Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[prayforsunshine]

I've read through everything on this post, and couldn't find what I'm looking for.

I'm a first time mead maker and started with 1 gallon each of JAOM and Joe's Quick Grape, as both seemed easy enough.

I decided to follow what others had said about using D-47 instead of the bread yeast. It's been 48 hours since I pitched the yeast in both batches, and the JAOM has bubbles only once every 30-40 seconds. I did note that it must have taken off considerably during the first 15 hours (overnight) as there was foam residue much higher up on the neck, but now is completely calm.

The Grape mead is going very strong with constant bubbles. I understand that the quick grape is different in terms of nutrient, etc.....

Is it normal for D-47 to take longer to really get going on JAOM?

 

[david83]

I made a one gallon batch exactly by the recipe in May of '09 on my birthday. Later that evening my daughters came over, and one of my gifts was a cool antique glass vase with sailboats molded into the glass. I just happened to have a rubber stopper that fit the neck.....

I soaked it with bleach water for a couple days and made a mini-mead (about 16 ounces) and brought it to work as a desk ornament with an "S" type airlock. It was pretty cool to have a bubbly thing on my desk as a conversation piece.

I have gone thru about 250 gallons of beer since then, but I still have 5 beer bottles of birthday mead. I am going to drink one Sunday, on my birthday.

so how was it????

 

[Rocky71]

I followed the recipe with minor differences making it on 3/05/10 - 1 gallon. I was actually a little nervous to taste it but it wasn't bad at all when I cracked one open at a graduation party about a 2 weeks ago and tried it for the first time with some other people. In fact my sister in law told my brother to start making some. I simply bottled it in regular beer bottles and caps but I am going to wax the tops this weekend.

I strayed from the recipe in that I only zested the orange and added the flesh not the whole orange with pith and all. I thought it tasted good but by Xmas it should be great and I hate wine. I recommend you all try it.

 

[TheWeeb]

late last night, after a most wonderful bourbon porter or three, found this thread, and scroungex around the kitchen... did not have an orange but used half a grapefruit instead, 2.5 pounds of honey and one pound of brown, ground cin instead of stick. Saitized a gallon jug that used to hold apple juice and drilled a hole in the cap for an airlock. There is a nice foam on top this morning; no bubbling tho. I wonder if the grapefruit is too acidic for the yeast, but then, I am not too worried.

 

[billc68]

So I gave it a shot, why not?
I followed the recipe to a T and opted to omit the nutmeg/allspice as I was allowed to in the original recipe. I kinda guessed at the honey, bought 2 1kg bottles (4.4 lbs) and dumped in 1 and a half bottles, I had to guess again when I had too much water/honey and couldn't fit my oranges in, so I dumped some and then added a splash of honey to compensate.
I took it a step futher and actually sanitized my orange and then rinsed it.

My carboy is a 4L jug that my spring water came in, I assume it was already sanitzed before I bought it... lol we'll see in two months. My OG was 1.123 or thereabouts, hard to read teh Hydro with all teh bubbles and oranges floating around.

 

[TheWeeb]

Help! There was a bit of foam at first, maybe a bubble or two, then nothing, no action anyway for three days. Here is a kind of crappy picture:

It is kind of hard to tell, but there is a crusty foam on top with dark spots that looks dried up in places. The liquid is cloudy about 3/4ths of the way down. Should I pitch more yeast or dump it or just wait?

 

[billc68]

Help! There was a bit of foam at first, maybe a bubble or two, then nothing, no action anyway for three days. Here is a kind of crappy picture:

It is kind of hard to tell, but there is a crusty foam on top with dark spots that looks dried up in places. The liquid is cloudy about 3/4ths of the way down. Should I pitch more yeast or dump it or just wait?

I noticed this with mine on day two, I gave it a very light shake, trying not to disturb the liquid in my airlock too much, seems to have helped, I think with all the floaties, some of the yeast has nowhere to go.

Mine is bubbling along just fine. I assume I will see a bout 1/5 of the action from my airlocl thenm I would see from a 5 gallon carboy...

 

[Rocky71]

Just set up another one gallon batch. This time I forgot to zest the orange and again I only used the flesh not the entire orange. Should be a great batch. First time I've ever had 3 things in primary at the same time.

 

[Guinness]

Ok, so it's been 6 weeks, and it's starting to clear nicely. You can almost see the yeast dropping out, it's about 2/3 of the way down now.

Just a little longer. I've been good, and haven't sampled it!

 

[JWhitBeer]

Decided to give this a try tonight. Made three 1-gallon batches: 1) valencia orange, 2) red grapefruit, and 3) orange-grapefruit-lime. Stuck pretty close to the JOAM recipe, nixed cloves & nutmeg and used ground cinnamon.

This is my first attempt at making mead. Recently my LHBS told me about a guy who won best in show with the exact JOAM recipe after 6-9 months aging.

Totally forgot to take a hydro reading, but who cares I am gonna let the sucker sit till it clears and use taste as my guide.

I'll post back when its ready with comments.

Primary - Graff's & German Altbier
Secondary -
Bottled - Porter, American Abbey IPA, Hefeweizen
On Deck - California Common & Pale Ale

 

[cowboyflyfisher]

OK, my mead has cleared and my oranges have all dropped, as have some of the raisins. Once the raisins drop I'm going to bottle it, I have a question though. Can I bottle in growlers? What about 12oz bottles? I'm leaning toward getting the Grolsch-style bottles for individual servings.

 

[billc68]

OK, my mead has cleared and my oranges have all dropped, as have some of the raisins. Once the raisins drop I'm going to bottle it, I have a question though. Can I bottle in growlers? What about 12oz bottles? I'm leaning toward getting the Grolsch-style bottles for individual servings.

You should be able to bottle it anyway you like.
I plan to use Grolsch or wine bottles, maybe a couple wine uncarbbed and then the rest in Grolsch with some priming sugar. I might even do some up in a couple of small "ice wine" bottles and if I like it, I can give a couple of bottles as gifts.

 

[MetallHed]

sorry, didn't read the whole thread but have a question:

I'm planning on making a batch of original orange, but can you add any other kinds of fruit with the rest of the recipe the same?

strawberries? mango? pineapple?

Thanks!

 

[Rocky71]

There is no reason you can't use other fruit. Many here have done that. You may ask some of the more experienced people here how much or test it and learn from that. Some things are more intense in flavor then others... In a one gallon I wouldn't use more then 1 1/2 - 2 cups but for some fruit that may be over powering. In this thread lots of experiments and recipes others used with various fruits can be found.

 

[PJford15]

I just made this today. I used 2 cloves and crushed them and the cinnamon stick before I added them. Now it decorates my desk until it's ready.

OG was 1.132

 

[bigbopper]

Yoop, how long does this take to actually ferment out. Is the 2 months to condition it? Made a gallon batch in Mr Beer the other day and of course I had to taste some 3 days later. Tasted rather good but sweet, don't know if that's the honey still fermenting. Also thinking about using the same ingredients in a batch of apfelwein, what do you think?

no,the same ingredients would still be a batch of jaom

 

[bigbopper]

made my first batch last night,but with grapefruit&no cinnamon.enjoying the fermentation

 

[MeadWitch]

In my first JAOM I used 1 orange and 1 large tangleo (double batch) and it turned out wonderful. The current batch I have going right now, I used dried mix fruits instead of the raisins and added a 1/2 piece of vanilla bean. I see JAOM as a starting point recipe or if I need something quick that will mature in a few months. I have never come across anyone who didn't like it, so it is a sure fire winner that I keep in my recipe book.

 

[lumpher]

i know this is sacrilege, but i made this, and let it age a year. i tricked a couple of people into helping me drinking some, and we poured the rest out

 

[ursineogre]

I made my first double batch today. The first bubbles appeared after a mere 13 minutes!

 

[TheWeeb]

i know this is sacrilege, but i made this, and let it age a year. i tricked a couple of people into helping me drinking some, and we poured the rest out

Why did you pour it out? I thought this stuff aged really well?

 

[lumpher]

still tasted like gasoline to me, and i couldn't wait another 2-3 years for the fermenter to be available again

 

[billc68]

still tasted like gasoline to me, and i couldn't wait another 2-3 years for the fermenter to be available again

You didn't bottle it???

 

[munklunk]

I just put 2 gallons in my closet. My b-day is on September 30th so I'm considering this a well thought out, early gift for myself. I went with the concept of chopping up the zest and cutting the oranges a little smaller to create more surface area. There's no such thing as too much orange in my mead...

 

[funkapottomous]

I'm going to throw a big batch of this in the fermenter hopefully within the next few days so it will be bottled and ready to be given out around christmas time. Will update with recipe used and pictures, etc.

 

[munklunk]

So, tomorrow will be three weeks in the fermenter, and my mead has almost clearly completely. Also the airlock is slowed down to the point of almost no activity; maybe a bubble every minute or two. Should I bottle it already, since it has cleared, or wait another month?

 

[Yooper]

So, tomorrow will be three weeks in the fermenter, and my mead has almost clearly completely. Also the airlock is slowed down to the point of almost no activity; maybe a bubble every minute or two. Should I bottle it already, since it has cleared, or wait another month?

I've noticed very fine lees in the mead if it's bottled quickly. You can bottle if you want, just be careful not to stir up those powdery lees when you rack.

 

[craigbrew]

I made a batch last year in July and entered it in a competition this summer. I got an honorable mention in the Michigan Beer Cup. I put it in the specialty mead category.

 

[Mustangj]

Going to make it tonight!!

 

[craigbrew]

Jay, It was my first attempt at Mead and it got an HM. I might start making more Meads. I'm only going to be making 1 gal batches thou.

 

[munklunk]

Friday will be one month in the primary, and no joke, its almost done. All of the fruit has fallen to the bottom in one of my fermenters and half has on the other. I pulled a sample to see how it was, and damn that stuff is tasty. No bitter pithy taste; just orangy, slightly alcoholic honey wine. When all the fruit has dropped from the second gallon jug, I'm going to secondary them for a month to let any leftover yeast settle out before I bottle. This is competition-level mead. Thx!

 

[funkapottomous]

Friday will be one month in the primary, and no joke, its almost done. All of the fruit has fallen to the bottom in one of my fermenters and half has on the other. I pulled a sample to see how it was, and damn that stuff is tasty. No bitter pithy taste; just orangy, slightly alcoholic honey wine. When all the fruit has dropped from the second gallon jug, I'm going to secondary them for a month to let any leftover yeast settle out before I bottle. This is competition-level mead. Thx!

mine will be one month in on september 4th. will bottle as soon as it's ready and age for two months before giving it out at christmas time. It's looking mighty tasty and getting clear already, even if it is a bit slowly. (although only partially, it seems to be clearing in waves. there are about three different variants in the color of my fermenter right now. it's pretty cool looking)

 

[Tall_Yotie]

I made a batch of this about 3 years ago, and still have 5 small bottles left. So damned good, it is my favorite yet, and everyone loves it.

After the first year I dumped all of the mead out of their bottles because there was too much sediment. Cleaned out the bottles, and bottled again. Suddenly the subtle flavors became much more apparent (in a good way!). I need to start up another batch along with a few other types soon.

 

[craigbrew]

So I got my sheet from the Michigan Beer Cup. My batch of this got a 45.5. It only got a HM. There must have been some really good meads in the competition.

Thanks Yoop

Brew on
Craigbrew

 

[Guinness]

I'm ready to bottle some, and was wondering if I should go with crowns or corks?

If I'm going to hold on to it as long as suggested - a couple of years - seems to me corks would be the choice? I've also got some Grolsh bottles.

 

[bama2112]

My AOM is 2 weeks old now, and I'm NOT getting the wonderful aroma that everyone speaks of.

It bubbled like crazy for a couple days, then it stopped, no real evidence that the fermenting is still going on. Is this the problem? Followed recipe to a T.

 

[funkapottomous]

My AOM is 2 weeks old now, and I'm NOT getting the wonderful aroma that everyone speaks of.

It bubbled like crazy for a couple days, then it stopped, no real evidence that the fermenting is still going on. Is this the problem? Followed recipe to a T.

is this your first brew? do you have a hydrometer?

take a hydro reading once a week or so to see if it's changing.

 

[Ottis]

I just bottled two gallons, one spiced and one not. I had never tasted mead before so I'm not sure what I should have expected.
I ordered sweet mead yeast but when I got it it was dead, so I used bread yeast.
I got 6 16oz bottles (clear e-z caps) from each batch, right out of the fermenter it has a pleasant dry wine taste, the spiced is rather "warm" from the clove (i guess) and no bitter taste!

If it's this good now I can't wait to see what it'll be like come Christmas.

I'm going to try this again with the sweet mead yeast, assuming I can get a viable pack.....

 

[Centexbear]

Made a batch of this exactly per Da Yoop's original recipe.

I'll report back in a few months.

 

[dummkauf]

Just brewed this up tonight, though I used Cotes Des Blancs yeast from Red Star as I had all the necessary ingredients on hand except for the bread yeast. This will probably finish a bit drier than intended, but we'll see.

Plus this filled up one of my newly acquired 1 gallon jugs