Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

[JINKS]

Holy orange flavored jet fuel. This has improved because it used to be orange flavored rocket fuel. Next is Orange Gasoline then YAY! drinkable. Gonna try in a few more months (read April).

 

[brewski09]

This finishes really sweet and is designed to. I have made a ton of variants of this and still have 6 bottles left from my first batch that are now 2 years old. Adding raspberries to the recipe comes out awesome, and adding some cranberry juice can add some bitterness that reduces the sweetness. I have some 1 gallon batches from last year I need to bottle, I just have been too busy with school and work to get around to it.

The curse of the mead brewer is, I need to rack or bottle a bunch of stuff. The good thing is that time only helps mead. I have a 17% blueberry mead that has sat in the carboy for over a year I should rack and backsweeten soon.

On the note of sweetness, this recipe takes advantage of the moderately low alcohol tolerance of the bread yeast.

1) You can sub the yeast for something more tolerant (as I have in the past - you end up with a very dry mead though),

2) you can reduce the starting fermentables (less honey means it will end up less sweet. You can always add more later if it's not sweet enough for you)

3) you may encounter a bread yeast with more tolerance as a "mutation" at some point.




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[2drunk2]

Will
Get
You
Drunk

 

[ajd]

Made a batch today, sample was delicious! Can't wait to try it.


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[Jsamp]

I bottled this earlier tonight. It was my first ever batch of mead. Started 10/07 and bottled 12/01. I ended up with 8 12oz bottles and what clear portion left in the siphon I put in a glass to try. It was definitely hot but I got some sweetness, some orange, and cinnamon flavors from it. I'm looking forward to trying it with some age on it.

 

[tellyho]

At 5+ months, mine is approaching drinkable. Still crazy sweet, but if I forget about it for a couple years I think it will be tasty. Racked it to another vessel to age some more.


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[2drunk2]

Everybody that tried mine liked it. Mine is 6 months old.

 

[hunter_le five]

Will
Get
You
Drunk

 

[CyderSilverblade]

Two months.
Mine is totally drinkable and wonderful!!!!!

Was way sweeter than I thought it could ever be...
and smooth!

Next batch Im going to reduce the honey a tad and nix the clove and nutmeg.

 

[hio3791]

My batch from September 2013 is finally coming together. 6 months ago, it still had a strong alcohol flavor to it. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1418082898.727291.jpg

 

[gedion]

How did this come out? I also used the sweet mead yeast but I used a little bit more honey. Hoping it doesn't get TOO sweet.

How long did you leave it in primary? The original post says to leave it in primary for two months but I'm a little nervous to do that with all the sediment in there.

 

[hio3791]

How did this come out? I also used the sweet mead yeast but I used a little bit more honey. Hoping it doesn't get TOO sweet.



How long did you leave it in primary? The original post says to leave it in primary for two months but I'm a little nervous to do that with all the sediment in there.

I am not a mead person but the recipe was so simple, I figured why not?

I didn't keep good notes which is a shame since I am quite the opposite with brewing beer. I remember following the exact recipe except I used ground cinnamon so I lowered the amount from what the recipe calls for. I used bread yeast per the recipe.

Once the solids began to drop, maybe 3 months later, I simply dump the liquids, as gently as possible, into another, sanitized, jug. I did that 2 or 3 times until it seem clear.

15 months later and it is beautifully crystal clear. It tastes better now than it has before. It's difficult for me to describe the flavor since I've never had mead before. I had a sipped of hopped mead once and I simply did not like it. This, though, it tastes good, like I would imagine a honey drink would taste! Sorry for being so non-descriptive!

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I am not a mead person but the recipe was so simple, I figured why not?

I didn't keep good notes which is a shame since I am quite the opposite with brewing beer. I remember following the exact recipe except I used ground cinnamon so I lowered the amount from what the recipe calls for. I used bread yeast per the recipe.

Once the solids began to drop, maybe 3 months later, I simply dump the liquids, as gently as possible, into another, sanitized, jug. I did that 2 or 3 times until it seem clear.

15 months later and it is beautifully crystal clear. It tastes better now than it has before. It's difficult for me to describe the flavor since I've never had mead before. I had a sipped of hopped mead once and I simply did not like it. This, though, it tastes good, like I would imagine a honey drink would taste! Sorry for being so non-descriptive!

Nah I think you were descriptive enough! I would have racked with rubber tubing and an autosyphon to maintain clarity, but hell, if your process works keep at it I say. Are you going to make more?

 

[stonecutter2]

I followed this recipe to the letter, and a year later it is unbelievably great. I did add the bit of spices. Definitely went very light on the pinches, so they're there but complimented overall by the other flavors.

This is a very tasty and easy mead.

 

[brewski09]

How did this come out? I also used the sweet mead yeast but I used a little bit more honey. Hoping it doesn't get TOO sweet.



How long did you leave it in primary? The original post says to leave it in primary for two months but I'm a little nervous to do that with all the sediment in there.

It's fine with the sediment for a couple months. You don't run into serious yeast autolysis problems for quite some time on standard homebrew equipment like pro Brewers do.

 

[c.n.budz]

Almost 7years after reading this post for the first time I finally started a batch tonight. My first mead ever, no less... I increased to 2 gallons, only because I'm using a 3 gallon carboy and didn't want 2 gallons of head space. For the orange, I (actually The Wife did it) zested the orange and the cut the segments from the pith. And I had some raspberries in the fridge so I pasteurized 4oz of them and also threw the raisins in with them to sanitize them. I didn't have whole cloves (and I don't care for over powering clove) or cinnamon sticks so I used a dash each of the ground stuff. I have a bunch of whole nutmeg so I used the good stuff there. Lastly, I used US 05 instead of baker's yeast. I'm hoping this turns out well, but at the very least I was able to get the wife involved in the booze making process for once so that's a positive right there.

Thanks for the recipe Yoops

 

[madwilliamflint]

Nice! Sounds like it's going to be good. I'd be interested to see how the berries add to it.

My currently fermenting batch I did the same thing as far as keeping the pith out of it. So we'll see.

There's no turning back now

 

[JINKS]

Cleared up nicely, gonna need to mellow out a bit though still somewhat bitter.

 

[2drunk2]

Looks great!

 

[gedion]

I actually just bottled my mead. Nearly one month to the day. The thing that amazed me was the lack of off flavors. I tasted it and the only thing that's not good about it is how hot it is, but that should settle down with age I hope. At about the three week mark I noticed an orange had settled out and through out the following week everything else fell and the mead cleared up substantially. I probably could have left it longer but I got to excited and impatient. My first bottle got more air in it than I wanted unfortunately so I'm crossing my fingers with that one.

 

[KCS_brewing]

I followed this recipe almost exactly except I added a package of frozen blueberries on top of the orange into the 1 gallon glass carboy. Bought fresh "active dry yeast" - Baker's Choice from the grocery and pitched a whole packet. Got CO2 out of the airlock for about 4 weeks and then waited another month or so for it to clear. Went to bottle it last night and man is it beautiful! But took a gravity sample just in case, and its 1.090!!! There is some taste of alcohol but it is wayyyy too sweet. Anyone know what went wrong?

I ended up transferring it back into the growler and pitched some older WLP001 I had laying around (use before 12/21) which probably wasn't the best idea. Didn't really want to waste a US-05 packet but I may be headed in that direction. 24 hrs later no sign of fermentation...

Never had problems with a busted fermentation before. Don't know where to head from here. Sure would be a shame to dump it all out, as its not contaminated. Anyone have any advice?????

 

[Hanso]

I'm confused. .. CO2 doesn't come out of the airlock for 4 weeks without a huge drop in gravity. Repitch is the only reasonable thing to do.

 

[fuzzy2133]

1.090? Check your hydro; is it off or could it have read 1.009? Never had an issue with the bakers yeast not doing its job. The 3 JAOM batches I have done have end up near 1.000.

 

[TheWadeShow]

After you bottle how do you all end up storing? I know some folks just stick in a dark stable-temp (70-80) area, but I've heard some say you can put it in a cool location like a basement?

 

[JDWebb]

I updated this recipe and brewed it today.

Omit the raisins and crappy bread yeast.

use wyeast sweet mead yeast. just hand squeeze the orange, and take off the top zest.
steep for 10 minutes at 140F with the honey, then cool and strain it when you put it in the fermenter.

also use yeast nutrient and energizer. its not as 'ancient' but it should be a little nicer. no sourness from the rind to age out, and a cleaner yeast that's meant for alcohol, but only to 11%. so use a little less honey. 3lbs tops.

My good man, could your changes be adjusted up easily for a humongous batch of say, 5 gallons? In other words, 5 oranges squeezed plus zest, nutrient and energizer to match?

 

[JDWebb]

Also, I've been told that this recipe can be proportioned evenly to a 5 gallon batch, however, 5 teaspoons of yeast seems a bit much. Please offer your comments. Thank you.

 

[CyderSilverblade]

I believe ONE yeast packet is good for UP TO 5 gallons.
Over 5 gallons you will need an additional packet

 

[fuzzy2133]

Also, I've been told that this recipe can be proportioned evenly to a 5 gallon batch, however, 5 teaspoons of yeast seems a bit much. Please offer your comments. Thank you.

5 Whole Cloves can be rather strong so I hear. In my 3 gallon batch I only used 2 and it was fine.

 

[TheWadeShow]

I just started a 5gal batch of this yesterday. I used four cloves, and an entire packet of Wyeast (decided to nix the Bread Yeast). Everything else I scaled up proportionately to the original instructions.

 

[JDWebb]

I have a 1 gallon batch going now, will be starting my 5 gallon later tonight. We went out yesterday and bought 32 pounds of honey, I can't decide yet which one I want to use, the orange blossom or the clover. I'll have to drink on it. Also, I just realized, scaling up the honey takes it to 17.5 pounds, seems like a bit much for 5 gallons.

I think I'm going to go with
D47 yeast
15 pounds honey plus or minus to reach 11-12% ABV
5 oranges
2 tsp Superfood nutrient May break that up into two feedings (skipping the raisins and adding 8oz of bee pollen I think, I also have DAP)

Spring water to fill the fermenter to 5 gallons.

I want a starting ABV of around 11-12% ABV to start, so will adjust the honey accordingly with readings from the hydro.

I am still working on my plan. Any help would be appreciated. Now, where'd I put my lab coat.