Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[sielm]

I made some JAOM and variants back in 2011. Some were in 3 liter plastic bottles with EVERYTHING still there...after racking and bottling one year and a half later, almost every batch is pleasantly drinkable. I had to discard only 2 batches because of bad flavour. JAOM and mead in general get way better with age, and that is something I learned 1st person

 

[numr17]

Made three batches of this. One strictly by the book, then a blackberry/lemon variant, and a grapefruit variant. Been a month so far and still happily bubbling away.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

check it out with a couple pears. highly suggest it!

 

[blh3d]

So creamy do you just add pears instead of an orange or are there other changes?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

No other changes blh. I'd say about 2 bosc or the green pears (forget the variety name) cut into spears. Its nice and rustic, goes well with a nice vinegary salad (Ive found) and people will like drinking it whilst watching Game of Thrones .

 

[MidniteFlyer]

I have a mason jar of used Nottingham yeast in my fridge that I washed & bottled up last week from when I brewed a nut brown ale.
Can I use this yeast for this mead recipe? If so, how much should I use?

(Don't know if it's been covered in this thread...just don't have the time to go through 1145 posts!!

Thanks guys, MF

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I have a mason jar of used Nottingham yeast in my fridge that I washed & bottled up last week from when I brewed a nut brown ale.
Can I use this yeast for this mead recipe? If so, how much should I use?

(Don't know if it's been covered in this thread...just don't have the time to go through 1145 posts!!

Thanks guys, MF

Honestly, I wouldnt with this recipe. You are likely to get pith and hot rind flavor and make it dry as a bone. I'm sure other recipes work lovely with Notty, but this one cries out for bread yeast alone.

 

[blh3d]

I just bottled mine after about two and a half months. Tried some and it was very spice forward. Not much orange. Does the spice subdue after time?

 

[AbuMaia]

My first batch, which I started Jan 2, is starting to clear up, though it's still bubbling. Should I rack it into another container, or let it finish out the remaining 3 weeks? I can't tell how clear it's getting, it's in a milk jug, but shining a flashlight through it shows it's mostly clear.

 

[Goofynewfie]

Leave it alone

 

[rialaigh]

Just racked my one gallon batch to secondary. It had been in primary since..idk...OCT or early nov. The oranges dropped to the bottom at least a month ago and I racked it over today and topped up with water. I tasted it and its bitter as heck...got some sweetness to it but its really really bitter, it does taste lke its been on the rhines for a long time...

did I screw up by not racking/bottling earlier or will this get drinkable? cause it was really not drinkable...it was gaggable...

 

[johannvdl]

this recipe is a little too sophisticated for me. is it possible to use a balloon poked with holes instead of an airlock? also i know that honey has some anti bacterial properties, does this mean i can forgo hardcore sanitation techniques in favor of a rinse in boiling water?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

this recipe is a little too sophisticated for me. is it possible to use a balloon poked with holes instead of an airlock? also i know that honey has some anti bacterial properties, does this mean i can forgo hardcore sanitation techniques in favor of a rinse in boiling water?

Are you joking? If not then yes, I always use a balloon for JAOM. Instead of hardcore sanitation you could use hot water and 1 tablespoon of bleach. Rinse several times.

 

[sielm]

this recipe is a little too sophisticated for me. is it possible to use a balloon poked with holes instead of an airlock? also i know that honey has some anti bacterial properties, does this mean i can forgo hardcore sanitation techniques in favor of a rinse in boiling water?

I made batches on 2 liter PET bottles which ended OK. I did not even boil every time. And I used poked ballons too

But I have to admit that some batches tasted bad in the end, so to be on the safe side I would also try to sanitize as much as possible.

BTW I would recommend making larger batches, because on 2 liters you lose quite a lot of mead because of the sediments.

Good luck!

 

[nhush]

This question will no doubt be frowned upon but, considering the price of honey here in South Korea, (cheapest I've seen being an USA import - clover honey 1.36kg at $31 is it possible to use a mixed honey i.e. corn syrup 90% / real honey 10% (cheapest price $11 for 2kg)

Will it make a drinkable fake 'mead' or not?

Is there anyone out there who is not embarrassed to let me know?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Honestly friend, if honey is that expensive I personally would buy some corn sugar and make Apfelwein instead. I honestly dont think corn syrup is a good substitute for honey, particularly in this recipe.

I am so ignorant about South Korea, is real maple syrup available/affordable? If so I'd set out and make acerglyn (maple wine) instead.

Sorry, I know its not the answer you wanted to hear...

 

[nhush]

Thanks anyway for the sad news. Everything I've looked for is wat too expensive

I do do an Apfelwein but with regular sugar because that is all there is. Cheapest apple juice here is $2 per liter (Ceres) Treetops is $11 a gallon.

I have calculated that the cheapest thing to brew is Skeeter Pee.

Last week I paid out $52 for a 6 gallon carboy.

Anyway, no more grumbling.

Thanks

 

[AbuMaia]

Yikes, $30 for 3 lbs? Here I thought getting a 5 lb jug of honey for $15 was expensive.

 

[Hrodrich]

Just bottled my first mead. Fermented a month or so, and died down so I cold crashed it for about a week, and bottled it today. I noticed two of my bottles were a bit cloudy, and also in one of them I saw some bits of yeast floating around, will this make bottle bombs?

 

[flb_78]

Just "bottled" my first gallon last weekend. Started it Dec 1, 2012. I filtered it through coffee filters 3 times to remove any solids. Im not a wine drinker so Im not sure how this is. It tastes "hot" to me. I vacuum sealed the jars with a FoodSaver and Im going to let it sit a couple months now.

 

[nhush]

Oops!!!

I meant 2.36kg not 1.36 but it still is expensive.

To change the subject, I am noticing that on my JOAM the bung has moisture / water droplets on the underside.

Is this normal or is something happening with the temp inside and outside the jar.

I water is dropping into the mead will it cause problems?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I doubt its a problem unless your room is very hot... say over 80 degrees F

 

[ThirstyVine]

Started my first mead using joam recipe, it is bubbling like crazy and smells great can,t wait for this to come good.

 

[Oak_Brook_Brewing_Company]

I am watching my orange slices fall as I type This message. i am very excited to move to the next step! My only wonder is how do you get the orange slices out of the bottle once you remove the mead? This may have already been discussed on this forum but it is very lengthy - I am bad at scanning through forums. Sorry if I am being redundant.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I am watching my orange slices fall as I type This message. i am very excited to move to the next step! My only wonder is how do you get the orange slices out of the bottle once you remove the mead? This may have already been discussed on this forum but it is very lengthy - I am bad at scanning through forums. Sorry if I am being redundant.

Once you get your mead out... shake hard!

 

[Hrodrich]

I used the handle of a spoon to get them out of the jug, it was difficult though. I imagine some sort of fishhook type thing with a long handle would be much easier. Or maybe a long fishhook remover? Sounds kind of gross to be putting it in your primary fermenter, but non the less.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

you could just use a coathanger...

 

[Vansaar]

Well two days ago i decided to jump in with both feet. I made up a 3G batch of JAOM. I saw so many posts that you will want to make more than a gallon, it goes fast. I will try to post pictures later. I read every single post before trying and even watched the Video of the Okra Mead.. LOL.

I tried to be true to the recipe on page one. I got Raw honey from a local bee keeper. I also used Vicieda oranges. I tried one and found it a a bit sour. This should, I hope counter balance some of the sweetness. They also had little pith area and more actual skin. I only used once clove, and two cinnamon sticks for the 3G batch. one Pinch of nutmeg, and I only had whole Jamaica all-spice which I used for brine on my turnkey during thanksgiving. So I popped one of them in the batch too.

I checked on it today and found every 3 seconds my airlock went off. I was really happy. now I just have to remember not to touch it for 2 months.

Cheers Everyone

 

[Oak_Brook_Brewing_Company]

Thank you for your suggestions on getting the oranges out... It wasn't as bad as I feared. I was able to reach my fingers in and get them all out. I was expecting it to be a lot more difficult.

I bottled one gallon into 16 ounce beer bottles. What is the best temperature to age mead? I had it fermenting at about 70-74 degrees Fahrenheit. For now they are in my beer cabinet at about 55 to 60.

Just a note, the misses and I tried some. Too hot for her, but bearable for me. I am excited to be about a third of the way done...

 

[HowlerMonkey]

I think someone linked this video in another thread, but I forgot exactly where I saw this. Here's a great video on a clever trick to get a cork out of a wine bottle when stuck inside. It looks like it would apply to just about anything that you could stick in a bottle to begin with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eLCpflimoo


Edited this post to add that I have just pitched two 1-gallon jugs of JAOM. This will be my first time making it, and only my second time brewing anything.

I'm doing an experiment! Each jug is exactly the same (as best as I can control for) and follows the recipe, except for how I'm using the orange:

1. In one jug, I cut the orange up and shoved it in as per the recipe directions (with the rind and all).
2. In the other jug, I've peeled the zest from the orange with a vegetable peeler, put the zest in, removed pith from the orange, and then sliced the rest of the orange and shoved it in.

This test should show if the orange pith adds an off flavor to the mead. I've even gone to the length of using half of an orange in each jug, so that I can avoid the problem of one orange just being tastier than the other. The only problem I found is that shoving the orange slices with the rind on was a tighter squeeze, so I lost a bit more of the orange juice in the process. Hopefully that doesn't ruin my experiment.