Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
You could swirl the yeast suspension and see if they keep working. I would personally add a different yeast, but that's just me. Otherwise, let it sit for a while.
 
It seems that it's just a matter of time when the yeast really kicks in. I checked a batch yesterday and it has lots of small bubbles rising to the top like a looking at the fizz of a soda.
 
This brew is ALL about patience. What I made in February, I bottled 2 weeks ago. Its good! I intended it for Christmas and that shud be about perfect.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time..."
 
Think I'm going to move it to the basement and ignore it for a while. A good excuse to buy a new carboy.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Think I'm going to move it to the basement and ignore it for a while. A good excuse to buy a new carboy.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

I think thats a wise choice! And you will be rewarded! Heres my February JOAM in orange seals, substituted lemon and wine yeast in the yellow seals, and 1 gallon racked to secondary, I used champagne yeast in this and ive added potassium sorbate to the secondary. Gonna backsweeten with honey, keg, carbonate and bottle. They all are tasting bette with time! ImageUploadedByHome Brew1409503146.410047.jpgImageUploadedByHome Brew1409503183.350204.jpg
 
Darn if this whole brewing thing isn't a tad addictive. My very first cider (brew of any kind) was pitched two weeks ago Saturday and will be moved to five one gallon jars in a few weeks with one "plain" baseline and four different flavors to get things kicked off, but I saw this and I couldn't resist. It's currently sitting on the counter cooling to room temp so I can pitch the yeast. I used raw Oregon wildflower honey (the absolute last three pack that CostCo had) one clove, one small cinnamon stick, one allspice berry and a just a smidge of freshly grated nutmeg. I also separated the peel and flesh from the pith of the orange since I don't have other, farther along, things to distract me from my impatience. Hehe. I know it will get easier in six months to a year when I have more things going, but this first starting out thing is tough. LOL
 
Darn if this whole brewing thing isn't a tad addictive. My very first cider (brew of any kind) was pitched two weeks ago Saturday and will be moved to five one gallon jars in a few weeks with one "plain" baseline and four different flavors to get things kicked off, but I saw this and I couldn't resist. It's currently sitting on the counter cooling to room temp so I can pitch the yeast. I used raw Oregon wildflower honey (the absolute last three pack that CostCo had) one clove, one small cinnamon stick, one allspice berry and a just a smidge of freshly grated nutmeg. I also separated the peel and flesh from the pith of the orange since I don't have other, farther along, things to distract me from my impatience. Hehe. I know it will get easier in six months to a year when I have more things going, but this first starting out thing is tough. LOL

That is why you should also brew beer. From 3 to 6 weeks brew day to glass depending on style and equipment. It makes the wait for the mead a whole lot easier.
 
That is why you should also brew beer. From 3 to 6 weeks brew day to glass depending on style and equipment. It makes the wait for the mead a whole lot easier.

Technically I assisted the boyfriend with his two week blonde ale, but it's pretty much gone now so...
 
I started brewing in June, and suddenly wanted to ferment everything. My JAOM has been sitting for 2 months. My patience is improving.
 
The key to patience is having a bunch of other beer projects around so you can forget about individual ones. SWMBO does not approve of this strategy, unsurprisingly.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
After 5 years, my SWMBO appreciates the less frequent brew days that come with special projects (I have a mead aging until January and an imperial stout that's been bulk agin for a couple of months and is just ready to bottle).


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Hello! I'm making my first ever batch of mead and decided on this recipe. I'm going to make a 5 gallon batch but in the instructions it says to increase everything equally as you go up, does this include the yeast? So for 5 gallons would I put in 5 tsps of yeast? I thought I read in one of the beginner guides that yeast was the only thing you don't increase in equal parts. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hello! I'm making my first ever batch of mead and decided on this recipe. I'm going to make a 5 gallon batch but in the instructions it says to increase everything equally as you go up, does this include the yeast? So for 5 gallons would I put in 5 tsps of yeast? I thought I read in one of the beginner guides that yeast was the only thing you don't increase in equal parts. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Good choice for your first mead. I can say for sure that the yeast should not be multiplied x 5. You also may consider other ingredients such as the cinnamon. I've never done anything other than 1 gallon but I've read that 5 cinnamon sticks can be strong.
 
Good choice for your first mead. I can say for sure that the yeast should not be multiplied x 5. You also may consider other ingredients such as the cinnamon. I've never done anything other than 1 gallon but I've read that 5 cinnamon sticks can be strong.

Thanks! I've read that too so I only put in 3 sticks. Hopefully that tones it down a bit. Waiting for it to get to room temp before I put in the yeast, any other suggestions?
 
I have a couple concerns about a batch I made last night. I've seen a couple places people complaining about the orange rinds in this recipe. I made a 5 gallon batch and put 5 oranges in rind and all. Am I going to have a problem? If I do, is there anything I can do about it? (Like scoop out the oranges with a sanitized strainer???)
 
Another question....I probably should have thought of this before I started my brew but..I only have 5 gallons in a 6 gallon container? Is that going to cause a problem? Will the extra air be an issue? If so, can I put another 2.5lbs in and top it off with water once the foaming stops? (Honestly my never foamed like crazy)

Here is what I have in it right now, 17.5lbs of honey, 2 packets of yeast, 2 cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks, 5 oranges, a couple pinches of all spice, a couple pinches of nutmeg and enough water to make 5 gallons.
 
Another question....I probably should have thought of this before I started my brew but..I only have 5 gallons in a 6 gallon container? Is that going to cause a problem? Will the extra air be an issue? If so, can I put another 2.5lbs in and top it off with water once the foaming stops? (Honestly my never foamed like crazy)

Here is what I have in it right now, 17.5lbs of honey, 2 packets of yeast, 2 cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks, 5 oranges, a couple pinches of all spice, a couple pinches of nutmeg and enough water to make 5 gallons.

You will be fine for now as the fermentation is filling the empty space with CO2. But if you rack to secondary to bulk age you will want to have a container that just fits the mead volume to minimize air contact.

For my JAOM I just left it in the primary until fruit dropped (I had to cold crash after 2.5 months to get it to drop) and then bottled. Now, a year later, it is a very nice drink.
 
Jhiggy, I made a 5 gallon version as well, with your exact proportions. It turns out fine, spice-wise, not too overpowering. You will probably be fine on the volume unless you decide to bulk age, at which point you can transfer it to something smaller. Despite what I read elsewhere, I do not find this recipe drinkable at 2 months, FWIW.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Jhiggy, I made a 5 gallon version as well, with your exact proportions. It turns out fine, spice-wise, not too overpowering. You will probably be fine on the volume unless you decide to bulk age, at which point you can transfer it to something smaller. Despite what I read elsewhere, I do not find this recipe drinkable at 2 months, FWIW.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Totally agree.
 
Thank you everyone for your reponses! Put my mind at ease

As long as your sanitization practices are good, it's really hard to mess up a batch of this stuff. Doesn't require as much "need" as any of your typical meads. It's almost self working and, depending on your tastes in mead or wine, it'll be fine about 99.9% of the time.

Whatever your plans are, take a few bottles, label them and stash them away for at least a year or more. When you find them in the future, you'll drink it and kick yourself for not making another 5 gallons right away. ;)
 
So after a month it's starting to clear for me, gonna put a new batch on soon as well.

I do have one question, my raspberry one has some sort of white stuff along the sides if the carboy, almost looks like condensation or fog. Anyone have any idea what it is and if it's okay?
 
Any way you could post a pic of it? It could just be yeast falling out of suspension against the sides of the carboy...
 
Brought a gallon to a wedding this weekend and it was a massive hit. Definitely going to do a 3 gallon batch next. I'd love to see how this matures over time. At this rate I'll never get the chance.
 
Brought a gallon to a wedding this weekend and it was a massive hit. Definitely going to do a 3 gallon batch next. I'd love to see how this matures over time. At this rate I'll never get the chance.

It changes so much (in a good way) that, every time I have a mature batch, I want to start another.
 
YtvVqTz.jpg


Sorry for the late reply but here's what it looks like. Just yeast sticking to the side?

Sorry for the ****ty pic, light there is terrible
 
I see nothin wrong with that (except maybe a tad dark for JAOM). You have some yeast on the sides in the mead and Krausen on the neck/top area.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I see nothin wrong with that (except maybe a tad dark for JAOM). You have some yeast on the sides in the mead and Krausen on the neck/top area.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Yeah i figure it's just yeast sticking to the side. It's a raspberry version so that's why it's so dark.
 
I'm curious how the raspberry JAOM turns out. How many raspberries did you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'm curious how the raspberry JAOM turns out. How many raspberries did you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I used 1 12oz frozen bag. I read through and a couple people said 1lb per gallon, or 1 pint glass full per so i ended up in between. The fruit amount seemed pretty close to the amount of fruit in the original JOAM. The color came out nice, will hopefully bottle in the next couple weeks as i think its almost done clearing.

And yes, the raspberries look like complete **** now that everything has been extracted from it.
 
I used 1 12oz frozen bag. I read through and a couple people said 1lb per gallon, or 1 pint glass full per so i ended up in between. The fruit amount seemed pretty close to the amount of fruit in the original JOAM. The color came out nice, will hopefully bottle in the next couple weeks as i think its almost done clearing.

And yes, the raspberries look like complete **** now that everything has been extracted from it.

Heh. Not a lot quite as distasteful looking as spent raspberries that were used in fermenting. The result is sure worth it though. :)
 
Pardon the question but does anyone know of a recipe for sunflower flavored mead? It is my girlfriend and my 4 year anniversary this year and sunflower is her favorite flavor/plant. I would like to surprise her with her favorite flavor as mead.
 
I would go with a braggot. Toast off unsalted sunflower seeds, crush them up, use a 2 row base malt and mash all together. I don't know if this works, but it's how I would do it. There may be some recipes out there too. I would use a fragrant wildflower honey for this to go with the nutty sunflower seeds.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Back
Top