Joe's Ancient Orange Mead - JOAM

[Baabaadoo]

Racked mine over off the fruit and gunk after it was done to allow it to bulk age a bit before I bottle. Plus, I wanted to taste it and see if it was sweet enough (I accidentally did 3lbs honey instead of 3.5lbs). It's good, but next time I think I am going to leave out the clove, add a vanilla bean, and add the entire amount of honey. Thoughts? The clove makes it taste like a Christmas ornament a bit. I'll see how it tastes as it ages I guess. Maybe that'll change my mind, but I'd definitely like to try the changes I mention.

When I racked it over, it kicked up a bit of junk. It was crystal clear. I'm assuming this is expected? As mentioned previously, the bread yeast lees are very fine and easily agitated. I did remove a lot of stuff tho.

 

[Maylar]

The clove mellows with age.

 

[TexBow]

View attachment 404285 this is my JAOM that I used 5lbs of honey on. Looks good to me.

 

[RPh_Guy]

5 pounds ..... in one gallon?

 

[Deafmeadmaker]

5 pounds ..... in one gallon?

It sounds like a lot, but it dissolves into the water fairly quickly. There are recipes out there that call for 19-20 lbs. of honey for a 5 gallon recipe.

 

[Bender]

It sounds like a lot, but it dissolves into the water fairly quickly. There are recipes out there that call for 19-20 lbs. of honey for a 5 gallon recipe.

I use 18 lbs for 5 gal. 19 or 20 lbs wouldn't be outrageous. I also use a wine degasser and drill to get the water and honey into a solution.

And don't throw out the raisins.

 

[rlmiller10]

My JAOM has been in the bottle for 6 months. I just opened one and I was not impressed. Still too much of the orange peal taste. Is that just the way this batch will be, or should I wait another 6 months before opening another?

If you put all the pith in it might just be that way. I grate off the zest, then peel off the pith before putting the zest and just the meat back in the fermenter.

 

[Bender]

All this talk about mead... I just made 5 gal.

 

[BeeDeeEff]

Just pitched the yeast in my first gallon of this stuff, looking forward to it:

 

[smishylyn]

Pitched January 17, 2017 and bottled July 3, 2017
All in all it was a success! Tastes wonderful. Definitely an acquired taste, though. Many mixed reviews from friends, but not that unexpected as many of them are not "fans" of mead.
The fruit never did fall on my batch but I think it was because the oranges kind of wedged together and prevented each other from falling. Looking forward to making my next batch!

 

[BeeDeeEff]

My first batch finished, and I'll definitely have to put down another one soon. Great way to make something with decent flavor out of relatively cheap ingredients (store-bought bulk clover honey).

Also happened to finish clearer than anything I've made with honey closer to raw, relying only on time+gravity to clear.