is now slower then a bubble every two minutes so I am wondering if it has stopped too early. I am going to get a hydrometer reading tomorrow to see if the final gravity shows that fermentation is over.

If it is done this is most likely rocket fuel right? It started on 5/23/15.

Also the fruit has not dropped to the bottom yet.

To my mind if the fruit floats it's not finished fermenting.

I made a sloe cider late in January and there's still a couple of sloes floating on the top.

The fruit should fall when it's done. Takes about 100 days they tell me.

Mine started 2 days ago... looks familiar, eh?

At least yours cleared up. Mine is still cloudy. I'm thinking of transferring it to a new 1 gallon carboy.

Day 42:



I don't have baster so I haven't checked the gravity yet.

Interested in this thread. I have made four batches, but never could wait for the fruit to fall. Always needed those primary carboys for the next thing, so it always gets moved to a 1gal glass carboy around 50-60 days. I leave it there for another 'while' (<- scientificky) before I bottled.

A question I had for my next batch, a non-JAOM. Also posted on gotmead.com

Hey all, I am considering making a raspberry melomel in the next couple of weeks and just had a question about the use of raspberries. Does anyone feel strongly on the use of fresh berries in the primary fermenter versus boiling and simmering them in a pan and just using the juice but not the pulp? What have you experienced if you have done both methods?

Also, if you leave berries in the primary do you recommend early racking due to the tannins?

Thanks.

I would avoid boiling them, as cooking fruit causes the pectins to gel up, and can cause a haze that just never quite goes away. If you wanted to heat them, I would pasteurize them by keeping them at a low simmer of 160 - 170F for about 15-20 minutes. This should be enough to kill anything in the fruit, but not enough to turn your raspberries to jam. If you were extra-worried about haze, you can use some pectic enzyme as a precaution.

When I used them, I pasteurized them and threw fresh raspberries in secondary, not primary. This preserves a bit more of the original fruit flavor, as opposed to actually fermenting the fruit in primary. I'm sure plenty of people have had success with them in primary, though.

With Day 45 tomorrow I'm really hoping to see some fruit on the bottom of the carboy.

In my experience it is not until day 60+ when you start to see fruit dropping.

Yup, super clear but still only one raisin has fallen.

Day 49:

Day 57:



Hopefully within the next two weeks the fruit will drop and I'll be able to rack and the bottle.

enjoying watching your progress. I like the constant updates, It helps guys like me learn what to expect.

Day 63:

So, after reading Joe's instructions again I decided to rack it. So I did and took a SG reading, it was 1.01 and when I threw the airlock on the new carboy fermentation kicked right back up.

So we'll see how long it goes for. I'll post a picture tomorrow. I tasted it tonight too, VERY strong alcohol taste but a nice spice orange blend on the back end. Could be a great fall mead with some mellowing.

Thanks for the updates. My first mead is about a month behind yours. Still cloudy in primary and bubbling slowly.

What was your initial gravity? Mine was 1.127 and if it finishes below 1.015 I'll be very happy. The JOAMs tend to finish at about 1.030 I understand, which would be way sweet for my tastes.

When I started it all I had was a carboy and an airlock. I bought my hydrometer later so no idea on the gravity.

1.022





Anyone ever had this issue with JOAM? If you follow the pictures it pretty much went 100% clear after 35 days and after I racked it on day 63 and after the racking it became cloudy again and fermentation resumed after about 30 days without any bubbling.

No real change today:

I read on GotMead that a JOAM is tricky to rack because the yeast is fluffy and easily disturbed. It's easy to kick up sediment and it takes a couple weeks for it to fall clear again. They recommended chilling the mead before racking, that's supposed to help I guess.

Also tipping the fermenter up at an angle a day or 2 prior to racking. You get mor compact lees at the liw end and a clean spot to rack from just above it. Haven't tried it myself, but anecdotally it works.

All good advice. I'm going to throw it in the fridge in a few days to see if that helps with the clearing.

How did this work out for you? Are you going to bottle it or just drink it now?

Haven't done it yet. Going to put it in the fridge tonight and then Sunday or Monday bottle it. Should I cold crash it with a cap or airlock?

The temperature drop will cause a negative pressure differential. If you're using a glass jug that juice might gave come in, a cap is probably good. The pressure drop will pull some CO2 out of suspension.
When I've cold crashed, I've used a cap without issue.

A cap should be OK.

SG was holding at 1.020:



So I capped the carboy and threw it in the fridge. It'll stay in there and I'll bottle Monday afternoon.

Obligatory taster glass:

You've been taking a heck of a lot of samples to measure the gravity. Are you pouring it back into the carboy afterwards? Otherwise it seems like you'd only have enough left for one bottle at the end, haha.

Yeah I sterilize everything so it goes back inside the carboy after taking the gravity. When I drink a sample its only a little bit.

It has cleared enough to bottle.

Stay tuned to either tonight or tomorrow for the finished product.

Bottling Day!





I got 3.5 bottles of delightful mead. The three that are labeled will go into the basement and stand head up for three days before laying on their sides for the next six months.

The half bottle shall get the same treatment but will be drank a little more raw when Fall hits.

Awesome! So by your time line, you're start to finish in about 75 days right? Did you rack to secondary at all, or bottle from the primary?

They say that the lees are fluffy and easily disturbed, you gotta be careful when handling. I've been curious about what the yield would be once it's racked off the sediment and fruit. Thanks for that. Also will be curious to see if any more sediment will fall in those bottles, or if you managed to stay clear of it when bottling.

I'm about a month behind you with my first mead. It's pretty much following yours as far as clearing and time line. I'm hoping to have it ready by Thanksgiving.

Nice labels BTW. What did you use for them?

And thanks for the updates, it gives us an idea of what to expect.

I'll answer this all later, but I used Power Point to make the labels and then sticky printer paper.

Maylar said:

Awesome! So by your time line, you're start to finish in about 75 days right? Did you rack to secondary at all, or bottle from the primary?

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Yep today would be day 76. I racked it after 63 days in to a new carboy. The one thing I could have done was added some spring water but I did not. A week after racking the SG was the same as the day I racked which to me meant fermentation was over. Bray (loveofrose) also told me that a SG of 1.020 is in the finish range for JOAM. I put it in the fridge for a few days just to be sure. I took it out of the fridge and let it clarify and then I did not move the carboy until I bottled.

They say that the lees are fluffy and easily disturbed, you gotta be careful when handling. I've been curious about what the yield would be once it's racked off the sediment and fruit. Thanks for that. Also will be curious to see if any more sediment will fall in those bottles, or if you managed to stay clear of it when bottling.

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This is why I put the carboy in the spot where I was going to bottle when I took it out of the fridge. The lees from the bread yeast are very fluffy, the D47 in my Raspberry Melomel are much better at staying on the bottom. As far as volume I got approximately 1900 ml which is around a half of a gallon. Bear in mind since I was using a 1 gallon carboy I wasn't able to add a full gallon when I started. Also, like I said, I didn't fill the carboy with water after racking. I guess we will see what happens if any sedement falls in the bottles but they are look crystal clear.

I'm about a month behind you with my first mead. It's pretty much following yours as far as clearing and time line. I'm hoping to have it ready by Thanksgiving.

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Just remember that your initial JAOM will have some bite to it before it ages. However the spices are on point for what you want for Thanksgiving.

Nice labels BTW. What did you use for them?

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As I said I used MS Power Point. Switch the orientation in to "Portrait" mode and follow the instructions here:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIDu4R1z0c[/ame]

I have a different version of Office than the author so I had to do some search but was able to find all the features.

And thanks for the updates, it gives us an idea of what to expect.

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Glad to help!