Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[sharpstick]

I finally bottled my JOAM made with blood oranges after 5 months in the primary (kinda forgot about it), and I have to say it is definitely not what I expected. The smell is overpowering from the cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, and not in a good way. The small sip I took was also overpowered from the spice and way way too sweet. I also wish I had racked this to a secondary as it is impossible to go from the gallon jug to a bottling bucket and not disturb the sediment, it was crystal clear but now its murkier then a hefeweizen. I had followed the original directions to a tee, however I guess it just didn't turn out too well for me. I think Im going to forget about these bottles under my bed for a few years and see how it turns out then.

i've left JOAM batches for that long or longer.
I think spices are a personal thing. We've been putting way more than the recipe calls for. Judges have called it too much, but we like it so PPTTTHH to the judges!
loose sediment is the main drawback of bread yeast. the slightest movement creates clouds of yeast. when i think about bottling, i move the carboy to the kitchen counter about a week ahead of time and let it settle on its own. i've occasionally racked to another carboy first, but usually just bottle carefully. i use an autosiphon and spring loaded bottling wand.
JOAM gets better with age, but is usually drinkable immediately after bottling. if some elements are too strong, you can always save it to blend with something else that is weak in that area.
the original JOAM recipe tends to be too sweet for me, so i cut back the honey a bit, to about 3 lbs, and add more spices, craisins and cayenne pepper to balance the sweet mouthfeel.

 

[cowboyflyfisher]

I've never made mead before, heck, the only wine I've made is the Hillbilly wine (welch's grape juice, turned out pretty good) but I'm looking forward to trying this!

A quick question: As a noob should I stick with the bread yeast, or should I use a wine/mead yeast? There's a top of the line supply store a few blocks away that stocks everything I could possibly need, so getting it is not an issue. You folks that used the wine/mead yeast, how was your final product? If I use a mead yeast will I need to add a nutrient or acid, or whatever else? I'm leaning toward doing the foolproof method first. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[sharpstick]

As a noob should I stick with the bread yeast, or should I use a wine/mead yeast?

go back and read post #1.

 

[cowboyflyfisher]

I read through the whole thing, I was just wondering what results people had had with their experimenting, as I have a liquid sweet mead yeast, but I'll save that for another recipe since it's good until August.

That being said I did make this recipe exactly to the specs in the first post so I could have a positive first result. I just put it in the closet this afternoon and the yeast has taken off.

 

[mrk305]

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.

 

[Indian_villager]

So I just put together a batch of this. This is my first attempt at brewing. I listened to the directions given as closely as possible. The one mistake I think I made is that I pitched the yeast while the vessel was a wee bit warm to the touch...its been an hour and my airlock is seeing more action than a cheap Atlantic City motel. Should I be concerned? I am keeping the vessel in a bucket of cold water for now to try and bring down temps.

 

[Jason91887]

New brewer here. I just finished reading through all 28 pages of this stuff and I am going to start some on Thursday(payday). I think to start off I am going to do 2 batches of 2.5-3 gallons each, one, exactly like the original recipe, then one with the D-47, zesting, and a few other little tweaks. I will have to post up once I get everything going, wish me luck!

 

[jim_reaper1066]

Well, after bottling my mead I at first thought it was overpowering due to the spices, and way too sweet. However after only a few weeks in the bottle I brought some to my local homebrewclub meeting. Everyone was really excited to try it since noone else there brews mead. At first I apologized in advance that it might be too powerful, but after I cracked it open and had a sip whoa! It was a completely different drink. The spice notes had mellowed out and it was just the right level of sweetness, however it as still a little murky due to sediment in the bottle. The president of the club then promptly invited me to give a guest lecture on mead making and brewing biology for a course being taught this fall! Score one for JOAM, cant wait to see what its like in a few more months.

 

[George7845]

do i dare make a 5 gallon batch of this? think i will like it enough to make 5 gallons, something needs to be fermenting while i am away, and this sounds good due to the lack of special attention!

 

[Peets]

Orange mead, eh? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I like!

 

[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!