Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[Jupapabear]

Think it's a problem if I never topped up? I made a 5 gallon batch with a few inches of head space. If it wasn't for this thread I would probably have forgotten about it. It's 2 months and 2 days old. Clear but everything is still floating.

 

[brewski09]

It's fine. You can bottle if it's clear but I think most will recommend aging it for a while still before doing anything. Mine never dropped the fruit and was quite nice at 18 months after bottling with a light carbonation to it (on purpose)


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[Jupapabear]

So bottle soon then age?

 

[brewski09]

I think you can bottle now. You can also leave it alone for a couple more months if you want to.


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[TrustyOlJohnson]

So I made 3 1 gallon batches of this with slight variations from the original recipe, namely i made one with bread yeast/oranges, one wine yeast/lemons, one champagn yeast/oranges. I did his early February and all 3 are already clear and fruit is dropping. Im planning on bottlin in August and start drinking in December. Does that seem like a good schedule?


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

 

[NinjaMedic]

I know the general consensus is to let it age for a few months but I'm wondering how this tastes when bottled?


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[Pkrd]

I know the general consensus is to let it age for a few months but I'm wondering how this tastes when bottled?

Bottled mine today, though its been sitting for over four months. Tastes not bad.

Gonna be hard to leave this until christmas.

 

[NinjaMedic]

Bottled mine today, though its been sitting for over four months. Tastes not bad.

Gonna be hard to leave this until christmas.

Ok I'm just wondering because I brewed this for a "viking feast" because I saw it takes two months and it was exactly two months until the feast when I found out. Got it in the fermenter ASAP before reading on that most people let them sit months at a time. Now I'm worried :-/

 

[brewski09]

You should be fine. Taste some before taking it just to be safe. Honestly, I would bring it in bulk, like a secondary, and serve it that way. The more you do to it, the longer it has to age to be drinkable in my opinion.

 

[salli4102]

Ok I'm just wondering because I brewed this for a "viking feast" because I saw it takes two months and it was exactly two months until the feast when I found out. Got it in the fermenter ASAP before reading on that most people let them sit months at a time. Now I'm worried :-/

It will be fine. My first batch I did for a "Rennaisance" wedding and everybody loved it. Served it about three weeks after I bottled it. People wanted to buy bottles of it! I honestly didn't think anyone would like it because it doesn't taste like wine you get from a store. But they did. I was so happy I got hammered.

 

[Philthehuskerfan]

Hey All!

I am a fairly new brewer and I started JAOM about six weeks ago and it's has cleared..except for some sediment floaters. This seems a little soon from the instructions. Should I be worried? Fermenting temp was 68. I know this is a little cool, but there were not fluctuations in temp. Thanks!

 

[brewski09]

You are fine


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[rlmiller10]

Hey All!

I am a fairly new brewer and I started JAOM about six weeks ago and it's has cleared..except for some sediment floaters. This seems a little soon from the instructions. Should I be worried? Fermenting temp was 68. I know this is a little cool, but there were not fluctuations in temp. Thanks!

Yes, it is totally ruined. Please send to my address for proper disposal :cross:

 

[Jupapabear]

How do you guys filter out the sediment before bottling. My sample was OK but I will be aging this one. There was alot of orange floaties I would like removed.

 

[Philthehuskerfan]

Hey All!

I am a fairly new brewer and I started JAOM about six weeks ago and it's has cleared..except for some sediment floaters. This seems a little soon from the instructions. Should I be worried? Fermenting temp was 68. I know this is a little cool, but there were not fluctuations in temp. Thanks!

Thanks for the help on such a noob question. I figured I was premature on posting about it.

 

[hunter_le five]

How do you guys filter out the sediment before bottling. My sample was OK but I will be aging this one. There was alot of orange floaties I would like removed.

I racked mine to secondary. I know the instructions specifically advise against that, but for me, it was the best way to keep crap out of the final packaging.

I let it sit in primary until all fruit had dropped and mead seemed completely clear, and then auto-siphoned into a 3L bottle until full. I then let it sit a few more weeks. A small amount of sediment formed at the bottom of secondary, so even though it had appeared perfectly clear before, there was still more to get out of suspension. I then bottled in 12oz beer bottles.

 

[fuzzy2133]

How do you guys filter out the sediment before bottling. My sample was OK but I will be aging this one. There was alot of orange floaties I would like removed.

I racked mine to secondary. I know the instructions specifically advise against that, but for me, it was the best way to keep crap out of the final packaging.

I let it sit in primary until all fruit had dropped and mead seemed completely clear, and then auto-siphoned into a 3L bottle until full. I then let it sit a few more weeks. A small amount of sediment formed at the bottom of secondary, so even though it had appeared perfectly clear before, there was still more to get out of suspension. I then bottled in 12oz beer bottles.

I will be doing a secondary with this 3 gallon batch too. The last batch I bottled directly got sediment in just about all the bottles. And I want to try some oak with part of this batch.

 

[SmCranf]

I want to make this so bad but only have a 6 gal carboy and one airlock, and don't want to tie them up for 6 weeks

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I want to make this so bad but only have a 6 gal carboy and one airlock, and don't want to tie them up for 6 weeks

I bought five 1 gallon jugs of apple cider that I made Caramel Apple Hard Cider with and now I have 5 jugs to do JAOM or 1 gallon test beer batches. Jus an idea.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

 

[jak1010]

I racked mine to secondary. I know the instructions specifically advise against that, but for me, it was the best way to keep crap out of the final packaging.

I let it sit in primary until all fruit had dropped and mead seemed completely clear, and then auto-siphoned into a 3L bottle until full. I then let it sit a few more weeks. A small amount of sediment formed at the bottom of secondary, so even though it had appeared perfectly clear before, there was still more to get out of suspension. I then bottled in 12oz beer bottles.

Exactly how I do mine. They always turn out great and crystal clear.

 

[brewski09]

I racked mine to secondary. I know the instructions specifically advise against that, but for me, it was the best way to keep crap out of the final packaging.

I let it sit in primary until all fruit had dropped and mead seemed completely clear, and then auto-siphoned into a 3L bottle until full. I then let it sit a few more weeks. A small amount of sediment formed at the bottom of secondary, so even though it had appeared perfectly clear before, there was still more to get out of suspension. I then bottled in 12oz beer bottles.

+1

I also really liked it with Nottingham beer yeast and want to use k1 wine yeast on an attempt soon as it's great on fruit meads and wines.

 

[DarthBeer]

Is the Wyeast sweet mead package too much for a 1 gallon batch? Maybe split the package between two 1 gallon batches?

 

[brewski09]

Is the Wyeast sweet mead package too much for a 1 gallon batch? Maybe split the package between two 1 gallon batches?

Theoretically that should be enough yeast for about a 6% ABV 5 gallon batch or a 12% ABV 2.5 gallon batch. If you are around 14%, I would split it between 2 batches. Also check out the Mr. Malty pitching calculator for more specific estimates. I would also highly encourage a yeast nutrient or energizer of some sort.

 

[DarthBeer]

Thanks. I'll look up that calculator. I would think that a whole pack of the Wyeast plus energizer would volcano out of the airlock in a one gallon jug. It certainly wouldn't need a starter.

 

[stonecutter2]

I'm sampling some of this that I started in December. I didn't mess with it, except a few shaking attempts to get the fruit to fall, which only a few raisins did. I think this actually helped, as the loose yeast around the bottle and on top of the fruit then fell and collected at the bottom.

It was perfectly clear by the time I bottled. Total time in primary was about 5 months during one of the coldest winters I've seen. Ambient basement temp was around 61 degrees.

This is a VERY interesting mead! It's sweet, right on the border of too sweet, but that makes it oh so drinkable. The orange interplays with the spices in very tasty ways.

I used Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast, by the way, and included just a tiny pinch of the optional spices. I can barely detect them, even with that small of an amount, but it makes the mead really complex. The orange is sweet and citrusy, but balanced by the bitterness of the rind.

I can't wait to see how this develops - I bottled into four 7oz flip top bottles, and 2 wine bottles. That way I can see how this progresses and crack the wine bottles when I think it's "great" and a big group of folks are ready to dive in.

What an awesome recipe. Will definitely keep a batch of this going continually, with these kind of results!

 

[neilpcraven]

What temperature do you lot drink this at? I tried one bottle at fridge temperature and I think it could have been better ice cold.

 

[brewski09]

I liked it at red wine temp 55F which would theoretically likely be a traditional temp I would think.


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[jpwic]

At what point should I top off the water? It looks like most of the foam is starting to die down now (It's been in the carboy for 5 days now) is that enough time or should I give it some more time?

 

[Beersnob16]

Ok, so I followed the original recipe exactly and brewed this back in early November, I put it in a closet and pretty much forgot about it until last night. I pulled it out of the closet seeing that all of the fruit has dropped and it was very clear. I haven't tastes or bottled as of yet but I did pull the airlock off and smelled, very strong cough syrup smell. What would cause this, is it ok, if not what can be done to fix it, or should I bottle and let it sit and see what happens? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks


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[rlmiller10]

Not sure what cough syrup smell is am what we get usually smells like chemical cherries. What temp was the closet? If it fermented on the warm side you might have some fusel alcohols that are causing what you smell. Did you put the orange peel in? You might be getting some citrus oils as well.

In any case time is your friend. Bottle, taste a little as you do, then put away and try again in three months. Continue trying every three months until you like it or your run out.