Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[The_Bishop]

I've made multiple JAOM batches. USE THE BREAD YEAST. Any of the wine yeasts will ferment it dry, or nearly so, and the bitterness/harshness of the pith and peel will become overwhelming.

 

[brewski09]

Are people carbonating this? I plan to bottle my batch into bombers and not sure if I should carbonate all, none, or half and half.

If you are carbonating, what volume and are the yeast too stressed at this point to even work? I am not sure if they are all Tuckered out and that is why this is such a sweet mead?

I carbonated it lightly. It's 2.5 years old, so I have no idea what my carbonation volume is, but I would guess 1.5-1.8. It is mild and perfect. I used the Danstar Nottingham dry yeast (beer Brewer here) and it worked as expected. I would say the Mead is so sweet because the yeast tolerance of a bread yeast that isn't selected for alcohol tolerance is low so it lips out low. There are yeasts that are only tolerant to about 4%.



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[Ophiuchi]

I started my first batch of this on 12/28/13. It hasn't been a full 2 months yet but i didn't touch it at all and it has been perfectly clear for a few days and the oranges have been dropping. Since i have started this i have read every post in this thread so even though this is my first mead, i feel like I'm an expert on the JAOM. I'm planning on bottling in a day or 2 so i gently moved it up on the counter today and it got very cloudy. It should clear up and be ready to bottle in a few days. I'm excited! I also figured since this is such a popular mead it would be disappointing to only do 1gal so i did a 6gal batch. Go BIG or Go Home! :rockin:

 

[CooperBrew]

I finally opened my first bottle of JAOM that I made last May, bottled in Aug and stuck in my cabinet until this weekend. I followed the original directions. My only regret is that I only made a 1 gallon batch, this stuff is good!

 

[brewski09]

Has anyone tried making this at 6-8% ABV ??? I'm wanting to make this more of a seasonable bottle and it's a bit strong to appropriately consume 12oz without getting too drunk.

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[zhubbell]

What's the estimated ABV for the original recipe? I didn't take an OG reading when I made it.


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[jak1010]

What's the estimated ABV for the original recipe? I didn't take an OG reading when I made it.


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I've done many batches. Measured a few of them. With red star bread yeast I usually get 9-10%. With the Fleishman bread yeast I get 11-14%

Both work great.

 

[brewski09]

You could get up to 18% with full attenuation pretty easily from my calculations. I have a refractometer now so measuring starting gravity on small batches isn't so costly to the volume anymore. I'm trying to find my recipe sheet for when I used the Nottingham ale yeast because it turned out pretty good. I'm thinking of trying a wine yeast that I use for fruit wines and melomels this next batch and then back sweetening the batch.

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[D_Nyholm]

So, if we used bread yeast, the yeast tends to crap out around 8-10%, leaving the mead sweet, correct? If we added any priming sugar, would the yeast even eat that or would nothing occur? I am thinking about carbonating my JAOM, but not sure how to go about it except keg, force carbonate, and bottle. If I introduced another yeast, I am afraid it might be more alcohol tolerant and dry out the mead resulting in bottle bombs. Any insight?

 

[The_Bishop]

It's hard bordering on impossible to make a sweet sparkling mead short of forced carbonation.

 

[zhubbell]

Thanks for the feedback on ABV, if I started the recipe verbatim what would my estimated OG be? I didn't get a chance to take a reading, but I'll take a final to estimate my ABV


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[NinjaMedic]

Thanks for the feedback on ABV, if I started the recipe verbatim what would my estimated OG be? I didn't get a chance to take a reading, but I'll take a final to estimate my ABV


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http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/FAQ/MeadOG.pdf per Hightest



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[frogtaco]

I need to brew up some JOAM. I did a 3 gallon batch the first time, because I could. It turned out awesome, as promised. In tripling the recipe, I tripled the bread yeast as well. Those yeasties were really excited, let me tell you, and I quickly learned how to open up the 3-part airlock and add a hose into some water in a jug for emergency blow-off purposes. Is tripling the yeast extreme? Or should I just plan ahead this time and expect massive foaming action?

 

[itsme_timd]

Question... I brewed a 5 gallon batch of JAOM on 09/28/13 and racked it into secondary on 12/21/13 and as of today it's still pretty hazy. However I have another batch I brewed on 12/28/13 and it's already clearing up.

For the cloudy batch did I possibly rack it over to soon and not let the yeasties finish up? Should I toss another shot of Fleischmann's in there to let it clean up?

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Shouldn't have touched it... Doesn't say to rack in instructions...


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[itsme_timd]

Shouldn't have touched it... Doesn't say to rack in instructions...


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Yes, I know that and that was fine for my first one gallon batch. However in these subsequent batches I would like it clear in the bottle so I racked it over.

 

[brewski09]

Just let it be for a while. If the yeast was still active it would have transferred over in suspension. Rdwhahb.


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[itsme_timd]

Just let it be for a while. If the yeast was still active it would have transferred over in suspension. Rdwhahb.


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Thanks. That's what I figured would happen and only starter to wonder when the one I brewed 2 months after this one started to clear more than it. I guess I'll just let it sit a while longer.

 

[rlmiller10]

Question... I brewed a 5 gallon batch of JAOM on 09/28/13 and racked it into secondary on 12/21/13 and as of today it's still pretty hazy. However I have another batch I brewed on 12/28/13 and it's already clearing up.

For the cloudy batch did I possibly rack it over to soon and not let the yeasties finish up? Should I toss another shot of Fleischmann's in there to let it clean up?

You could also try cold crashing. That is what I finally did with a JAOM variant that would not clear. It cleaned up nicely after three days in a cooler in a cold garage


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[brue]

So I have two one-gallon batches of JAOM going right now. Both were started almost four weeks ago and are/were still fermenting. I left for the weekend and turned the heat down at my house. I came back to find one of the gallons had cleared up. I accidentally cold crashed one of the batches. I've placed both gallons jugs in front of a heat vent with the hopes of reviving the fermentation. Anybody got any ideas/tips?

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

So I have two one-gallon batches of JAOM going right now. Both were started almost four weeks ago and are/were still fermenting. I left for the weekend and turned the heat down at my house. I came back to find one of the gallons had cleared up. I accidentally cold crashed one of the batches. I've placed both gallons jugs in front of a heat vent with the hopes of reviving the fermentation. Anybody got any ideas/tips?

Leave em. Let the yeast decide what they want to do.


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[j-hemmie]

Made my first batch on 12/12/13 and bottled it today. Great flavor but very hot! Really hoping it mellows out over the next few months. It ended up at 16% abv.

 

[D_Nyholm]

Made a 1 gallon batch mid December and noticed it wasn't clearing or dropping fruit. Decided to test gravity and it is 1.050! I figured this would end about 1.020 or less. Suggestions? IM thinking to pitch more yeast. Should I go with bread yeast again? Or maybe something like Nottingham? Or s05?

 

[brewski09]

You may be able to rouse the yeast (shake or stir) carefully. I would go with some yeast nutrient personally. If that doesn't kick it off in 24 hours, then new yeast. I liked mine with Nottingham. Note: this goes against all the instructions and I am aware of that.


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[D_Nyholm]

You may be able to rouse the yeast (shake or stir) carefully. I would go with some yeast nutrient personally. If that doesn't kick it off in 24 hours, then new yeast. I liked mine with Nottingham. Note: this goes against all the instructions and I am aware of that.


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Lol, I know.

How far did Nottingham take it down? I don't want to dry it out too much. I figure 1.010 would be getting too low

 

[brewski09]

I never actually measured it because I wanted to make something almost champagne like. It felt like 1.008 to me though. Lightly carbonated to about 1.25-1.5 was my target and I think I got it pretty well.

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[NinjaMedic]

I did this as one 4 gallon batch 2/28/14 and put it in a 6 gallon carboy (couldn't find enough 1 gallon jugs) to ferment. I did 14 lbs of honey, 4 oranges (zested - is that a word? - the peel, put the peeled oranges in a blender and poured it all in) 8 cloves and 4 sticks of cinnamon and used bread yeast after a good shake and cool down to room temp. I believe my SG was 1.124 (I forgot to write this down) and plan to serve at a Viking festival/feast my college is having on April 28th. Is that SG right or did I do something funky?


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[NinjaMedic]

I did this as one 4 gallon batch 2/28/14 and put it in a 6 gallon carboy (couldn't find enough 1 gallon jugs) to ferment. I did 14 lbs of honey, 4 oranges (zested - is that a word? - the peel, put the peeled oranges in a blender and poured it all in) 8 cloves and 4 sticks of cinnamon and used bread yeast after a good shake and cool down to room temp. I believe my SG was 1.124 (I forgot to write this down) and plan to serve at a Viking festival/feast my college is having on April 28th. Is that SG right or did I do something funky?


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And now I realize I should have read more before scaling. It's too late now but should I worry about too much cinnamon and clove? I put 4x raisins too. Also is there too much headspace here?


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[jak1010]

You could add more honey and water to scale it up to 6 gallons. Raisins won't be a problem but the cinnamon and clove may be too much.

 

[NinjaMedic]

You could add more honey and water to scale it up to 6 gallons. Raisins won't be a problem but the cinnamon and clove may be too much.

Should I add yeast as well? How would this effect the brewing time?


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