Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[TheWeeb]

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

Why did you pour it out? I thought this stuff aged really well?

 

[lumpher]

still tasted like gasoline to me, and i couldn't wait another 2-3 years for the fermenter to be available again

 

[billc68]

still tasted like gasoline to me, and i couldn't wait another 2-3 years for the fermenter to be available again

You didn't bottle it???

 

[munklunk]

I just put 2 gallons in my closet. My b-day is on September 30th so I'm considering this a well thought out, early gift for myself. I went with the concept of chopping up the zest and cutting the oranges a little smaller to create more surface area. There's no such thing as too much orange in my mead...

 

[funkapottomous]

I'm going to throw a big batch of this in the fermenter hopefully within the next few days so it will be bottled and ready to be given out around christmas time. Will update with recipe used and pictures, etc.

 

[munklunk]

So, tomorrow will be three weeks in the fermenter, and my mead has almost clearly completely. Also the airlock is slowed down to the point of almost no activity; maybe a bubble every minute or two. Should I bottle it already, since it has cleared, or wait another month?

 

[Yooper]

So, tomorrow will be three weeks in the fermenter, and my mead has almost clearly completely. Also the airlock is slowed down to the point of almost no activity; maybe a bubble every minute or two. Should I bottle it already, since it has cleared, or wait another month?

I've noticed very fine lees in the mead if it's bottled quickly. You can bottle if you want, just be careful not to stir up those powdery lees when you rack.

 

[craigbrew]

I made a batch last year in July and entered it in a competition this summer. I got an honorable mention in the Michigan Beer Cup. I put it in the specialty mead category.

 

[Mustangj]

Going to make it tonight!!

 

[craigbrew]

Jay, It was my first attempt at Mead and it got an HM. I might start making more Meads. I'm only going to be making 1 gal batches thou.

 

[munklunk]

Friday will be one month in the primary, and no joke, its almost done. All of the fruit has fallen to the bottom in one of my fermenters and half has on the other. I pulled a sample to see how it was, and damn that stuff is tasty. No bitter pithy taste; just orangy, slightly alcoholic honey wine. When all the fruit has dropped from the second gallon jug, I'm going to secondary them for a month to let any leftover yeast settle out before I bottle. This is competition-level mead. Thx!

 

[funkapottomous]

Friday will be one month in the primary, and no joke, its almost done. All of the fruit has fallen to the bottom in one of my fermenters and half has on the other. I pulled a sample to see how it was, and damn that stuff is tasty. No bitter pithy taste; just orangy, slightly alcoholic honey wine. When all the fruit has dropped from the second gallon jug, I'm going to secondary them for a month to let any leftover yeast settle out before I bottle. This is competition-level mead. Thx!

mine will be one month in on september 4th. will bottle as soon as it's ready and age for two months before giving it out at christmas time. It's looking mighty tasty and getting clear already, even if it is a bit slowly. (although only partially, it seems to be clearing in waves. there are about three different variants in the color of my fermenter right now. it's pretty cool looking)

 

[Tall_Yotie]

I made a batch of this about 3 years ago, and still have 5 small bottles left. So damned good, it is my favorite yet, and everyone loves it.

After the first year I dumped all of the mead out of their bottles because there was too much sediment. Cleaned out the bottles, and bottled again. Suddenly the subtle flavors became much more apparent (in a good way!). I need to start up another batch along with a few other types soon.

 

[craigbrew]

So I got my sheet from the Michigan Beer Cup. My batch of this got a 45.5. It only got a HM. There must have been some really good meads in the competition.

Thanks Yoop

Brew on
Craigbrew

 

[Guinness]

I'm ready to bottle some, and was wondering if I should go with crowns or corks?

If I'm going to hold on to it as long as suggested - a couple of years - seems to me corks would be the choice? I've also got some Grolsh bottles.

 

[bama2112]

My AOM is 2 weeks old now, and I'm NOT getting the wonderful aroma that everyone speaks of.

It bubbled like crazy for a couple days, then it stopped, no real evidence that the fermenting is still going on. Is this the problem? Followed recipe to a T.

 

[funkapottomous]

My AOM is 2 weeks old now, and I'm NOT getting the wonderful aroma that everyone speaks of.

It bubbled like crazy for a couple days, then it stopped, no real evidence that the fermenting is still going on. Is this the problem? Followed recipe to a T.

is this your first brew? do you have a hydrometer?

take a hydro reading once a week or so to see if it's changing.

 

[Ottis]

I just bottled two gallons, one spiced and one not. I had never tasted mead before so I'm not sure what I should have expected.
I ordered sweet mead yeast but when I got it it was dead, so I used bread yeast.
I got 6 16oz bottles (clear e-z caps) from each batch, right out of the fermenter it has a pleasant dry wine taste, the spiced is rather "warm" from the clove (i guess) and no bitter taste!

If it's this good now I can't wait to see what it'll be like come Christmas.

I'm going to try this again with the sweet mead yeast, assuming I can get a viable pack.....

 

[Centexbear]

Made a batch of this exactly per Da Yoop's original recipe.

I'll report back in a few months.

 

[dummkauf]

Just brewed this up tonight, though I used Cotes Des Blancs yeast from Red Star as I had all the necessary ingredients on hand except for the bread yeast. This will probably finish a bit drier than intended, but we'll see.

Plus this filled up one of my newly acquired 1 gallon jugs

 

[Mustangj]

After a month i'm at 1.070.

 

[ursineogre]

How much sugar should one use when carbing? I bottled my first batch without any carbonation and would like to try to carbonate my second and possibly third batches.

Has anyone tried using maple syrup in the brew, say on the order of 1 cup or so?

 

[HerotBrewer]

Hoping to brew up a 1 gal batch over the weekend.

Since so many people mention the very fine lees from the bread yeast, has anyone tried adding gelatin to settle it out?

 

[ursineogre]

I put a cup of maple syrup in my third batch...it's only been in the jug about 3 weeks now...I'll let you know how it comes out once I bottle it.

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

Anyone ever
make this with US-O5 yeast? And if so how was it?

 

[von_lidl]

Anyone ever
make this with US-O5 yeast? And if so how was it?

I got some regular dry baking yeast and it works fine!

Anyone know if it's a good idea to filter the liquid into another plastic container? Cause I don't want to drink the oranges and raisins later on. Or should I just wait until it's done and then filter in to smaller cans or whatever?

Thanks for a respond!

 

[sharpstick]

Anyone know if it's a good idea to filter the liquid into another plastic container? Cause I don't want to drink the oranges and raisins later on. Or should I just wait until it's done and then filter in to smaller cans or whatever?

just wait until it clears on it's own. if it isn't clear, it probably isn't done. my latest batch cleared in less than two months, but I usually let it sit in the carboy for 4 to 6 months before bottling.
when it is ready to bottle, i carefully carry it to the kitchen counter and cover with a dark towel for several days. this lets the yeast settle back down. the main drawback of bread yeast is that it doesn't floculate very well and clouds of lees swirl up.
i then use an autosiphon (with a carpenters spring clamp to hold the bottom just below the floating debris level) to bottle.
using a different yeast may be an interesting experiment, but puts it out of this forum thread. i've tried it with limited success, but do let us know how it works for you. joe put a lot of work into developing this recipe and stressed that you shouldn't deviate too far from it to be successful.

 

[von_lidl]

just wait until it clears on it's own. if it isn't clear, it probably isn't done. my latest batch cleared in less than two months, but I usually let it sit in the carboy for 4 to 6 months before bottling.
when it is ready to bottle, i carefully carry it to the kitchen counter and cover with a dark towel for several days. this lets the yeast settle back down. the main drawback of bread yeast is that it doesn't floculate very well and clouds of lees swirl up.
i then use an autosiphon (with a carpenters spring clamp to hold the bottom just below the floating debris level) to bottle.
using a different yeast may be an interesting experiment, but puts it out of this forum thread. i've tried it with limited success, but do let us know how it works for you. joe put a lot of work into developing this recipe and stressed that you shouldn't deviate too far from it to be successful.

Thanks for this quick answer! But do you know how much alcohol it will be? Don't need to be precisely?

 

[sharpstick]

i don't think it is easy to determine using a hydrometer with this recipe because the OG is only the honey solution with much of the solids locked inside the fruit chunks.
there is a method using a refractometer and narrow range hydrometer that is a bit more complicated but should work.
http://www.makewine.com/winemaking/methods/alcohol/
i think bread yeast is not very consistent, but this recipe probably falls within the range of 8 - 12 percent. one of these days i'll use this method to measure mine.

 

[MrWednesday]

Anyone ever
make this with US-O5 yeast? And if so how was it?

My last batch of JAOM used US-05. I forgot about it for a year and stumbled over it a few weeks ago. It was excellent. Definitely better than the stuff I made with bread yeast, but I didn't let that sit nearly as long. Pop in US-05 and leave it to its own devices for a little over a year. It's awesome.