Malkore's (not so) Ancient Orange Mead

[MrMiles]

just racked into secondary today gravity 1.060 really sweet, but i like a dessert
sweet wine. one could really taste the tangellos, tastes great! now to try and forget about it.

 

[GregR]

I just made my very first batch of mead using this recipe. it smelled great! now I just need to forget about it until christmas!

 

[ben314z]

Just bottled mine right out of the primary. It was crystal clear and 90% of the fruit had sunk. Here's my post detailing the tweaks to I made to Malkore's and Joe's recipes. I didn't take a beginning SG, but it ended up at 1.040. Can't particularly pick out the clementines, but I think they still contribute. The White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead Wine liquid yeast I used seemed to peter out at around 10%, at least thats what my tongue and head told me. That's just an approximation though. Just to be safe, I fortified it up 2% more with Everclear. Even with all my sterilization, I wanted to reduce chance of spoilage since it is so sweet. This stuff is definitely something to serve with (or as) dessert. Here are my tasting notes:

Smell: Sweet spicy with subtle yet tangy honey undertones. Could use some more complexity if it were drier, though I think both would come with a higher attenuating yeast and/or age. As it is, with something this sweet, any more complexity would be overkill.

Taste: Sweet, yet not enough to be cloying if served chilled. Slightly spicy like spiced rum, but not so spicy as to be medicinal. Best description of the spice character I can come up with is sweet pink bubblegum without the pink. The similarities to pink bubblegum are such that all 3 people who have tried it have come to that same comparison.

Mouthfeel: Almost too heavy. Chilled, it will work, but warm or room temp is out of the question. This is not a mead for mulling. Could use a little more acidity too. Next time I think I will take it all the way dry with a champagne yeast, then back-sweeten and adjust acidity to achieve a better balance.

Drinkability: Decent if chilled. Medium-heavy bodied. Like I said, you could have a glass or two of this stuff for dessert. Great for special occasions, but not an everyday drink. I couldn't put down more than 2 glasses in a sitting though due to the level of sweetness. Alc content feels like 12%. Should make good Christmas presents.

 

[Nocturnus]

Looks like this is my weekend project. My question is, I was going to stick to the original post and make 2 gallons. All I have are 5g carboys. Will this be any problem for a primary having that much headspace? I mean, I could go out and buy 3g carboy, but I feel it's pointless. I do have some 1g jugs that I could use then shipon it on out to secondary later on when it's time.

Also, unless I was blind, but much yeast do I pitch for this?

 

[woopig]

Just curious, would it hurt to do a two gallon batch in a five gallon carboy? It's either that or a gallon plastic milk jug. Somehow the glass carboy just seems better, but is that too much head space?

Man, somehow I read every thread on here except the previous post, sorry for the repeat question.

 

[Keepthedrive]

Something has to be wrong with my 1 gallon of mead...I used 3.5 lbs of honey, got some water up to 160 F, put in the honey, the zest and juice of one medium size orange, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 whole clove, turned the heat to medium low while I was adding all of this, and threw in a half teaspoon or so of yeast nutrient, fermax, and then poured it all into my glass gallon carboy, covered the top and let it cool to around 100 F (the carboy was still warm, but not hot) and then I tossed in a packet of danstar nottingham, put on a blow off tube, and let it sit in my basement around 68-70 F. I did not strain out the cinnamon stick, clove, or zest.

It started to bubble a little, but I was expecting a huge reaction, hence the blow off tube. The OG was aroud 1.125 and a whole packet of nottingham should do some SERIOUS attenuation...so today, I after 2 days of not really bubbling that much, I pitched another packet of nottingham, thinking maybe that the first one was bad?
But nothing has really changed...

So, Im thinkning...is the zest cinnamon stick and clove messing with the fermentation???

I wouldnt think that this would be a problem bc the original ancient orange recipe left the orange pieces in the fermenter no problem.

Anyone run into something like this?

 

[sharpstick]

you've diverged so far from the AOM recipe that this post doesn't even belong in this thread.
but it should be fermenting anyway. are you sure the airlock is in tight? has your SG changed any?

 

[Keepthedrive]

the stopper and tube are very snug fitted, and it is bubbling, so the fg must have changed by now, but it is just going so slowly...the other thing i was possibly thinking might make a difference is the honey. My honey was close to 8 months old and was mostly crystalized, which turns very smooth again as soon as you get the honey warm anyways. IS it bc I left out the yeast energizer maybe?

 

[Rainyn]

Started 3 gallons yesterday, with a few modifications. The benefit of homebrewing is modifying awesome recipes and hoping for improvement.

I used a grapefruit and an orange because I love grapefruit. I removed all the pith but still threw the fruit in. I still used some raisins from the original JAOM recipe hoping maybe some raisin flavor will seep in (but I am also doing a staggered nutrient addition plan).
I added Potassium Carbonate (1 gram per gallon) in accordance with Hightest's mead FAQ on potassium carbonate upfront addition to prevent stuck fermentations and reduce acidity. I've had great luck with potassium carbonate in my other mead. And I added some gypsum for my water mineral content.
Can't wait to see how it ends up. Thanks Malkore.

 

[malkore]

you've diverged so far from the AOM recipe that this post doesn't even belong in this thread.
but it should be fermenting anyway. are you sure the airlock is in tight? has your SG changed any?

agreed. 3.5 gallons and nottingham...it doesn't matter if you added a pound of yeast to this. Notty ONLY attenuates so much before the alcohol kills it off. More yeast won't prevent that.

The zest won't affect anything unless you used so much that you made the must too acidic.

I think you just have to deal with a high gravity mead and an ale yeast that's going to sluggishly ferment it and still leave you with a final gravity of probably 1.050....gaggingly sweet.

You'd almost be better off pitching some 19% abv yeast like EC 1118 or champagne yeast NOW, instead of waiting for the notty to leave you at 13% and too much alcohol for another yeast to fire up.

 

[Rainyn]

I wanted to come back and note that I bottled my batch today. It tasted amazing! I let mine sit 2 months, but honestly a tasting at 4 weeks was pretty good. I am happy with my substitution of a grapefruit and an orange instead of three oranges (3 gallon batch).

 

[rowingbrewer]

I'm getting ready to start a five gallon batch of this. Although I don't have any wyeast sweet mead yeast, and I'm not sure if they sell it at my lhbs. Any substitution suggestions?

 

[HalfPint]

Made this bad boy last night. I used 2.8 lbs Sams clover honey, 1 clove, 1 cinnamon stick, juice and zest of one orange for a 1 gallon batch. I did just as the recipe said, I dissolved honey in .5 gallon water and steeped rest of ingredients at 150*F for 15 minutes. I then cooled, strained, topped off with ozarka, and then pitched KV-1116.

I know that yeast will really dry it out, but I prefer dry wine, so this should be nice. It's already guzzling away this morning it a steady 63*F.

 

[HalfPint]

Has anyone added any sugar (brown or turbinado) to this during fermentation?

 

[ciderslug]

Malkolore, What happens if you add the yeast nutrient, but not the energizer? I'd like to make a batch, but this be the only thing I have a hard time getting my hands on.

 

[malkore]

Most yeast nutrient is just vitamins. Energizer is primarily a nitrogen source, and sometime yeast hulls are added in to the mix.

Since honey is basically void of nitrogen, Energizer is really an important thing for straight meads that have no fruits/grapes or malt added to provide some free nitrogen.

I can't imagine in New York you cannot find Energizer at any brew store?

 

[HalfPint]

Well, here's a bit of an update on my 1 gallon batch. Since Lalvin 1116 is all I had, I used it. It's been fermenting at 65* for 5 weeks now and the airlock is still bubbling once a minute or so. I haven't taken a gravity reading, but I know it's still going. I'm thinking that I'll probably let it go to the 2 month mark, then prime and bottle for some long aging.

 

[malkore]

2.8lbs in a gallon batch shouldn't take 5 weeks to ferment fully...let alone 2 months.

Not that its going to turn out bad, but it seems like the longer your primary takes, the longer you have to age it out before it tastes really good.

That's why I have been pushing the 71B yeast, degassing, and staggered nutrients. The mead I started this weekend OG 1.115 is starting to slow down. I haven't taken a reading yet but I'd bet I've lost 70 gravity points in the last 6 days.

 

[HalfPint]

2.8lbs in a gallon batch shouldn't take 5 weeks to ferment fully...let alone 2 months.

Not that its going to turn out bad, but it seems like the longer your primary takes, the longer you have to age it out before it tastes really good.

That's why I have been pushing the 71B yeast, degassing, and staggered nutrients. The mead I started this weekend OG 1.115 is starting to slow down. I haven't taken a reading yet but I'd bet I've lost 70 gravity points in the last 6 days.

Well, I just took a gravity reading, and it's currently at 1.010 and is still fizzing. The small hydrometer sample that I tasted was as crazy alcohol hot and slightly carbonated from yeast still fermenting. From the small amount of mead I took to take a hydrometer sample, I think I'm about to top off it off with some clean water with a tiny bit of yeast nutrient in it.

 

[maddprofessor]

So I made some of this about 2 weeks ago and not reading carefully I thought the recipe was for 3 gallons, not 2. So I took a gravity reading and it was at like 1.060, I figured something was wrong. I looked back at the recipe and figured it out. I had already topped off with water leaving no room for the additional honey I needed. My plan is to rack it onto the additional honey within the next week. (I'm waiting on my cider to finish so I can free up the carboy). Will there be any problems with this? Are the yeast going to freak out when I throw a bunch of extra sugar at them?

 

[Atek]

So I made some of this about 2 weeks ago and not reading carefully I thought the recipe was for 3 gallons, not 2. So I took a gravity reading and it was at like 1.060, I figured something was wrong. I looked back at the recipe and figured it out. I had already topped off with water leaving no room for the additional honey I needed. My plan is to rack it onto the additional honey within the next week. (I'm waiting on my cider to finish so I can free up the carboy). Will there be any problems with this? Are the yeast going to freak out when I throw a bunch of extra sugar at them?

I would like to hear(read) the answer to this as well as I am in a similar situation with a blueberry mead. OG of 1.070, if it's fermented basically dry I could rack into secondary then add honey to a specific gravity. Any suggestions on what that gravity should be?

 

[sorefingers23]

does anyone have a 5 gallon recipe for this, id love to give this a shot

 

[sharpstick]

does anyone have a 5 gallon recipe for this, id love to give this a shot

got a calculator?

 

[sorefingers23]

as a matter of fact i do... I just scale the recipe up to 5 gallons? nothing would change?

 

[sharpstick]

as a matter of fact i do... I just scale the recipe up to 5 gallons? nothing would change?

except the yeast

 

[malkore]

Well, actually, the yeast doesn't change much either. Just use a whole packet of yeast, instead of part of one.

Instead of bread yeast use a sachet of Narbone 71-B.

 

[sorefingers23]

i was thinking about using white labs mead yeast..

 

[malkore]

I have personally never used the white labs mead yeast...but I've read several people's posts who had less than spectacular results.
It seems both the white labs and the wyeast 'sweet mead' strains can have attenuation/stuck fermentation issues.

However, those were older posts, by people who had not used teh staggered nutrient addition, or degassing during primary. I would definitely always do both of these things, regardless of what strain yeast is used. I'd also be sure to pitch plenty of yeast since you'll be dealing with a high OG...I'd make a starter for sure.

 

[GurraG]

My local brewer's shop doesn't have mead yeast. If I have to choose between red wine yeast and white wine yeast, which one should I choose?
BTW, the white wine yeast I have my eyes on have an alcohol tolerance of 12 ABV, and the red wine yeast 12-14 ABV

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

i believe Lalvin D47 is recommended for mead.