Concerns about using an orange in mead

I have a few questions about using an orange in the mead. Does the orange contribute much to the flavor of the mead? I was under the impression that it's more for the pH and nutrient, so I'm afraid it's going to completely ruin the flavor I was looking for.

Also, my batch was put in the primary 7 days ago and I took a whiff of it just now and the smell is hard to explain. It's unpleasant (which I don't think is the issue), but it's like sweet and faintly alcoholic and almost acidic but not like vinegar. I almost wanna say it smells like the orange is rotten, but I don't think that's it. There's a weird goop sitting on top of the oranges floating on the top, but I think that's just from when it foamed up when it was first put in the primary. What would a bacterial infection smell like? If the orange is rotting, does that mean I'm screwed? This is my first mead so I'm really unsure. What are the smells I should be wary of?

Assuming it's not ruined, can I rack my mead tomorrow, so I can make sure the orange doesn't impart more flavor into it? I know it's really soon and not nearly done, but will it be fine if it gets disturbed from racking it?

Recipe?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/christmas-y-mead-will-accept-suggestions-446617/
Here it is. I think I was definitely foolish to think the orange wouldn't add flavor.

I am a nubie myself but i made a tasty batch of spiced orange using real oranges. It came out great. Though the orange was eaten by yeast. I added oranges again in secondary and got the flavor i was looking for. Hope this helps.

I know the smell that you're talking about! My first batch of mead was an even simpler recipe than that (orange blossom honey, 2 large oranges, and calafornia ale yeast), and when I went to drain it off the dead yeast the smell scared the crap out of me! However, I let it finish hoping that it was just me going "oh I just don't know what fermenting is supposed to smell like" and when it got to tasting point there was nothing wrong with it at all. It DID have a very strong citricy after taste to it, but personally I liked it.

Oranges add a ton of flavor, but the flavor depends on what you add.
Juice = slight orange flavor
Pith = Bitterness; Think hops in beer. Can be overdone, but will age out.
Zest = Strong orange citrus flavor

The reason JAOM works so well is that the combo of pith and orange flavor balance the sweetness which is in turn masking off flavors. This same idea can be manipulated for any mead making purpose.

As far as infection, fermentation is very funky. I wouldn't worry unless I smell strong vinegar or see black mold. I mean the spider web type black mold.

Fermentation is rotting.
We just select for specific rotting organisms and control the rotting so it comes out the way you want. Well, most of the time anyway.

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I kinda figured "rotting" wasn't really a bad thing, because that's a natural process and what the hell did I expect? Put a piece of fruit in water for a month at room temperature and it's gunna get vile. I supposed I'm just new and paranoid.

I added the entire orange, rind and all.

thechemister said:

I added the entire orange, rind and all.

Click to expand...

That's fine. Its D47 according to the recipe so it needs to be kept below 70F as it can produce fusels above that.

I suspect its biggest issue is likely to be pithy bitterness if it ferments dry. The same as when
you swap out the bread yeast in JAO i.e. the pith bitterness comes to the fore front.

Easily solved, by stabilising and back sweetening to mask the bitterness and balance the flavour.....