Ancient JOAM?

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GuldTuborg

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I made a batch of JOAM that I apparently forgot about for a year. Yes, it's been sitting in a 1 gallon glass jug for a year. The airlock is still full (don't know how), but the oranges have sunk to the bottom and now have a dusty black appearance. Has anyone ever let their mead sit this long on yeast and fruit? I'd lift the airlock to give it a sniff, but I'm a bit scared of singeing my olfactory nerves away completely. Any advice as to whether I ought to keep or pitch this funky fermentation?
 
Don't toss it until you try it! you never know, it may be AWESOME.
I've got a gallon that's been whispering to me for the past month now...
 
Joe's guidance about waiting until the fruit has dropped would be the earliest you should have thought about racking.

A lot of new mead makers are unaware just how much patience is needed.

The alcohol will have preserved the fruit, but there might have been some autolysis from the yeast, so the only way you're gonna be able to tell what it's like is to taste some.

I'd bet that it'll probably be fine and taste pretty good (could easily be wrong).

regards

fatbloke
 
Take a small taste. If its horrible then there might have been some mold spores in the oranges or something.
And that much yeast cake could definitely make autolysis a problem (it does happen, just not terribly often like older brew books lead us to believe)
 
I made a batch of JOAM that I apparently forgot about for a year. Yes, it's been sitting in a 1 gallon glass jug for a year. The airlock is still full (don't know how), but the oranges have sunk to the bottom and now have a dusty black appearance. Has anyone ever let their mead sit this long on yeast and fruit? I'd lift the airlock to give it a sniff, but I'm a bit scared of singeing my olfactory nerves away completely. Any advice as to whether I ought to keep or pitch this funky fermentation?

it should be fine I have racked JAOM on light toast oak and aged it for a year then bottled and it was very smooth
 
I just bottled 6 month old JAOM the other day. I had racked it off the fruit after about 6 weeks though so I can't vouch for blackened oranges... Mine was clear and sweet.
 
Where did this go? Was it any good? Did you just dump it, or what?

I have an autolysis thread going and I see the subject mentioned here.
 
Sorry for the late update, all. Internet access is a rare luxury in the afterlife.

Actually, I had forgotten about this. I took a sample not long after the initial activity on this thread. It tasted off. Not terrible, but just not good either. I was trying to decide whether I should dump it or not when work stuff got in the way again, and eventually the airlock dried up. It was really bad after that, so I ended up pitching it.

I've since made a better batch, so autolysis must have played some role. It does happen, I guess, but it must take a while to become noticeable.
 

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