Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[BootsyFlanootsy]

made a batch two days ago, voided the warranty.

Clementines. Zante Currants. Wildflower honey.

everything else by the book.

a tad on the cold side though in my house, making for a slow ferment.

 

[jonmohno]

Had to show mine off today I just bottled. OG 1.113 FG 1.040. Tastes delicious,made my kitchen smell delicious. Particularly had a nice prominant but subtle cinnamon aroma with a complex floral. Very balanced with the citrus and a very very slight breadyness on the finish wich I found pleasant nothing you would think of as bread yeast-all the flavors dominate complexly. Doesnt come off too sweet but lets you know its honey which is what lacked about my in dry mead I made before-that and I think the 1.09 gravity didnt do well with a completly dry mead. Honestly this is the same gravity finish of a Chaucers mead but this JAO mead is way better.

This tastes good to go to me right now and will be confident in giveing a few away this holiday. Clear and noticed a very slight citrus pulp if you look hard. Very happy how this turned out,this will wow some of my family that has never had mead. Im not mead expert but this tastes pretty flawless to me and as good if not better than alot of commercial meads Ive tried which is about a dozen maybe.

This was the best pic I could get out of my outdated phone. Got about 1.4 gallons,didnt have a problem with the yeast,it formed a nice tight cake which was not disturbed when I slid it around on the counter to bottle. I even slurped up about every oz of this out of the fermenter! Ended up putting pvc sleves on the front row and that little 7 oz rogue bottle will be my tester before the holidays. Gonna make some labels for these.

9.4%abv​

​

-

think I went over a tad on the honey and I only did one orange per 1.5 gallon not shure if I should have went 1.5 oranges but did use about 50 raisons 1 cinnomon stick and 1 clove,same amout of yeast. Its perfect. I was worried about oxidation because of the bad seals- (I have to reinforce and tape them up) I get on my wide mouth jars but this appears to be fine so far. Bottom pic is first day of fermentation.

 

[FatDragon]

Why do I ever read this site? So many amazingly easy fermentibles. Now I'm gonna have to buy several kilos of honey and a handful of extra airlocks and try out a few one-gallon batches with different adjuncts - I foresee ancient pomelo mead in my future, and a chagrined fiancee.

 

[rlmiller10]

I have two batches going. One was by the book and the other used D47 rather than bread yeast. It has been two months and both still have floating fruit and are cloudy. I have had them in the basement where the temp has been 64 to 62 the entire time. It the lower temp causing the slow clearing? Would bring them up to 70 degrees help? Both have had steady gravity readings for a month with no airlock activity so I am fairly sure fermentation has been complete for at least 4 weeks. Suggestions?

 

[Matteo57]

Looks delicious! Looking forward to try this!

 

[fuzzy2133]

I have two batches going. One was by the book and the other used D47 rather than bread yeast. It has been two months and both still have floating fruit and are cloudy. I have had them in the basement where the temp has been 64 to 62 the entire time. It the lower temp causing the slow clearing? Would bring them up to 70 degrees help? Both have had steady gravity readings for a month with no airlock activity so I am fairly sure fermentation has been complete for at least 4 weeks. Suggestions?

Yes both JAOM and D47 like the warmer temps close to or in the 70's. I am working on my second attempt of Cider with D47, it fermented much faster and cleaner in the 70's compared to last year in the low 60's.

 

[RhodySeth]

Had to sneak a sample after 1 month in the fermenter. Good lord, this stuff tastes like rocket fuel. Me thinks it'll definitely be awhile before we have a drinkable product.

 

[jstampler]

Mine has been sitting for 2 months now. I'm thinking about racking and topping up but I'm afraid with all the fruit that I'll only get about 3/4 of the gallon and I don't want to add that much water. How long do you guys usually let it sit before bottling?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I just bottled mine this weekend, pitched in mid July. It took a while to clear but I think that's because it kept getting moved/bumped and stirring up the yeast. I racked to a bottling bucket and when I got to the bottom I racked directly into a wine bottle for immediate consumption (I only want to give away stuff that's clear as a bell). I ended up getting 3 clear bottles and one almost full somewhat cloudy bottle. Hope that helps.

I wouldn't worry about the taste at one month, it should mellow.

This stuff tastes amazing, I'll be picking up the stuff to make this again tonight.

 

[FatDragon]

I'm sure this has been answered a million times, but what's the suggestion for temp control for the winter? As an "ancient" mead, should I just let it sit whatever the temp, or should I go for a water bath with an aquarium heater to try to keep it in the seventies? This is purely theoretical until I actually make the stuff, but that's coming in the near future, so I might as well get a jump start on the research.

 

[Matteo57]

Will have to try this sometime! Looks tasty!

 

[Bigbeavk]

I have a 6 pack left of a batch I made over a year ago. Cracked one the other day and it was carbed nicely! Popped the rest in the fridge for the holidays. What a nice surprise! Man this is some good stuff.

 

[Tonybrau]

Just finished making my first batch of JAOM but i had a moment of dyslexia and pitched the ENTIRE packet of bread yeast instead of 1 tsp....do you guys think it will be alright? fermentation has already begun...

 

[user 171019]

Yes, that's what I do all the time - no problem.

 

[jak1010]

Yup no problem. Even if you add 1tsp,the yeast will eat and reproduce so much that, eventually you'll have more yeast in your brew than the entire original package of yeast.

For the most part, you're fine.

 

[Frige]

I just finished my 3rd batch of this stuff. I followed the recipe except for I added pomegranate. I did this last year and it came out really good but I only put in 1. This time I used 3. Also I juiced the fruit so it wont take up to much room.

 

[BrewYoke]

I made this a few nights back. I cut the rind off the oranges and used two oranges instead of one. Other than that, the recipe is the same as Yooper's original, including the bread yeast. This is my first go at making mead. So far, so good - it's fermenting like crazy.

 

[FatDragon]

I'm sure this has been answered a million times, but what's the suggestion for temp control for the winter? As an "ancient" mead, should I just let it sit whatever the temp, or should I go for a water bath with an aquarium heater to try to keep it in the seventies? This is purely theoretical until I actually make the stuff, but that's coming in the near future, so I might as well get a jump start on the research.

Sorry to be like an annoying fly buzzing around here, but I'm still hoping for an answer here:

It's about 60-65 ambient here recently, and it's only getting colder. I heat with wall-mounted AC units which means I only heat the apartment when I'm home, and not the rooms I'm not in. Should I just let this stuff ride in the colder temperatures through the winter, or should I give it some localized heating? Basically, how cold can the yeasties survive/keep working?

 

[jonmohno]

Sorry to be like an annoying fly buzzing around here, but I'm still hoping for an answer here:

It's about 60-65 ambient here recently, and it's only getting colder. I heat with wall-mounted AC units which means I only heat the apartment when I'm home, and not the rooms I'm not in. Should I just let this stuff ride in the colder temperatures through the winter, or should I give it some localized heating? Basically, how cold can the yeasties survive/keep working?

If you can control the temps for the first few weeks or month I would try maybe but after that it may not matter too much. My temps started dropping the last few weeks on the second month in the mid-sixties temps- I feel it maybe helped clarifiy it maybe a bit more and my yeast happend to be pretty solid on the bottom also. If you do have the means, I would try to keep it around 70 if you can. Bread yeast like warm thats all I know about bread yeast. I also dont know how a Joam in the 80's would differ between one fermented at 70 deg. All I know is mine was 70's ambient temps and at bottleing 2 months it tasted really good and was very clear.

 

[MacrosNZ]

My efforts.

This one was made in February last year.

 

[BrewYoke]

My efforts.

This one was made in February last year.

Your efforts look like they were rewarded. Enjoy!

 

[Frige]

My efforts.

This one was made in February last year.

I have a difficult time letting mine last that long. Within 3 months it will be history LOL

 

[FatDragon]

If you can control the temps for the first few weeks or month I would try maybe but after that it may not matter too much. My temps started dropping the last few weeks on the second month in the mid-sixties temps- I feel it maybe helped clarifiy it maybe a bit more and my yeast happend to be pretty solid on the bottom also. If you do have the means, I would try to keep it around 70 if you can. Bread yeast like warm thats all I know about bread yeast. I also dont know how a Joam in the 80's would differ between one fermented at 70 deg. All I know is mine was 70's ambient temps and at bottleing 2 months it tasted really good and was very clear.

So I'm gathering from this that I should probably keep things warmer, at least early on. I'll probably keep it safe with an aquarium heater in a tub and try to ferment around 70-80 for the first month. My main concern is that too-cool temperatures will prevent any fermentation from occurring, meaning I'll have unfermented must sitting around all winter.

 

[jstampler]

I want to rack this to a secondary to let it age another few months off of the yeast. Has anyone done this? If so, I assume there is a lot of head space because of all the fruit. Do you top up with water, water and more honey, or something else?

 

[MacrosNZ]

Yeah I cheated and racked into a secondary that's smaller than my primary so there was minimal head space.

 

[RhodySeth]

I want to rack this to a secondary to let it age another few months off of the yeast. Has anyone done this? If so, I assume there is a lot of head space because of all the fruit. Do you top up with water, water and more honey, or something else?

I'm curious about this as well. I have a 5 week old JAOM in a water jug. It looks like it's starting to clear but it's hard to tell through the opaque walls of the jug. My plan is to leave it for another couple weeks, transfer it to a glass jug for two weeks and then bottle. I'm hoping any headspace won't be a problem since I only plan on keeping it in the glass jug for two weeks.

 

[tx-brewer]

I'm curious about this as well. I have a 5 week old JAOM in a water jug. It looks like it's starting to clear but it's hard to tell through the opaque walls of the jug. My plan is to leave it for another couple weeks, transfer it to a glass jug for two weeks and then bottle. I'm hoping any headspace won't be a problem since I only plan on keeping it in the glass jug for two weeks.

I would get out out of that water jug soon. I did one like that, one day opened the closet to find it had all leaked out through a tiny hole in the bottom of the jug.
I also had a plain jug of water sitting around for a few months that got a hole in the bottom, so I no longer trust them for too long

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Why do I ever read this site? So many amazingly easy fermentibles. Now I'm gonna have to buy several kilos of honey and a handful of extra airlocks and try out a few one-gallon batches with different adjuncts - I foresee ancient pomelo mead in my future, and a chagrined fiancee.

Until she drinks it, then she'll be happy!!

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Until she drinks it, then she'll be happy!!

My wife took one sip of this delicious concoction and (sort of) encouraged me to get another gallon carboy for more

 

[FatDragon]

Until she drinks it, then she'll be happy!!

Looks like we've got an optimist in our midst. I can only hope.