OMG he is editing the JAOM recipe!?!

Hello all

I loved my last JAOM I made and am sad that I don't have any more. I decided to throw together a two gallon batch of JAOM but made two changes to the recipe.

Recipe is as follows:

2 oranges quartered and plopped in.
7lb local wild flower honey
Two hand fills of raisins
2tsp of cinnamon powder
4 whole clove
2 pinch of ginger
2 pinch of allspice
3/4 tsp of cardamom
Water to 2 gallon
Yeast (London ESB 1968)

The yeast is known for its low attenuation and low ABV limit so I am hoping it works decently to how the fleishmans yeast would have done. I will let you all know how it goes.

 

Subscribed. Will be watching to see how it goes. I don't think I tried my JAOM until it was 6 months post -pitching. At 2 years it's really coming along.

 

May last JAOM really started to mature at about month 7... Then I ran out. This one was very sluggish for the first 2 days and then fermentation picked up. Checked it today and it has slowed to a crawl. I'll wait to check gravity and such in a couple of months to see how far the yeast took this. Hopefully I will not need to back sweeten and it should be about the same ABV as most normal JOAMs at right around 10-12%.

 

I used Flieschmans and it finished very (very) dry - i think .998? (My laptop died about two weeks ago, waiting to be shipped for repair, but all my brew logs are trapped inside...). I've had several Europeon friends who've drank my JAOM comment that it tastes very much like a traditional Euro Christmas wine.
I chose not to backsweeten and am glad - it really balanced after the 1 year mark. Just wish I had sparkled about half of the batch. I'm inbetween moves right now so am stuck dreaming about other people's brews and my future brews until I get settled and unpacked. Then...game on.

 

Wow surprised you said it finished dry. I wonder if you used 3 or 3.5 lb honey per gallon. If you used a verietal honey it may be one that is lower on the sugar content. Hmmmmmm...

 

Without my Brewlog I can't say with certainty. Variation in the type honey would be my main suspect as well. At the time I was buying both grocery store honey and getting some local stuff from the farmer where I have my lease.

 

I checked on the JAOM today to see how the batch was doing. The airlock stopped several days ago so I was curious. I checked the gravity and it is at 1.084 lol. The ale yeast is not doing the best job at fermenting quickly. I hoped it would tucker out before running dry but this strain is going super slow. I used this same strain in a lower gravity pumpkin melomel and it fermented up to 10%abv in 3 days so I know it can ferment quickly.

I added a tsp of yeast nutrient and probably a 1/4 tsp of energizer and mixed well. I made sure it was degassed well and then topped up with a little more water. Let's give this another 30 days and see if it will drop another 50 points at least.

I did not take an original gravity reading but based off the got mead calculator it estimates an OG of about 1.126. So if that is right then I am only at 5.84% ABV. Still a ways to go.

 

Well it is fermenting... slowly I think, or more hope. I can't see bubbles coming out if the airlock because I get bored watching it seamlessly do nothing and I walk away too soon but if I press on the jug and let enough Co2 out to have the airlock suck back. The little bobler or what ever that piece is called is pushed up with some new pressure later on. I do not want to fuss with it too much so I will still just hope it is fermenting and not just degassing. I will check the gravity at around the 60 day mark.

 

Looks like it is coming along on its own time! The watched fermenter never bubbles eh?
I was finally able to get at my brew log notes - it was 3 lbs of local honey for a 1.75 gallon batch. It fermented at room temp (DEC/JAN in TX) for 45 days and finished at .997 (Fleishmans Bread Yeast). For some reason I don't have an OG in my log.

 

Ah well that makes seance as to why your batch ran dry. For 1.75 gallons of must you should have closer to 6lb if honey for the sweet JAOM effect.

 

Three pounds would have made a semi dry 1 gallon JOAM. 1.75 gallons, no wonder it went bone dry.

 

Hey fellow Tulsan! Yeast for bitters in mead huh? Interested to know how it finishes vs good ole D47.

 

I like London ESB for mead. I used it once for a spiced pumpkin melomel that was super awesome. I could have swore based on the body and sweetness that mead was at a gravity of 1.01 at least but I measured it after bottling and it was at .992.

 

Ok a new gravity check after about 5 weeks from the last gravity check. It is now at 1.058. Approximately at an ABV level of 9.23%. Over the next month or two it might drop another .010 - .016 I hope lol. Once I am sure the fermentation has stopped I will cold crash it to try and get it all clear. I am thinking this will be nice for Christmas.

 

Ok the 3 month mark has passed officially so time to check this again. Surprisingly this is still really cloudy. Knowing this style yeast it is normally good for making clean clear ales and meads because it has a super high flocculation rate. I have noticed the airlock is under pressure and I can shake this to release some CO2 and by the next day there is pressure on the airlock again but I never see it bubbling any more. I took a gravity check and it is at 1.056 now. So just a .002 drop from the last time I checked. It may just be degassing now it seems. It is probably so cloudy because of the high gravity. It seems the dry fleishmans yeast does a better job of fermenting a little further and getting a JAOM to the 1.03ish range and about 12%ABV where I think this one is doomed to only about 9.5% ABV. I tasted a bit of the hydrometer test tube and it is very nice. A very slight alcohol bite is there. Lots of orange aroma and taste and not bitter really. If any bitter at all it is only complimenting. The spices are a little underplayed and the fruitiness is dominating the taste. I expected the yeast to compliment the fruity nature of this mead and I think it is doing very well. I just think when this is served I may need to cut it with ginger ale to cut that gravity down. I will give it another month or so and see if it clears up much. If not ill probably rack off the yeast and cold crash this.

 

Another 3 weeks have passed and still at 1.056 for the gravity. We are finished. The gravity is so high though the fruit has not dropped and it is still cloudy. I am giving up on letting it clear. I am going to siphon it soon and add some bentonite to clear this puppy. I hope to have it bottled soon. I do however want to thin it out. I am thinking of taking some orange blossom honey I have and making a 1 gallon traditional with a starting gravity of 1.068 and letting it ferment dry. Blend the two and if my traditional is at 1.000 which should be about the same ABV then the two blended should get me to about 1.038 ish.

Any one think that is a bad idea? I know I want to keep this sweet but man it is thick and syrupy now. Tastes good but really thick. Not something I can drink a whole glass of.

 

So... wait...

You edited the JAOM recipe and you're unhappy with the results? Shocker!

No, just kidding. I think blending it with a dry traditional would be a really good idea.

 

Lol hahaha I know I know.

At least my displease is fixable. So far there is no super biter pith that kills me. It is not super hot on alcohol. There are no "rotten" notes from the orange. It is nice. The reason I picked this yeast is because I know it would not dry out the mead. I just hoped it would go a little further is all.

 

Ok I finally started a traditional mead to blend into this. I took about 2lb of raw orange blossom honey and mixed into warm water. Topped off to the top of my jug. The gravity is at 1.072 which is right where I wanted it. I mixed in just over 1 tsp of nutrient/energizer and I will add additional nutrients over the next couple days. For yeast I used 50 grams of Sake lees from my last Sake batch. It was started with Lalvin K1v-1116. Ill probably try and see if I can get away with saving one small bottle of this traditional if the rest can lower the gravity of my JAOM enough.

 

Ok my traditional is down to a gravity of 1.030 now. It has a very healthy looking fermentation going for a traditional style. Well I don't know if you can really call it that. The lees I used had a lot of rice matter in it. So since this has converted grains in it. Is it more of a braggot?!? LOL. It smells and tastes great now so it will be nice to see where it is when it is dry.

 

Following!!!

 

Ok I racked the JAOM over to a 3 gallon better bottle. I added sorbate and Camden for 3 gallons worth. Ill rack the traditional on top in the morning after at least another 12 hours have passed. With all the sediment between the traditional and the JAOM I probably don't have a full 3 gallons. If it doesn't clear quickly I may top off with a little lemon mead I have to reduce head space. God this is turning into a Franken-citrous-mead.

 

Ok I blended the traditional and the JAOM together. I was about a whole 1/2 gallon short! I should have made a larger batch traditional but I was low on orange blossom honey and this was the largest batch I could do... So I went ahead and topped off with a lemon mead of mine and the better bottle is now resting outside in my shed to keep it cool and let the rest of the sediment drop out. Probably in a couple weeks I can bottle.

 

Following!

 

Ok I checked on it today and it is crystal clear now. I took a gravity test and it is sitting pretty at about 1.028. Much much better! A quick taste test from the gravity sample confirmed. It is sweet but has that distinct JAOM orange flavor. I think it tastes great. Just as good as prior batches of JAOM if not better because this seems much smoother in taste. Absolutely no alcohol bite but it started to warm my belly so I know it is there. Here is a pick of the gravity sample.



I will bottle this soon. This will make some nice Christmas presents.

 

How did you tip the hydrometer tube like that with spilling anything or dropping the hydrometer?

 

Ha I just looked at how long this has been going. 20 days shy of 6 months. With the normal JAOM recipe I think it smooths out closer to after about 7 months. Even then I think this batch is more pleasant to drink now.

 

OH NO!!!!! I POSTED THE WRONG PIC. Ok you found out....... I am a wizard.

 

Whats the jaom recipe?

 

Read here:

JAOM

 

Thanks

 

Ok I bottled up my Franken JAOM. Smells super great and looks good. I have a 12oz in the freezer chilling up now. If I am sober tomorrow assuming i can stay away from the stuff. I will post my impression of it. Here is a pic:

 

Hey I totally forgot to post tasting notes. I swear it was not from over drinking. The mead turned out really well. It is smooth with a good mouthfeel and not too thick. The sweet and pithy orange peel balance well. Any of the spices are far far on the background and just meld with the orangey flavors. Overall I am impressed. With all my multi blending this would be difficult to replicate over and over but it was a nice experience and I have some good mead now.