Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[GeorgiaMead]

I'm drinking my first bottle of JAOM and its only been bottled 1 month and it is fantastic better than any store bought I've ever had, thank you creator!

 

[jonmohno]

Heres mine I made today along with 2 other small batches of other honey- mead both used with D47, which are in a cooler area at the moment.

 

[fuzzy2133]

Started my second batch on Friday and paid attention to the volumes this time. Use caution if you top off with more must after a few day's; my brewing sense tingled and told me to install a blow off tube and I am dang glad I did.

 

[pollock]

I might have screwed this up already!
The Cinnamon issue is now moot... I used the "Ceylon Cinnamon" sticks.

I think I may have erred in my scaling up...

This was supposed to be the "easy" recipe.... LOL... I'll bet it IS easy if you can read!

Even constructive ridicule welcomed!
Paul F.


Paul. Relax...
Not sure if someone has off lined you about your issue yet. But...

It will turn as mead and you will gulp it down with glee even if you're an orange and a stick shy. It will be great and it will be your own. Next time you won't even care about a recipe. I guarantee.

 

[Paul_F]

*******...
I'm starting to relax now that it's bubbling away...
Probably should have started this hobby without a "deadline" where I wanted to give away some mead. I think it would have been better for my nervous nature.

I did end up adding another 1-3/4 lbs of honey...

Now I can read the forum and plan my NEXT batch.

Paul F.

 

[jstampler]

Has anyone tried using Craisins?

How important are the cinnamon sticks? I have everything I need but I dont have any cinnamon sticks at home and I don't feel like making a trip to my homebrew store.

 

[itsme_timd]

Has anyone tried using Craisins?

How important are the cinnamon sticks? I have everything I need but I dont have any cinnamon sticks at home and I don't feel like making a trip to my homebrew store.

I've got a batch going now with Craisins in it but it's still about a month out from being ready. So... I'm no help here on how the Craisins work out, will report back once it's done!

 

[Kdog22]

You don't need to get the cinnamon sticks at a homebrew store. Any grocery store should have them at or near the spice isle

 

[jstampler]

I just finished my first ever Mead. It was simple but fun to make.

I completely forgot to take a reading. I followed the recipe but used Wyeast sweet mead yeast. Does anyone know roughly what the SG with that yeast is?

 

[jstampler]

So I pitched 2 days ago and nothing happened. I had some concern with the yeast I used because I had left it out for over 24 hours a few weeks ago. It's in one of the activation packages and it was already expanded by the time I got it in the fridge.

Anyway, I just repitched last night using Lalvin EC-1118 which I know is much more dry than the Sweet Mead yeast. Is this going to be okay or is it going to have too much bite and be way too dry for a Mead?

 

[Lungus]

Why didn't you go to the grocery store and get a packet of bread yeast like the recipe calls for? I mean how long would it take 15 min.? Now it will ferment to dry and with the whole peel of the orange in there it will be bitter as hell and it will take a long time if ever before it's drinkable or you will have to sorbate it and then back sweeten.

 

[jstampler]

Why didn't you go to the grocery store and get a packet of bread yeast like the recipe calls for? I mean how long would it take 15 min.? Now it will ferment to dry and with the whole peel of the orange in there it will be bitter as hell and it will take a long time if ever before it's drinkable or you will have to sorbate it and then back sweeten.

Because I decided I didn't want to use bread yeast. I've heard that the bread yeast contributes to it being bitter and that it's hard to bottle without it being cloudy from moving the jug. I'm only making a gallon so I didn't want 2 of the 4-5 bottles being cloudy.

If I have to back sweeten, I think I can deal with that. I'm just asking if anyone has any experience with this type of yeast and how dry it will turn out.

 

[Goofynewfie]

I'm just asking if anyone has any experience with this type of yeast and how dry it will turn out.

Bitter rocket fuel caused by the orange pith. The bread yeast leaves behind sweetness that covers it and leaves it drinkable quicker. The ec-1118? 12-18 months would be my guess.

 

[Kdog22]

I used a premier cuvee yeast, a similar strong yeast to 1118. It's at about 4-5 months of age and i'm not going to open another bottle to try out until at least 6 maybe 8 months. First bottle tasted like it was getting better then when I tasted at bottling time. Little more smooth. Little more honey aftertaste. But still had a fairly strong orange peel/ pith flavor. Very drinkable but time will help this one out for me.

Next time I do this recipe, i'll use the bread yeast like I SHOULD have..... Maybe a Lalvin 1116..

 

[Lungus]

I just bottled my first JAOM. I waited until the fruit dropped and was very careful and didn't have a problem with the yeast. I used the inside of my auto siphon as a racking tube because the siphon was too wide to fit down the neck of the 1 gallon carboy. Anyway, I took a small piece of cardboard, 2"x2" cut a slot in it that the racking tube would fit in. I measured the depth that I wanted the end of the racking tube be and put a bread tie on the tube where it would be at the top of the neck. I lowered the racking tube into the carboy and when the bread tie was close to the top of the neck I slid the piece of cardboard in, lowered it right down until the bread tie was resting on the cardboard and it kept the racking tube stable and at the right level so there was no unnecessary movement and therefore no stirring up of the yeast.

 

[allhailRITTER]

Just bottled this tonight after about 5 months in the jug. Had a little left over to sip on. It is pretty delicious except I can taste a little bitterness that tastes like the pith. I think next time I may try and remove the pith on the orange. It's still really tasty though.

 

[jonmohno]

Because I decided I didn't want to use bread yeast. I've heard that the bread yeast contributes to it being bitter and that it's hard to bottle without it being cloudy from moving the jug. I'm only making a gallon so I didn't want 2 of the 4-5 bottles being cloudy.

If I have to back sweeten, I think I can deal with that. I'm just asking if anyone has any experience with this type of yeast and how dry it will turn out.

Its probably really going to be bitter now that you didnt use the bread yeast,even it being a sweet mead yeast with enough pitched sweet mead yeast it still could ferment it out dryer than the bread yeast giving the perception of more unbalanced citrus bitterness ,hopefully it doesnt. Your kind of at your own risk without following the recipe. Shure some variations can work but thats probably due to with alot of expericence with yeasts and meadmaking and alot of times luck. Good luck though. I would try making the recipe and going with your opinon/experience other than what a few people think of it maybe before you try and alter it to perfection. Meads are meant to age in the bottle to your liking, like the guy above posting notice he said it tastes pithy/bitter @bottleing. @ bottleing,not bottle aged yet.

 

[huesmann]

Because I decided I didn't want to use bread yeast. I've heard that the bread yeast contributes to it being bitter and that it's hard to bottle without it being cloudy from moving the jug.

No. Bread yeast contributes toward it being slightly "bready" in flavor, but it's not offensive. The pith in the orange peel is what contributes toward it being bitter.

You are right about the cloudiness. If you're worried about that, I'd ignore the instructions that say not to rack, and once the fruit has dropped, rack it as you like until you feel you can bottle without clouds.

If you use 1118 it will go dry, 100% chance of that.

 

[jstampler]

I decided to give it another try and this time I followed the original recipe verbatim. I'm going to give the one with the dry yeast 6 months and then bottle it and let it bottle age another 6 months before I try it.

Here's my JAOM foaming away!

 

[Lungus]

Mine is beautifully clear, it was bottled right off the yeast and I'm a bit of a klutz so it isn't that hard if you are a bit careful. Make sure to set up your carboy where you are going to bottle from for at least a week before you bottle, mine didn't move for more than a month and not moving for that long I think made the lees a bit more stable less prone to stir up with any movement of the mead. I kept the end of the racking tube about an inch above the lees and away from the dropped orange slices so I didn't suck any yeast off of those.

 

[rlmiller10]

After reading every post on this thread I took the plunge and started my first ever mead Friday night. I did one batch to the JAOM recipe other than removing most of the pith from the oranges (very thick pith on the oranges I had). I did the second batch to be dryer so I used three lb of honey to the gallon and d47 yeast. And the last batch was not a JAOM. It was a traditional mead which I plan on racking onto raspberries in six weeks or so. Thank you all for the inspiration.

 

[Quokimbo]

Edit: First post BTW!

Okay, I put a batch together in a Carlo Rossi carboy. After reading 150 pages of this, I think it should work pretty well. My next batch will be to the T with bread yeast and all...I used 3.5# of organic honey 2 small oranges as they did not have a large one. I zested some of the peel and cut out and cut up the meat. Threw in 20 raisins and 5 cranberries for variety. 1 Organic cinnamon stick with 2 organic cloves and 6 leaves off of a rosemary plant with 4 drops of organic vanilla extract. I used Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. I know, I know, no guarantees on a modified recipe but what do you do? I think it should turn out alright after reading all of this...? First photo if of the pitch, second is of the "Yeast Goo" that has started forming. Thoughts?

 

[itsme_timd]

Brewed this on 05/31, just checked it and the fruit is falling. Looks like we'll get it bottled up this weekend.

 

[jonmohno]

Edit: First post BTW!

Okay, I put a batch together in a Carlo Rossi carboy. After reading 150 pages of this, I think it should work pretty well. My next batch will be to the T with bread yeast and all...I used 3.5# of organic honey 2 small oranges as they did not have a large one. I zested some of the peel and cut out and cut up the meat. Threw in 20 raisins and 5 cranberries for variety. 1 Organic cinnamon stick with 2 organic cloves and 6 leaves off of a rosemary plant with 4 drops of organic vanilla extract. I used Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. I know, I know, no guarantees on a modified recipe but what do you do? I think it should turn out alright after reading all of this...? First photo if of the pitch, second is of the "Yeast Goo" that has started forming. Thoughts?

Ill just tell you this,and not from experience. It will most likely be to pithy orange bitter until you age it if you end up with a gravity lower than 1.02.Havent used the yeast havent even bottled a JA0M yet but I know more about it than Ive even had yet. You may need to look into how to backsweeten though. I doubt much will show from the vannilla but you can always add more to taste at bottleing. Final thoughts are; if it turns out ok,chances are you will better like it in a year from now unless you happen to like it sooner which is a lucky chance possibly.

 

[Lungus]

Ill just tell you this,and not from experience. It will most likely be to pithy orange bitter until you age it if you end up with a gravity lower than 1.02.Havent used the yeast havent even bottled a JA0M yet but I know more about it than Ive even had yet. You may need to look into how to backsweeten though. I doubt much will show from the vannilla but you can always add to taste at bottleing.

I don't think he did add the pith. This is what he wrote.

I zested some of the peel and cut out and cut up the meat.

What he created would be more along the lines of Malkore's Not So Ancient Orange Mead.

 

[Quokimbo]

Yes sir, I am wanting to get rid of aging out the pithy taste I have read about. On Storm the Castle, he lists the 71B-1122 as a perfectly suitable alternate? The online reviews said it worked well with mead and let behind nice fruity flavors. http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm

I was hoping for an almost dreamsicle taste with the vanilla...If it is trivial, I will probably not backsweeten as this is my first bottle. Not because I do not want to, I just want to see how it turns out.

Edit: After typing about the jug I wanted to see how she looked. I do not have a big thick layer of krausen like I have seen on others(I just found Northern Brewer calls this a low foaming strain). I also have seen some people type about topping off the carboy after 3-4 days of fermenting. Is this what to do? I am hoping to get maximum bang for the buck and topping it off only seems like the thing to do to get that.

 

[Kdog22]

Yeah after around a week, you can top off closer to the top with water if you feel like it. I never did with my first batch. Still got 4 bottles off my gallon batch and a small sample glass to taste after bottling.

 

[Quokimbo]

Awesome, I will probably do that. A few more days to go till then though...haha Thanks Kdog!

 

[jstampler]

When you guys rack off of the yeast and oranges do you top up the gallon with water? I can't see getting more than 3/4 of a gallon racking off of all the oranges. Any worry about too much oxygen in there?

 

[Quokimbo]

Any worry about too much oxygen in there?

I am not sure as I just started my first concoction and have not racked anything, but this might help alleviate oxygenation and stirring up the lees while racking. I just got mine in the mail today. - http://www.eckraus.com/1-gallon-siphon-kit.html