Malkore's (not so) Ancient Orange Mead

[tuffstuff152]

Im new to mead making and I'm wondering what kind of cloves this recipe is calling for?

 

[Aleforge]

Im new to mead making and I'm wondering what kind of cloves this recipe is calling for?

I didn't use any clove, but a clove is a clove. Its not like a garlic clove or something, its dried flower bud that goes by the name "clove".

:cross:

 

[bignick]

I made a similar batch, i made one gallon, used 1 orange 2lbs honey 1 clove 1 cin stick and lalvin d47 yeast. It fermented out to 8% and it has no sweetness at all to it. I was thinking about racking into a secondary and add a pound of honey. any advice?

 

[malkore]

Im new to mead making and I'm wondering what kind of cloves this recipe is calling for?

the kind of cloves you buy in the spice isle at the grocery store.

whole, not ground.

look like this: http://www.health-garden.com/photos/cloves.jpg

 

[Aleforge]

My Maklores JAOM variation is done and bottled now. I love the aroma, but it did end up on the dry side. It tastes to me almost identical to white zinfandel but with a more interesting aroma. But I am guessing meads can traditionally fall into the dry cat anyhow.

How would you make this recipe more sweet / honey flavored?


Anyways my wife loved it, I can tolerate it. Its not bad really, I am just not much of a wine fan. But If I have to say so myself this would be one of the best wines I have had.

 

[malkore]

What yeast did you use?
what was the starting and ending gravity?

to me the trick to sweet or dry is initial gravity, and using a yeast that hits an alochol level that leaves you with sweetness, or pushes you to dryness. honey ferments completely so you need to kill the yeast with alcohol to keep it sweet.

or backsweeten it, but that's not how I roll

 

[Aleforge]

The numbers are at home, but the recipe was followed spot on, outside of the lack of clove. Everyone loves it though, although I have had other meads that have had a much sweeter finish. I am guess I could just up this recipe by a 1/2lb of honey and try again, or do you think thats to much?

How does this stuff age by the way, have you tried any after a few months?

Thanks

 

[malkore]

I actually put the first bottle in the keezer the other day. maybe I'll crack it open tonite.

it could be the honey I used just had less fermentable sugar. It looked good, 100% pure unprocessed...who knows?

a 1/2 lb would sweeten it up for sure on a 1gallon batch. possibly start with 1/4 lb.

 

[Passload]

I actually put the first bottle in the keezer the other day. maybe I'll crack it open tonite.

it could be the honey I used just had less fermentable sugar. It looked good, 100% pure unprocessed...who knows?

a 1/2 lb would sweeten it up for sure on a 1gallon batch. possibly start with 1/4 lb.

Updates? And some pics please.

 

[suprat78]

Updates? And some pics please.

I am curius in any updates also... I will be purchasing the ingredients tomorrow and wanted to hear about it.....

 

[Darrin]

I am curius in any updates also... I will be purchasing the ingredients tomorrow and wanted to hear about it.....

Me too. How long before it's drinkable? How's it taste?

 

[DuffmanAK]

So I managed to get Orange Blossom honey for this.

I'm looking to make a 4 gallon batch, using 9lbs of Orange Blossom honey. Would it be too much orange to then use 2 oranges in this, or should I pull it back and only use 1?

 

[wreckinball9]

Duffman, i was thinking of doing this with orange blossom too. Did you make yours? any updates?

 

[dbBrewMonster]

I made a batch of this back in April and just now bottled the first of it (I had 3 gallons for the flavored version, but had 1 gallon left over - don't ask me how but that's the way it worked out - so I fermented it separately in a little one gallon jug) - I bottled the unflavored gallon. Heh, I am usually not nearly patient enough to wait this long for something to finish. Anyway, I of course accidentally drank the mead from my hydrometer beaker after I was done. Pretty good! Going to bottle the flavored stuff tomorrow, and now I have very high expectations.

Thanks for the recipe!

 

[mrF1xIT]

I just racked this one off earlier after putting it together a few weeks back.

OG was 1.096

today it was 1.012, we'll see how this goes, so far it seems very promising

 

[malkore]

Figured I should post an update. I did sample a bottle a few weeks ago. Its fairly light, a nice sweetness, good honey aroma, and then the spices and orange come out as a secondary flavor, almost part of the aftertaste.

I'll be curious to see if it stays this way or if the flavors meld more. But it was very smooth, very drinkable. It'll be hard to save bottles for 2 years to try then

 

[eelpout]

when you bottle this, are we talkin beer bottles and caps?
Do you prime this at all?

 

[malkore]

when you bottle this, are we talkin beer bottles and caps?
Do you prime this at all?

You can definitely use beer bottles, or wine bottles. I find it hard to drink a wine bottle of mead in a sitting though, so 12 oz longnecks work out to a couple wine glasses worth.

depending on the yeast strain used, you could prime or leave it still. both JAOM an MOAM are sweeter meads, so its hard to prime them because they are sweet due to the sugar content exceeding the yeast's attenuation.

of course if you have a keg, you can force carb, and then bottle.

 

[emr454]

Have you tried this with any other yeasts, particularly dry yeasts? My LHBS doesnt have the sweet mead yeast, and I cant see paying $7 plus shipping form an online retailer.

 

[Killer_Robot]

Now that I've moved the AB to a secondary for oaking, I've got my Mr. Beer free and no big plans for it. Any reason I couldn't use it for a batch of this, 2.5 gallons or so, anyone know?

 

[Nurmey]

Now that I've moved the AB to a secondary for oaking, I've got my Mr. Beer free and no big plans for it. Any reason I couldn't use it for a batch of this, 2.5 gallons or so, anyone know?

I used glass jugs for this but I don't see why you couldn't us Mr. B. I don't know how oxygen permeable Mr. B is but if you are just using it as a primary, go for it. If you are going to bulk age it out, I would rack to glass after fermentation.

 

[Killer_Robot]

I'll have to give it a try then. I'll probably pick up a three gallon carboy or similar before long, just don't have one this moment, and the Mr. Beer is there. Thanks.

 

[malkore]

Have you tried this with any other yeasts, particularly dry yeasts? My LHBS doesnt have the sweet mead yeast, and I cant see paying $7 plus shipping form an online retailer.

if you can get Fermentis S-33, I've used this higher attenuating ale strain on many meads. It'll hit 13% ABV and is easy to find.

 

[gator_brewer]

JAOM uses raisins, but MAOM doesn't... any reason why?

 

[sharpstick]

Never made JAOM, but I've used bread yeast before, and it does NOT produce a superior mead.

JAOM is meant to be an easy recipe, with easy to acquire ingredients.

superior compared to what?
i've now made a total of ten 5 gallon batches of AOM. the original orange 3 times, with the orange replaced with blueberries 6 times and once with red raspberries.
personally i find it too sweet, but my wife and many of our friends prefer it, so i keep making it. i have balanced the sweetness with craisins, extra spices and cayenne pepper. (i've reported on my experiences more on the winepress forum).
in january, my blueberry AOM was entered in the national meadllennium competition as a melomel. the judges said it really should have been entered as a methleglin because the spices overwhelmed the blueberries, but they still gave me the 3rd place medal!
i've attempted to repitch with EC-1118 to take it drier, but have never succeeded. i actually had to throw out one 3 gallon batch.
joe developed this recipe for a narow purpose and i now agree that if i want a stronger drier mead, i will use more traditional recipes.
as for the flocculation issue with bread yeast, i have to agree. when i plan to bottle it, i move the carboy from the aging room to the bottling location a week ahead of time so it settles back down.

 

[malkore]

Well, baker's yeast is designed for...well...baking. While technically all yeast is yeast, the fact is that some strains are 'better' at converting sugar to alcohol, especially/mainly when it comes to phenols and esters that can be produced even by healthy yeast (i.e. hefeweizen strains that impart banana aromas even when fermented cool).

Note: I never said you couldn't make good mead with bread yeast...but in terms of consistency, a brewer's yeast is going to give better results. Its produced with more rigid standards and quality control measures vs. bread yeast.


And, i've simply never found a good reason to put raisins in any of my meads. Sorta like adding tannin. Some mazers swear by it, others swear it off.

 

[ben314z]

OK, here we go. First mead, first homebrew.

Aug 15 2009

Recipe is a hybrid of Joe's and Malkore's recipes. Batch multiplied to 5 gal; 2 super ripe whole Clementines cut into sixths were substituted for each large orange called for in Joe's. Honey used: 5 lbs Miller's wild flower, 12 lbs Miller's clover. I picked it up straight from the packing plant on lunch break. No honey was harmed (read boiled) in the creation of this mead haha. Instead, I let it sit in a sink full of warm water to loosen it up while I sanitized my equip with Star San and prepped the ingredients.

I used White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead Wine liquid yeast. After warming the yeasties in my pocket while I prepped and sanitized for about 1 hr, I mixed the honey with 2 gal room temp Mt. Olympus spring water in the carboy, pitched the yeast and slooshed it around a good bit. I then topped the carboy up to 5 gal with more spring water and added the remaining ingredients.

I chose Clementines as I really enjoy their flavor and they remind me of when I lived in Spain. I also noted that someone else had success with them in Joe's recipe too. I think it helps that they have very little white pith compared to your standard orange. While on the my Spain kick I decided to add 10 pitted medjool dates to the recipe. A fistful of dried sour cherries and 2 anise stars also found their way down the funnel for good measure. All other ingredients are per Joe's original recipe. I'm hoping that the additions will add a subtle complexity that will contribute to the overall balance without stepping into fruitcake territory lol. Cross your fingers for me.

 

[Khyber]

Someone gave me a Mr. Beer and I decided to put it to use with this recipe. My first mead, and my second brewing attempt.

Started it today, we'll see how it goes.

 

[MrMiles]

OK, here we go. First mead, first homebrew.

Aug 15 2009

Recipe is a hybrid of Joe's and Malkore's recipes. Batch multiplied to 5 gal; 2 super ripe whole Clementines cut into sixths were substituted for each large orange called for in Joe's. Honey used: 5 lbs Miller's wild flower, 12 lbs Miller's clover. I picked it up straight from the packing plant on lunch break. No honey was harmed (read boiled) in the creation of this mead haha. Instead, I let it sit in a sink full of warm water to loosen it up while I sanitized my equip with Star San and prepped the ingredients.

I used White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead Wine liquid yeast. After warming the yeasties in my pocket while I prepped and sanitized for about 1 hr, I mixed the honey with 2 gal room temp Mt. Olympus spring water in the carboy, pitched the yeast and slooshed it around a good bit. I then topped the carboy up to 5 gal with more spring water and added the remaining ingredients.

I chose Clementines as I really enjoy their flavor and they remind me of when I lived in Spain. I also noted that someone else had success with them in Joe's recipe too. I think it helps that they have very little white pith compared to your standard orange. While on the my Spain kick I decided to add 10 pitted medjool dates to the recipe. A fistful of dried sour cherries and 2 anise stars also found their way down the funnel for good measure. All other ingredients are per Joe's original recipe. I'm hoping that the additions will add a subtle complexity that will contribute to the overall balance without stepping into fruitcake territory lol. Cross your fingers for me.

Im goin g to make a 3 gallon batch similiar to this Using white labs sweet mead yeast 11 lbs of clover honey. how is yours coming along? im thinking about using clemintines as well as i like the flavor. some yeast nutrient, will pectic enzyme also quicken the time for it to clear?i like a still and desserty sweet mead should i add more honey so it dosent come out dry? anyways i digress have u sampled it with the clemintines? or does anyone have any advice as to how much honey to add? a name brand mead i like is rabbits foot sweet mead.


(edit)
I made this later that day 9-26-09
11 Lbs Clover honey
3 Tangellos Cut into eights squeezed and shoved in carboy
1tsp. yeast nutrient
1tsp. pectic enzyme
water to 3 gallons
white labs sweet mead yeast
didnt boil the honey just grabbed the carboy and shook the hell out of it (3 gallon better bottle)

o.g 1.155
started bubbling slowly that night

9-28-09
bubbling about every 3 seconds smells delicious ill take some photos and get back to ya. any idea how long this stuff will take to clear?

 

[malkore]

11lbs in a 3 gallon batch, as long as you're not using a higher attenuating wine yeast or champagne yeast, it should end up sweet, likely 'dessert sweet'.