NineMilBill
Well-Known Member
I've made a few JAOM's - and honestly, while the clove is present, it isn't screaming CLOVE in your face. It's definitely a metheglin, no doubt, but one in a one gallon batch is pretty balanced with the orange.
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead
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Well I'm gonna live dangerous. I added 2 cloves. I should make another batch without and compare. 
huesmann
Well-Known Member
Breakin' the law, breakin' the law!
inordeck
Member
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Bottled the JAOM I started on leap day. It was crystal clear with no visible bubbling, but except for a couple of raisins the fruit had not dropped to the bottom. Yeast was stirred up quite a bit in the bottling process so it didn't go into the bottles as clear as I would have liked. It will settle out fine. Tasted good. Pretty dry and not as sweet as I expected. Planning on aging this out until the next leap day, with many a batch in between.
Starting gravity: 1.112
Ending gravity: 1.016
Starting gravity: 1.112
Ending gravity: 1.016
Well i started it Thursday night and there is activity in the airlock but its not nearly as active as the beer I've brewed or the Apfelwein but it has clouded up so i assume that its doing its thing. I just expected a little more activity. Well, the yeast know what it's doing. Just seems sluggish to me. I'm gonna RDWHAHB.
This is my first attempt at brewing ever. So I followed the recipe pretty much exactly but instead of using the bread yeast I used the Wyeast sweet mead and I just don't know what I am looking for. This is the picture of my mead today and I started it yesterday 6/4/2012. Do I need to dump this batch or just pitch some bread yeast and hope for the best? Any help would be much appreciated!
Thank you!!!
huesmann
Well-Known Member
Looks like it's bubbling; presumably that's not just because you shook it.
cincybrewer
Well-Known Member
I sure as heck wouldn't dump it. I'm a mead amateur but I would think it would still turn out alright using the sweet mead yeast as JAOM is a sweet mead. Search the thread, I'm sure others have used that yeast as well. Good luck.
NineMilBill
Well-Known Member
This batch is less than 24 hours old and you're already asking if you should dump it? Never never never never say that again. I'm sure your Sweet Mead Yeast is going to do just fine - but even in the off chance it doesn't....there are plenty of trouble shooting techniques you can use to fix the problem. If it's not bubbling in the next 24-48 still, search "Stuck Mead Fermentation" or "Stuck JOAM Fermentation". I'm sure both of those searches will give you plenty of detailed discussions on the issue.
STLExpat
Well-Known Member
Qwancow said:
Wyeast sweet mead yeast is a pain in the butt, give it time but I'd recommend adding yeast nutrient and energizer
sweed
Well-Known Member
I made this tonight. OG is 1.134. I made it just like the original recipe says, except I used 20 raisins 
And my pinch of nutmeg was a little more than I wanted.
It's sitting in a plastic gallon 'milk' jug, and already bubbling softly( 10 mins later). I'll report in 2 months on how this is. I plan to make more different recipes, with apples maybe, cherries sound good also.
And my pinch of nutmeg was a little more than I wanted. It's sitting in a plastic gallon 'milk' jug, and already bubbling softly( 10 mins later). I'll report in 2 months on how this is. I plan to make more different recipes, with apples maybe, cherries sound good also.
It doesn't matter. Your airlock is not a gauge for fermentation. It's only purpose is to allow CO2 created by the yeast to escape the container and not allow outside-air into contact with the liquid goodness inside.
When it comes to fermentation, your airlock is a lying jerk who kicks your dog and licks your silverware while you sleep. For instance, if there is an air leak where CO2 can easily escape, your airlock won't bubble even though there is fermentation happening. On the other hand, when fermentation is completely, moving or accidentally hitting the container can cause CO2 to escape from solution, causing bubbles in the airlock and a panicked "FERMENTATION STARTED AGAIN" post on homebrewtalk.
Just let it ride and don't worry about the little things. The yeast know what they are doing... they've been doing it for millions of years.
I read something about not using the bread machine yeast in another JOAM thread. That's what i had so i used it. Pro's/Con's ??? My search skills left me wondering....
MikeR
Member
Started my batch yesterday at midnight (Sunday night/Monday morning) omitted the spices/clove/etc, only used honey and a large naval orange (peeled the skin off, pulled out as much pith as possible, cut them all in half). I rounded it up in metric (since we buy per kg up here), and used 2kg(4.4lbs) of honey, boiled it with about 1L of water, let it simmer for a bit while stirring because only half of it was pasturized, and then poured it into a new 4L water jug(same appearance as a milk jug) with the oranges and enough clean tap water (boiled for five minutes) to bring it near the top.
Shook it all up, let it cool to room temp, pitched in a packet of Fleischmann's yeast, threw an airlock on it, and put it away. Within an hour, I had to pull the airlock off to clean it out, and when I did so, even more kräusen poured out of the top. Threw the airlock back on, and it calmed down within a few hours. The overflow gave me a bit of headspace, so I'm going to pitch the raisins and fresh boiled(and cooled!) water in tonight.
I fully expect this to be extremely sweet thanks to the extra honey and proper yeast, and hopefully it will be dangerously good.
Shook it all up, let it cool to room temp, pitched in a packet of Fleischmann's yeast, threw an airlock on it, and put it away. Within an hour, I had to pull the airlock off to clean it out, and when I did so, even more kräusen poured out of the top. Threw the airlock back on, and it calmed down within a few hours. The overflow gave me a bit of headspace, so I'm going to pitch the raisins and fresh boiled(and cooled!) water in tonight.
I fully expect this to be extremely sweet thanks to the extra honey and proper yeast, and hopefully it will be dangerously good.
Goofynewfie
Well-Known Member
started a batch of this on april first, it is clear, I can read a newspaper through it. however still bubbling very very weakly, maybe 1 bubble every 10 minutes in air lock. do I need to degas it or just leave it be and let it go for a while longer? I can see the bubbles rising from the very bottom and traveling up through the mead
NineMilBill said:
EVER!
If your mead is 5 years old, and it still sucks like a $1,000 hooker.... The you can dump part of it! Until then.... Dude! RDWHAHB!
MikeR
Member
So uhh, I've cleaned out the airlock twice now as it has been full of kräusen both times. Very active fermentation, and it's still bubbling up. Is it safe to leave it like that, or should I keep cleaning it out until it stops? The airlock is off for no more than a minute both times, and I figure it's pumping out enough co2 that I don't have to worry about oxidation.
NineMilBill
Well-Known Member
If it's that active you could put a napkin over the top and hold it down with a rubber band - similiar to winemaking. After it slows down - give it a week or so, put the airlock on it.
Woohoo mine is ready to bottle!. I'm going to use 12oz beer bottles but do I need those oxygen absorbing caps or just use regular caps?
I've used both. I've never seen a difference. If you have o2 caps, use 'em. If not.... Who cares! It's all good!
Newbie. I started a three gallon batch of this last night and scaled up the ingredients proportionally. Having since investigated this thread more thoroughly, I've encountered some warnings about the amount of cinnamon sticks and cloves that go into this.
I've got 3 cinnamon sticks and 4 cloves in there. The batch is 24 hours old. Is it likely that these will have an averse effect on the end product? Should I open the carboy and attempt to remove some of these (chop sticks? Long spoon?)?
I've got 3 cinnamon sticks and 4 cloves in there. The batch is 24 hours old. Is it likely that these will have an averse effect on the end product? Should I open the carboy and attempt to remove some of these (chop sticks? Long spoon?)?
Here is the thing: you're a noob, you don't know what's going to happen. Leave it alone, adjust your next batch. Even if it's a total drain pour, you've got what... $9 wrapped up in it?
NineMilBill
Well-Known Member
That's less than 2 cloves per gallon - you're still in line with Joe's proportions. You're going to have a good mead. Make sure you bottle a few 12oz'ers and hide them for a year or more - regardless of what you think of the quality. Mead improves with age.
Leave it alone. It will be fine. I just bottled my first batch and followed the recipe as written. Next batch I might add more spices. I think the spice level as written gave it a great starting point and is definitely not overpowering.
huesmann
Well-Known Member
Whether you think there's too much cinnamon, or too much clove, you'll still drink it all.
You could always put a blowoff hose in a container of water.
I like having Starsan in a spray bottle that I can use to spritz everything whenever I'm cleaning out the airlock.
Hmmm, I usually don't use words like spritz.
So no word on the "bread machine" yeast? I'm not dumping it as it is doing it's thing and ill bottle it up as soon as it clears and the fruit drops but i was curious to know why not that particular yeast.
Somebody on another forum said their quick rise yeast worked ok. Of course I make no guarantees.
There are no guarantees in this life. The batch i started seems to be chugging away and doing its thing. It's clouded up the way it should, there is a small amount of foaming, Its not as vigorous as has been described but as long as its fermenting I'm good with that. I was just curious as to the reasoning.
TattooedViking9
The Viking Vintner
Has anyone here used the Lalvin KV1-1116 yeast for this recipe. If so, how did it turn out? Any considerable differences worth noting, or any other input? I appreciate any responses. Thank you.
TattooedViking9 said:
I have used D47 and it turned out good but it was not as drinkable as soon as my batches with the bread yeast were. The batches I have done without the white pith of the orange were the best,. The pros of using D47 were that it was easier to bottle and keep it clear. The cons of using it were the higher ABV which means it will take longer to age out the heat, and the temp range of D47 is very low so I can only use it during the fall and winter.
tulsabrewdaddy
Well-Known Member
Made this on 4/1 and it's still cloudy, should I leave it alone and wait?
cincybrewer
Well-Known Member
So if you leave out the white pith, do you also leave out the whole peel? Or do you zest it?
Kampo
Well-Known Member
cincybrewer said:
Zest it. If you don't have a zester use a potato peeler... That's what I did for mine. Started it s little over a month ago. Tasted a bit and pretty damn tasty, and I went a little overboard on spices, but will be great for xmas
cincybrewer
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I may try it like this for my next one. I made one a few months ago but left the peel completely intact so it'd be good to compare. Though I thought about doing a slight variation of JAOM with maybe something like vanilla beans. If anyone has any suggestions of some good variations, please feel free to let me know but I can search these threads as well as I'm sure there are a number of posts with the same thoughts I'm having.
TattooedViking9
The Viking Vintner
After the first 24 hours.
